I know, I know. It's been almost a year since I showed the preview, and I'm just now putting something on paper. I don't really have an excuse. After a while, I guess I lost confidence in my ability to tell this story in a believable manner, and my adherence to canon stopped me from straying too far from its established course. So I just kind of quietly let this thing gather digital dust in my Google Drive, believing that so few people cared to see it continue that it wouldn't make much of a difference. But recently, I've been trying to beat my bad habit of letting things I write die. And resurrecting this fic seems like as decent a step as any. At this point, the story I wanted to tell is so far from what the canon is suggesting that it seems easier to just "alternate canon" it instead of continuously retooling it to fit the canon before the next Steven Bomb throws another monkey wrench into it, so that's what we're doing. I regret that this chapter is mostly just build up, but hopefully now that the beginning is solid I can motivate myself to keep going.
So, without any further ado, I shall attempt to reward some of the unparalleled patience of those few eager for more with Chapter 1 of "The Rose Quartz War." I sincerely hope you enjoy.
:::
Peridot, Facet-2F5L, Cut-5XG practically lived and breathed machines. Once, in about a minute and a half, she built a highly advanced mech suit, in a barn, with a bunch of scrap metal. Another time, she single handedly repaired a communication hub with over 100 components that reached up to 50 stories in the air. And ever since she figured out how to bend metal to her will, her efficiency with repairs had increased exponentially.
And yet, she could not, for the life of her, figure out how to fix the downed Gem dropship.
She, Greg, Connie, and Garnet had tried everything: removing all non-essential systems and cannibalizing the hull to reduce the weight as much as possible, adding a half dozen of Pearl's custom-built fusion engines to replace the burned out nacelles, and Garnet pumping enough voltage into the ship's power systems to power Beach City for a week before unfusing from exhaustion. Despite all of these attempts, the ship could barely escape the atmosphere without nearly breaking apart, let alone travel out into space and somehow travel 100,000 light years to Homeworld in a matter of days while traveling at about 15% light speed.
With a muffled scream of rage, Peridot pushed a button on the "Cookie Cat" transmitter she was given the day Operation Rescue commenced; a mere five minutes after her best friend, Steven Universe, was taken to Homeworld to stand trial for his mother's crimes against the Diamond Authority.
"Gold Leader to White Leader: Our modifications still aren't enough to get the dropship airborne. How are things at the Galaxy Warp?"
After a few seconds, Pearl, the supposed leader of "White Squadron," consisting of her, Amethyst, Lapis, Sadie, and Greg's cousin Andy, replied.
"No luck repairing the Homeworld warp, I'm afraid. We managed to get that old robonoid of yours that we captured online, but it's out of gel. The healing tears we brought from Rose's fountain also aren't having any effect. Lapis did manage to find your old limb enhancers nearby. She thought they could be used to find more leftover robonoids, but it doesn't look like they have much power left in reserve to do so. I doubt they'll be useful towards our present goal."
"Roger," Peridot responded.
"Agh, just-!" Pearl exclaimed briefly before pausing and regaining her composure. "I'll warp Sadie and Andy over to the barn. He's agreed to take Sadie home in Greg's van. Have everyone pack up their things and warp back to base. We'll...we'll figure something out."
"Copy that. Tell White 3 to meet me at the barn with the limb enhancers. They may still be useful."
"...I'll let Lapis know," Pearl replied.
"Excellent," Peridot said. "Gold Leader to White Leader, signing out."
"Will you stop calling me that?! It's stupid!"
"Copy, White Leader." Peridot was getting a little too smarmy by that point.
Before Pearl could cry out in exasperation, Peridot shut off the transmitter and turned back to her "Gold Squadron."
"Alright, Gold Squadron, pack it up! We're heading back to base!"
The others groaned and set about collecting their equipment.
While Garnet and Peridot set about gathering their stuff at a brisk pace, Connie lagged behind, eventually giving up and sitting down on a nearby rock.
"Would you mind scooting over, kiddo?" Greg asked her.
"Hm?" Connie asked, distracted, before processing his request and promptly scooting over.
The pair sat in silence for a while before Greg chimed in.
