Day 1 of Search
September 23, 2031, 9:45am
Shooting Star Psychiatric Hospital
Connie sat at her desk in anticipation as she waited for her first patient at this job, Buck Dewey, to arrive at her office. While she tapped her fingers on her closed laptop and listened to her music playing through the laptop speakers, she thought about her encounter with Soren the night before.
Of all the people who would try to bring everyone back together, it would be Soren. After all, he was a general during the war and had abilities so powerful that even the diamonds were unnerved by him. He was a failed gem experiment from long ago, a mixture of gem and diamond shards. What the Diamonds were expecting was a planet destroying Geoweapon, much like the Cluster, but instead got Soren, a new type of hybrid gem with many unusual powers. For one, his gem was on the tip of his tongue, giving him an advantage over most other gems. He side have one type of weapon, but rather a variety of them. Duel swords with blades of titanium, a double edged spear, and a large spiked mace.
He also had what could only be described as superpowers. He was a master of elemental powers, such as fire, water, earth, and air, and he had things like telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation, flight, and the strangest of all, probability manipulation. He was clearly a gem of god-like stature and was a very powerful ally in the fight against Homeworld. For the longest time the original Crystal Gems, along with Connie herself, didn't trust him, especially Garnet because of his probability manipulation. He'd screw up her future vision by changing the probabilities of the battles and they were at each other's throats for most of the duration of the war.
There was a knock at the door, bringing Connie back to the task at hand. She turned off her music and closed the laptop again before answering.
"Come in."
The door opened and Buck stepped in. Connie had to hold back a gasp due to the fact that Buck's appearance hadn't changed since the war. He wore the exact outfit we would always wear before the wore a white t-shirt with a yellow star in the center under a red jacket, jeans and his shades, hiding the eyepatch on his left eye.
"Hello, are you Dr. Maheswaren?" He asked, unaware that the Maheswaren he spoke to was his friend from years ago.
"Yes I am." She said with a warm smile. "Take a seat, Mr. Dewey."
Buck nervously shuffled over to the cushioned seat across from Connie and sat down.
"So what brings you to my office, Mr. Dewey?" Connie asked him, revelling in the fact that he didn't recognize her.
"Well, my wife Kiki told me I needed to be acquitted to a mental hospital years ago when I started having night terrors. I've been a resident for a few years now, but no one's been able to help make them to away." He explained, hanging his head low. "They've been getting worse."
"Well the first thing I need to know to be of assistance to you is what makes you have these nightmares?" Connie pushed on.
"Well..." He replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's not something I like talking about to people unless they're friends or family."
"Do you feel intimidated by me because I'm a stranger?"
"Yes I do. Very much so." Said Buck.
"Lift up your shades." Connie instructed.
"I'd rather not. I have an injury that makes me insecure when someone sees it."
"Just do it." She pressed. "I'm about to prove that you can trust me. Lift up your shades."
At first, Buck didn't comply. Then after a minute of silently staring at each other, he slowly reached up and took off his shades, revealing the black eyepatch with a yellow star in the center, the symbol of The Crystal Gems.
"You sustained that injury in The Second Gem War." Connie stated.
Buck gave her a bewildered look. "How did you-"
"You were given that eyepatch by a young girl many years ago after The Battle of Beach City." Connie continued. "You tried to take a Homeworld Hiddenite head on with your sword in hand, but she was too quick for you to react. She sidestepped your attack, kicked you in your stomach, and as you were temporarily stunned she slashed at your eye. Then immediately after that happened the girl who gave that eyepatch to you charged with her sword and hacked off the Hiddenite's sword arm, followed by her right arm. As the hostile gem howled in agony the girl cut off her legs in one swing, then she stomped on the Hiddenite's forehead where her gem was located, effectively killing the gem."
Buck just sat there, eyes wide, jaw hanging open.
"And want to know how I know that?" Connie asked.
"H-how?" He asked.
"Because." Connie answered. "It took me forever for me to hand-make that damned patch. The star took even longer."
Buck was confused at first. Then he gave her a face of absolute shock.
"Connie?"
Connie got up from her chair and walked over to his seat with her arms outstretched.
"Come here, old friend." She said, grinning from ear to ear.