"Still can't stop worrying about him, huh?" he asked.
Connie looked at him incredulously. "What, like you're not?" she asked.
"Of course I am. I'm worried sick," Greg replied. "But I also have faith that he'll be okay."
He continued, "He's a tough kid. If there's anyone in the universe who can go through this and get back to write a song about it, it's him." He chuckles a bit-Steven probably would write a song about it if he makes it back. When, he reminds himself, When he makes it back.
"But even assuming he could escape, does he even want to?" Connie asked. "He thinks he's endangering all of us by being here. Why would he come back? It's not like he doesn't know Homeworld's going to-" she choked back a sob and cut herself off. Both she and Greg knew that if she kept going, she was going to start crying for an indefinite amount of time.
Greg paused for a moment before responding, "I don't know why he would. All I know is that he's going to get back somehow, or else we're going to find a way to get him, and that whatever happens, he is going to make it out okay."
He added onto that with, "It may not make sense, and the odds against that happening may be almost insurmountable, but you know what? Right now my son is being punished for his mom's war crimes against an intergalactic empire in another galaxy a bajillion light years away, and there's nothing I can realistically do about it." He almost finds himself on the verge of crying, but manages to push it down. "I'm not like the rest of you. I don't have engineering skills or metal powers or super strength. Nor was I trained for combat by the most skilled fighter on the planet." He chuckles a bit, then pauses to let that sink in, not sure if he was doing it for Connie's benefit or his own.
He continued, "I have no other option but to convince myself that somehow, by some miracle, he'll make it out okay. I have to keep telling myself that, or else I wouldn't be able to get out of bed in the morning."
Connie took a moment to reflect on what he said. Greg sighed as he got up and took her equipment under his arm.
"5 minutes. I reckon that's all I'll be able to coax out of 'Gold Leader' before she personally drags you to the warp pad." He chuckled slightly at the ridiculousness of Peridot's team designations.
"Copy that, Gold 2," Connie said. She tried a slight smile, but she couldn't make it look like it wasn't forced.
As Greg made his way to the pad, Connie looked up at the stars as she tried to calm down. After a minute of this, so bereft of hope was she that she did something she had long ago dismissed as ridiculous superstition, something totally unthinkable: she closed her eyes and prayed.
"Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya," she whispered, calling upon, ironically enough, the Hindu gods Vishnu, creator of the universe, and Krishna, the 8th incarnation of Vishnu and the god of love.
"Just..." she couldn't quite figure out how to address them, and thus opted for something simple and clean: "bring Steven back to me. Please."
She kept whispering that short request to whoever may have been listening until Greg tapped her on the shoulder and held her hand as they walked together to the warp pad for the third time in as many days. The two looked up at the stars as Peridot left, before returning their gaze forward as they stepped onto the pad and warped home.
:::
Before that night, no one among the Crystal Gems thought it was possible for such a rapid change in emotional state to occur in any being in the fraction of a second necessary for their mind to be able to process an image. Of course, in this case, it was an image that they had always loved, cherished, cried for, and worked to save for the past 2 days.
Steven Quartz Universe.
Naturally, while all of them ran to him the instant he miraculously appeared in the Temple's living room, it was Greg who first moved to embrace his son. After that came Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet, and the five were locked in a giant hug so fierce that Greg was beginning to feel extra pressure on his bones due to the superhuman strength of the others' grip upon Steven. Connie, however, chose to hang back as this was taking place, partly out of a desire for self-preservation, but mostly due to her requiring time to decide what she was going to do in the next few minutes.
Over the last 2 days since Steven's abduction, a series of confusing and strong emotions had plagued Connie; anxiety, guilt, regret, anger, fear, hope, and some other feeling she couldn't quite name which she'd probably figure out at some point. Due to these conflicting emotions, she considered many options as to how to respond to Steven's sudden reappearance. By the time the group hug ended, she had settled on two: kiss him, or slap him as hard as she possibly could.
"Connie!" Steven said as the others moved away from him, still partly in shock. "I-"
As he was cut off, the loud, resounding smack that shook the room when Connie's hand met Steven's left cheek made it clear to all parties involved that she had chosen the latter option.
Fortunately, Steven's gem physiology meant that the slap left very little in the way of damage on his face, but before Steven could ask what that was about, Connie, overcome with more pure rage than she'd felt at any other point in her life, grabbed his wrist and left him a warning:
"If you ever try to pull a stunt like that on me again, I'll-! I'll-!"
She would have gone on, but was forced to give up once all her vocal cords could produce for the time being were a series of racking sobs. Abandoning her previous course, she fell back on Plan C, clenching him with both of her hands and resting her head on his chest as she continued to cry. Steven nervously reciprocated, making sure not to do anything to aggravate her further. After a few seconds, he found himself crying as well.
The group said nothing for a few minutes, standing aside as Steven and Connie continued their tearful embrace. Eventually, the sobs of both parties died down, allowing the two to begin to converse.
"I-I can't believe you're actually here," Connie began, still shaking. "After that Homeworld ship took off, I thought you were going to...to..." The sobbing threatened to start again, but Connie managed to control herself.
"So did I," Steven replied. He wanted to say more, but once the realization that he could have very easily died on Homeworld sunk in, all he could do was whisper to himself, "So did I" and cry slightly.
There was likely a lot that could've been said in that moment. Maybe even one or two things that needed to be said. But, instead, the whole company stayed silent, entirely content with the fact that Steven was alive and well and not wanting for or caring about anything else.
However, at the same time as this reunion, others were far less fortunate...
:::
"Are...are they finally gone?"
This question, posed in an apprehensive tone by an Amethyst, known as 8XG, had been the unspoken question among all 61 of the gems aboard the damaged cargo transport.
Ever since they barely escaped Pink Diamond's Human Zoo with their lives two and a half days prior, they had been relentlessly pursued by a fleet of over thirty Roaming Eyes for several hours afterward. They soon found refuge in a nebula that managed to disrupt the Roaming Eyes' systems, while their own remained operational due to the freighter's improved shielding. With all the time in the world, the Roaming Eyes encircled the nebula's borders, intending to wait them out, and firing the occasional pot shot in a vain attempt to hit them.
After 2 days, however, as Yellow Diamond grew impatient with them, they were ordered to fire all weapons over as much of the nebula as possible in one last attempt to destroy them or else lure them out. Most of the shots missed, but one or two managed to hit the ship, causing moderate damage. Fortunately for them, one of the Roaming Eyes had drifted into the edge of the nebula and, believing the ship to be in front of them due to the nebula interfering with their sensor readings, they fired upon the ghost ship. At the same time, pieces of debris from the actual ship had been thrown across space until they drifted out of the nebula into view of the other Roaming Eyes. Convinced that the ship was destroyed in the barrage, the Rubies aboard each Roaming Eye set out to return to Yellow Diamond's flagship.
Six hours later, and there was still no sign of any Homeworld ships on the transport's sensors.
"I think so," their pilot, a Jasper named Skinny, replied. "I'm not detecting any other ships within 50 light years."
A collective sigh of relief swept the crew. At long last, they were finally safe. However, with that came another unspoken question that rose to the surface.
"What do we do now?" 8XL asked. Unlike the first question, this one proved to have several different possible answers.
"I think that's rather obvious," the crew's former overseer, Holly Blue Agate, stated, matter-of-factly. "We're going back to Homeworld."
This brought a variety of protests from the Quartzes.
"Are you crazy? We just barely escaped with our lives! If we go to Homeworld, we'd be shattered for sure!" 8XJ said.
"Our ship's too badly damaged to be able to risk it!" another added.
"Besides, even if she thinks we're dead, Yellow Diamond probably has the entire system being sweeped by Homeworld's orbital platforms in order to stop us from landing. We'd never make it down!" a third pointed out.
Holly Blue quickly grew tired of their input.
"Silence!" she screamed, causing all of them to cease immediately.
Once she was certain they were listening, she continued, "Don't forget who's in charge around here! My Diamond-our Diamond's life is at risk! If we don't warn her of Yellow Diamond's intentions, she could be put in danger!" She paused to let that sink in before asking, "Am I the only one who cares about that?"