Now a psychiatrist is supposed to take their job seriously, business comes first. Their not supposed to get personal with their patients or have friends over to their work place. This is a place of work, and psychiatrists have jobs to do.
Which is why it is perfectly acceptable to say that Connie did not do her job at all.
Instead of asking Buck how his nightmares make him feel or prescribing him some drugs to cease his nightmares, the old companions talked about how things have been after the war had ended. Buck told Connie about how he got married to Kiki Pizza and has 2 kids, a boy and a girl, named Jack and Jill, after the fairytale siblings by the same names, and while his life had been going, which sounded pretty decent for a war veteran. Connie sadly recalled Steven's departure and the tragic events that followed soon after. Then Connie told Buck about her own nightmares and how lonely and isolated the Beach House was now that everyone was gone. Then she shared her encounter with Soren the night before.
"So Soren is trying to get the Crystal Gems back together, and Steven wants you to come find him?" He asked after hearing everything.
"Yeah." Connie answered. "Matter of fact, since you're my only appointment, I'm going to start searching for everyone with Soren after you leave."
"Well, if it's okay, I'd like to ask you something." Said Buck.
"Of course. Ask away."
"Can I help? I have one of those communicators at home, and so does Kiki."
Connie thought it over for a second, then gave him an answer.
"You know what? That would be awesome. You can help by getting every gem you and Kiki are in touch with and gather them all at the Beach house. We have room in Rose's room, the Former Burning Room, and there are still those houses up and down the beach from when the New Gem Army lived on the shore. It may take some time, but we can do it. Can you and Kiki do thar?"
"Yes, we'd do anything for you and Steven." Buck replied. "On that note, I'll go ahead and go back to my room, or my cell, or whatever you call it, and start messaging Kiki and the Gems I know."
"Thank you, Buck. It means a lot."
"No problem." He said, putting on his shades and walking over to the door. He gripped the knob, but before he left he said one more thing.
"You said it was isolated and you don't listen to newer music?" He asked.
"Right." Said Connie.
"Well." He said. "There's a musician/singer you really need to learn about. He's really good, and world renowned. His stage name is Mr. Universe."
10:30am
After finishing up some paperwork and checking out for the day, Connie gathered her things and left Shooting Star. While she was walking home she was surprised by a sudden gust of wind from right next to her. She turned to see what caused the sudden wind and found that Soren had just landed next to her.
"You just now leaving?" He asked.
"Yep, just finished up for the day." She answered. "Just had a nice little reunion with Buck Dewey."
"The guy you made the eyepatch for?"
Connie nodded. "Him and his wife are going to help us find the gems."
"Good, we need Al the help we can get." Soren said, before pulling out his communicator.
"I used my communicator's Global Positioning System to locate the Gems we are looking for. Since the original gems were the only ones of their kind on Earth, all we have to do is track them down and convince them to come home."
"Were you able to find Steven on it?" Connie asked, filling with hope again.
"No, unfortunately I couldn't. I guess hybrids didn't show up on gem technology." Soren answered, sadness laced within his voice.
"Well, what's our first move?"
"We need to gather as many volunteers to help search as possible." Soren explained. "The gems are sanctioned in America, so we don't have to search the whole planet. Then me and you will personally go and bring the Gems home one by one until we have them all back in Beach City. Then we go after Steven."
"Sounds like a plan." Connie approved. "Let's spread out and get people to meet at the temple. We can use the Beach House and the old gem houses as our base of operations. If they don't cooperate at first, tell them Connie sent you."
"Got it, boss." Soren said. "See you in a bit."
Then with that he took flight and flew off into downtown Beach City.
And with that, the search began.
Connie and Soren spent a solid few hours gathering volunteers, but the townspeople, upon hearing that their savior and his family would be back, desperately wanted to help anyway they could to get them back. By 1:00, everyone in town were at the shore at the houses and were having a convention to share ideas and information about the gems or Steven. To Connie's surprise, some of the New Crystal Gems who lived in Beach City still also showed up, wanting to help. Gems and former soldiers who had communicators and phones were talking to everyone they knew, human and gem, and we're looking for anything that would be of assistance.
"Ok everybody." Connie announced, using a megaphone. "Former General Soren said that y using the communicator's Global Positioning System, he has discovered the locations of the Original Crystal Gems. We want you to finds friends and family living around these gems to feed us information such as their addresses, their jobs, and their regular hangout spots. Does anybody have anything yet?"