Skinny moved away from the console and put her hand on her shoulder. Unlike when the Crystal Gems broke into the Zoo, Holly Blue didn't seem to spurn at the Quartz's touch.
"Of course not, Holly," Skinny said softly. "We want to protect Blue Diamond just as much as you do."
"Making a lot of assumptions there, Skinny," one of the Jaspers said under her breath, but a quick glare from Skinny precluded further comment.
"But the fact is, even assuming we hadn't been shot by Yellow Diamond and had shot straight for the nearest functional Galaxy Warp, we still would've come 2000 light years short," Skinny said. "The freighter was just about to be refueled when we made our escape. If we'd had another 6 hours..." she trailed off there, as no further comment was necessary. Holly grasped that there was no way they would've had six more hours before they could've left. Or, at the very least, she wouldn't have had six more hours before Yellow Diamond had her shattered.
Reluctantly, and after a long moment, Holly finally choked back a sob and said, "I understand."
The crew let her sit there in silence another moment, before Holly turned to Skinny and spoke yet again, saying, "What course would you suggest?"
Surprised at this delegation of authority to Skinny, who Holly had often regarded as the "most pathetic, worthless off-color Jasper of the lot," the crew wasn't sure how to respond. They looked about for a second, everyone mostly in agreement on their plan.
"Well…" Skinny replied, "Without the ability to get to or contact her on Homeworld, the only possible way we could do anything that might save her would be to try and stop Yellow from destroying Earth. It's about 2,000 light years away. We have just enough fuel to jump to the edge of its solar system before switching to auxiliary."
Holly seemed confused. "What good will saving Earth do?" she asked.
8XJ was quick with an answer. She said, in her typical blunt manner, "If Yellow was planning on turning on Blue, she wouldn't do it so soon after her theft of the Rose Quartzes. Bubbling her would increase suspicion once she didn't show up to her duties, and shattering her after Rose Quartz's trial and pinning it on her would probably just arouse further suspicion. It's very unlikely she'd move against Blue immediately. It seems more likely that she'd attack Earth soon, keeping the invasion a secret from the other Diamonds, and deal with Blue afterwards. If it were quick and painless, nobody would have to know, but if we could drag it out, or even defeat her initial invasion force, she'd either have to commit her own forces or give up. At that point, both options would alert the other Diamonds, and I have a feeling Blue wouldn't take too kindly to the fact that Yellow had lied to her about the fate of Pink's Rose Quartz soldiers."
"Exactly," Skinny said in approval. "At the very least, Blue wouldn't trust Yellow anymore, so she'd know to stay on her guard. And if we happened to steal the ship used to deploy them...
"We may be able to get to Homeworld and warn her," Holly finished.
"Exactly. What do you say?"
Holly thought for a minute. "Correct me if I'm wrong," she said, "but isn't Earth where those rebels who humiliated me originated from?"
The Quartzes shifted uncomfortably for a second before one of them spoke up and confirmed her suspicion.
She mulled over this for a moment before saying, with her disdain clearly evident, "I'm loathe to have to side with rebels, but it does seem like the only course available to us is to assist them in protecting their little speck." The other Quartzes decided not to comment on how she called their home a "speck." Not now, anyway.
She then asked, "Are you all in agreement?" to which she was met with a great deal more enthusiasm than she'd anticipated.
"Okay," 8XJ said. "How long until the repairs are complete?"
One of the Jaspers said, somewhat nervously, "Probably about one and a half rotations." Skinny nodded to confirm.
"Then it's settled." 8XJ declared. She paused for a second to check for any disagreement. There was none that she could see in the eyes of every Gem on the ship. Thus, she proceeded to finish her declaration:
"We're going home."
:::
"So you're telling me...Lars actually died?" Connie asked, shaken by the implications of what Steven had just told her. Not to mention the implications of all the other things Steven told her over the last 3 hours.
Steven nodded, leading to a collective gasp from the group. True, Greg, Connie, and Amethyst were the only ones who liked him, but nevertheless, the thought of any human being killed on Homeworld was rather tragic.
"But wait...you said that you got back home through Lion thanks to Lars," Amethyst said. "How did that happen?"
"Well," Steven began, "When I was holding Lars, one of my tears landed on his cheek and...healed him, somehow."
This drew another gasp.
"But...but that's impossible!" Pearl said. "Rose's healing tears were never so powerful as to completely revive beings who had passed on, human and Gem alike. And in any event, you'd never displayed these kinds of healing powers before. It doesn't make any sense!"
"The healing tears' power was affected by Rose's emotions," Garnet pointed out. "Steven's intense sadness at Lars' death might've increased their potency to the point where it could heal him. And if Steven can do it..." she pointed to Lion as she said this, "Rose probably could as well."
"Wait...you think Lion died at some point?" Amethyst asked.
"And must have been brought back to life by Rose's healing tears," Pearl finished. "Although how they granted Lion his abilities is beyond me."
"So now Lars has the same abilities as Lion?" Connie asked.
"Well, he's pink like Lion is. And his hair acts the same way as Lion's mane, so, probably," Steven answered.
"Regardless, we're getting off topic here," Pearl interjected. "Steven, you mentioned that you and Lars met some 'off-color' gems down in the abandoned Kindergarten. What were their names?"
"Well, there were the Rutile twins, Fluorite, Rhodonite, and Padparadscha," Steven replied.
"Rutile...twins?" Pearl asked.
"Oh, yeah. They were a Rutile who emerged in such a way that their two bodies were formed together into one."
"Like Siamese twins," Greg said.
Not knowing what Siamese twins were in order to confirm this observation, Steven chose to simply continue, "Rhodonite is a fusion of two gems, and Fluorite is a fusion of six."
"Six gems? Fused together all of the time?" Pearl asked, amazed.
"I can't even imagine what that'd be like," Amethyst said. "I mean, it takes a lot just for Alexandrite to stay together, and that's only four."
Garnet just nodded and muttered, "Hm, yes. Very interesting."
"And what about Padparadscha?" Connie asked. "I've never heard of a gem like that."
"Well, she's a kind of Sapphire, but she can only see visions of things that just happened," Steven answered.
"Hm, yes. I'd heard about Sapphires like that before the war," Garnet said. Everyone turned to look at her as she added, "They tended to meet rather gruesome fates."
"All the more reason for getting them off of Homeworld as soon as possible," Connie said, to the agreement of all. "But it's getting late. I better get back home before my mom sends a rescue party." She chuckled half heartedly, but seemed to be the only one there who really found the joke funny.
"I'll take you," Steven said. He gestured to Lion, who was waiting down at the beach, to come up to the steps. The group seemed hesitant about this, with the strange exception of Connie. Steven rushed to reassure them. "Relax, guys. I'm not about to disappear again."
With that, Connie bid the group adieu, with Steven following suit as they walked down the beach. Garnet couldn't help but notice that Connie was in a particular rush to leave. She also seemed to keep as much distance from Steven as possible.
:::
Things are not gonna be easy for them, Garnet told herself.
Nope. Things definitely aren't going to be easy, she responded. They'll be okay in the end, though, right?
The possibilities do seem to favor that outcome. But-oh. It would appear that the ultimate time of that outcome's arrival has...shifted slightly.
Garnet groans audibly, as if disappointed in what someone had said in front of her. The others paid no mind to it.
Steven and his big mouth, Garnet thought.
Even though she didn't physically do it, Garnet could feel her wink in her mind. A knowing wink. A wink whose existence is testament to a host of experiences.
Indeed, Garnet replied, smiling ever briefly, but also with a hint of concern. I just hope the odds remain in his favor.
Same.
"Thinking to yourself again?" Pearl asked, with a slight knowing smile of her own. When you know someone like Garnet for nearly six thousand years, you tend to tell when such things are going on.
Garnet chuckled slightly. "Yep."
"Well, I'd hate to interrupt, but we need to discuss something," Pearl said.
Garnet moved to the couch by the window next to Amethyst as Pearl moved towards the dishwasher, intent on cleaning the dishes while discussing this matter.
"Should I go?" Greg asked.
"I'd appreciate it if you stayed for now, Greg," Pearl said.
"Agreed," Garnet said. "This concerns you as well."
"Um...okay. What is it we need to talk about, exactly?" Greg asked.
"The elephant in the room, of course," Garnet replied. "The trial."
The room fell silent as everyone looked at Garnet.
After a moment, Pearl said, "Precisely. We need to prepare for what might come in the near future."
Greg sat up a bit straighter from his counter seat at this. "'What might come?' What do you mean by that?"
The Crystal Gems fell silent. Greg got the meaning clearly enough.
"You don't mean-"
"We have to consider the possibility of a serious invasion," Pearl said matter-of-factly. "Blue Diamond may have been hesitant to destroy this planet or harm many of its inhabitants, but it's clear that Yellow Diamond has no such reservations. Her continued attempts to hasten the trial and...shatter Steven...is evidence enough of that."
"Hang on," Amethyst interjected, "Don't they think the Cluster is still armed and ready to blow us all up? Why would they bother attacking us if, as far as they know, the planet's about to explode anyway?"
"Fair point, Amethyst," Pearl said. "Several reasons present themselves. For one, they didn't end up getting any humans for their zoo when they sent a two gem group. They could easily come back with a larger force to try and get more. And considering how badly we fared against the first agents they sent..."
Garnet continued grimly, "Not to mention that they don't know whether or not the planet's inhabitants could escape into space. They haven't bothered to keep up to date on human technology, or bothered to check if anything they left on Earth was capable of space travel. They'd want to make sure not a single life form was left alive."
The room was quiet for a moment before Amethyst finally said, "Ah. Right."
"So what are you going to do?" Greg asked.
Yet another brief few seconds of silence, before Amethyst spoke up, "Well..."
Everyone looked at her for a second, surprised that she seemed to be the one with a plan. She took a second to gather her thoughts before continuing.
"Look, we'd all love for this to just be another few guys we can beat up like usual without Homeworld ever knowing about it, but even an idiot would understand that we're done with that at this point. Whatever those Diamond dorks send is bound to be big, or at least bigger than anything we've faced so far."
The group nodded. It was sound logic, quick and to the point.
Pearl continued, "And if they send anyone like Aquamarine, or a large squadron of those Topazes or Agates, we're as good as dead. We simply don't have the numbers or the strength to fight something like that, even as Alexandrite."
"Which means one thing," Garnet cut in before the group could get too somber, "We need allies."
Pearl and Amethyst looked at her quizzically for a minute, but Greg was quick to come up with an idea.
"What if we got the government to help? It would take a lot of convincing, but if we got them behind us, we could take an invasion any day of the week!"
"You seem to have overestimated their capabilities," Pearl interjected. "Their weapons technology is less advanced than ours was six thousand years ago. They'd only be marching onward to their deaths."
"Still, we cannot reject the possibility," Garnet said.
"Frankly, if we weren't so desperate, I wouldn't have even said that much regarding the plan. I don't want to involve any humans in whatever conflict arises unless it's absolutely necessary. It'd be far too dangerous for them, and the less people explicitly aware of Homeworld's existence, the better."
"I don't know if it's all that bad," Amethyst says, "After all, we'd have you and Peridot helping them out. And this 'government' has, like, a bajillion dollars it can use, right?" Amethyst asks Greg.
"Something like that, yeah."
"Which means they'd be able to get all the stuff you two would need to build a whole bunch of super powerful weapons."
"That's a good point," Greg chimes in, "I mean, Pearl, you built a spaceship out of a bunch of old aviator parts. With a proper budget..."
"We'll consider bringing humans into this a last resort," Garnet finally decides. "In the meantime, we should focus on who else we can find."
The possibilities weren't too promising.
"Well, if we still can't heal Centipeetle, we should be able to get her and her crew to fight for us as is," Pearl proposes.
"Indeed. They were a great help when we tried to repair the airship," Garnet adds. "We should have Steven or Connie warp back and see if they can't convince them."
"You think we'd have any luck with the other corrupted gems?" Amethyst asks.
"Doubtful. Centipeetle and her crew are the only ones Steven's built a connection with. The rest would likely rampage all over the place and attack everything," Pearl says before thinking of something, "Including Homeworld's forces. Yes, that may prove useful."
"Would that be...ethical, though?" Greg asks, "I mean, with Centi, she chose to help us back at the dropship. These guys, they wouldn't have a choice in the matter, and if they get shattered...that's on us." He pauses for a second before continuing, "I know this is a battle we're talking about here, but...I don't know, it just feels wrong to use them like that."
"I sympathize, Greg, but we may not have a choice," Garnet says. "We'll table that idea until we know for sure what we're up against. Perhaps this latest development may have permanently strengthened Steven's healing abilities to the point where he could at least temporarily heal some of them."
"Like Jasper?" Amethyst asks.
The room falls silent for a moment.
"Perhaps. Although it seems...unlikely that she'd be willing to help us," Garnet says consolingly, aware of how Amethyst feels on the subject.
"Yeah...you're probably right," Amethyst says resignedly.
"And the only other Gem left around who might help us is-"
"Bismuth," Amethyst finishes for Pearl. "I think we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."
"So it sounds like the only ones who could help us are Lars and his friends," Greg concludes.
Pearl nods. "At the moment, they're our best bet. They may not have combat experience, but any gems who don't want us dead are good allies at this point."
"And a human with Lion's abilities would be a powerful force indeed," Garnet adds.
"So what are we waiting for?" Amethyst asks as she gets up. "Let's go through Lion and grab them already!"
"Agreed. We must make preparations immediately!" Pearl says. Having a solid plan was a feeling Pearl missed dearly over the last few days. The rush it provides is exhilarating. "Greg, you find Steven and Connie and tell them of our plan! Amethyst, you go find Lion! I'll begin assembling rations for the journey! Garnet-"
"You may run into a couple problems with that plan at present," Garnet interjects.
Pearl stops for a minute.
"Why?"
"I had a vision once Steven left that approximately 4 minutes ago, Steven and Connie would get into an argument, the culmination of which would be Connie leaving on Lion to spend some time alone and Steven not being in any rush to go anywhere. Matter of fact…"
As she says this, Pearl could spot Steven morosely trudging up the steps towards the door. Pearl opens it for him and he walks inside.
"Everything okay, Stu-ball?" Greg asks.
Steven rubs his eyes a bit.
"Connie...Connie needs some time alone right now," is all he can say. He doesn't want to mention how the guilt over his giving himself up is reverberating tenfold in his head, or how Connie took Lion, or how she's probably shut off her phone so he can't reach her and she probably never wants to see him again because he's a stupid idiot who almost got himself killed because of his ridiculous hero complex and he'll never get to tell her-!
"Ah," Greg says, knowing exactly what's going through his head at the moment. "Well, the best thing you can do is just give her some space and let her work things out however she will, you know?"
"...Yeah. I-I think I understand," he says, somewhat lying.
"For now, though, you ought to get some rest. Why don't you go get ready for bed, huh, sport?"
"But what about the-" Pearl tries to interject, but Greg, Garnet, and Amethyst all look at her. Pearl gets the message-not now-and promptly shuts up.
By this point, Steven's already closed the door. It's quiet for a minute, but Pearl can hear his shallow breathing as he fumbles for his toothbrush. She wants to help him, but she isn't sure what else to do aside from what Greg suggested. Ugh, why do these human relationships have to be so confusing? She thinks to herself frustratingly. She walks outside, Greg following suit.
"Of all the times for something like this to happen, with the fate of the world at stake..." Pearl mutters.
Greg chuckles.
"Yeah, well, that's love for you."
Pearl looks at him. She can't say she's entirely surprised-parents tend to have a certain sense about these things when it comes to their children. She takes a brief second to ponder over how she so easily came to think of herself as one of Steven's parents. Still, in spite of this, she's slightly annoyed at that statement.
Greg finishes the thought with, "To him, at least...she is the world."
:::
And there you have it, folks. The story is starting to progress and, as the title implies, the ripples of what happened in the prologue are starting to set events into motion. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it progressing from now on. I'm hesitant to provide a date for Chapter 2, but I believe I'll set up a deadline anyway: by the end of this month. Here's hoping I'll be able to meet it.
With all that said, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Feel free to leave your thoughts and criticisms below, and perhaps check out some of my other work. I hope you all have a great day, and take care.