The people had each gem's relative location on the GPS, but most of them just shook their heads in disappointment.
Then amongst the sad mourners of the crowd, one of them spoke up.
"I know where one of the Gems are." A woman with blonde hair said.
"Really? Which one?" Soren asked.
"I know where Amethyst is." The woman said, walking up to where Connie and Soren were standing. "I've been in contact with her on a communicator she gave me ever since she left. In fact I was talking to her before you gathered us here."
"You look familiar." Connie said. "What's your name?"
"My name is Vidalia." She said. "Amethyst and I have been friends for years, and when she skipped town she told me she wanted a long distance friendship with me still."
"Where is she now?" Asked Soren.
"She's in Florida. Miami to be specific." Answered Vidalia.
"Ok, we have a location on Amethyst, everyone!" Connie informed the crowd
The townspeople cheered.
"Connie and I will set out for Miami first thing in the morning tomorrow." Soren added, resulting in more cheers from the volunteers.
"We're going to do this together, so it would be best if everybody moved into the old gem houses while we work on bringing back the Gems." Connie instructed. Everyone to back to your home's and gather everything you can carry and move into the old houses. Then you may return to your normal everyday activities, but remain alert! Gather as much information as you can on the Gems and Steven. We need to bring them home as fast as possible. Carry on."
The crowd dispersed at Connie's orders and went about to complete them.
"I know I have to do this, but why are you coming along?" Connie asked Soren.
"Because it's Amethyst." He replied, looking quite flustered all of a sudden. "I'm in love with her."
"Oh. Then it would make sense for you to come along." Connie said back.
"I'm going to fly around the surrounding cities and try to recruit more searchers."
"Good plan."
Without saying anything further, Soren flew away, leaving Connie alone to ponder her thoughts on her current situation.
She was overwhelmed with emotion by how many people offered to help. Sure, Beach City wasn't the biggest city, but after that war many more people came to live in the city where the first battle took place, a battlefield of Gettysburg standards. With so many people going to help her, including Soren, she'd be reunited with her Biscuit in no time.
She had hope.
But if the war taught her another at all
It was that hope was a dangerous thing.
10:35pm
Beach House
Connie went to sleep that night hoping that the nightmares would stop for at least one night.
The nightmares basically gave her a big Fuck You in response.
Connie found herself surrounded in total darkness. When she tried to move, she discovered that she had been confined to some really tiny room, like a box, but she couldn't move at all. Panic quickly set in and Connie began to hyperventilate. She had always been claustrophobic and somewhat afraid of the dark, but this was pure nightmare fuel for her.
She began to fight against the restricted confines of the room, or whatever it is. The more she struggled the softer the room walls got. Then she realized that she wasn't in a room.
She was in a hole.
The dirt around her began to soften, letting Connie sink deeper into the hole. Terrified beyond belief, she pushed forward, creating a small hole in the Earth in front of her and allowing a small beam of light open through. Connie frantically clawed at the hole, making larger and larger still until with one mighty shove, she came tumbling out of the hole.
After she picked herself up from the ground, she looked up at the hole only to gasp with shock.
The hole was human shaped. And all around that hole were hundreds more. But they were larger, taller, more broad shouldered.
Connie was in a Kindergarten.
Suddenly a rope wrapped around Connie's legs and pulled her to the ground.
As she layed on the ground, she looked behind herself and saw that it was a whip. Following the whip to its owner, Connie displayed a mixed look of fear and confusion.
"Amethyst?"
The purple gem stared at Connie with an expression that suggested Amethyst wanted to hurt her. Angry eyes, clenched teeth, veins bulging.
"How does it like knowing you were a mistake, a monster who lived in a hole?" She asked angrily.
Before Connie could say anything, the gem began dragging her over to a nearby Injector that had its drill whirring at full speed.
"No, no no no, please no!" Connie desperately pleaded, digging her fingers into the soil to stop herself. But her distressed cries fell on deaf ears, and now the drill was positively over her stomach. The drill dove into her, disemboweling her and splattering her innards everywhere.
"Pity this is just a dream." Amethyst said to Connie while she bled out. "I'd love to have the chance of doing this in real life."
Connie woke up in hysteria.
She sprung up and immediately began sobbing loudly and choking on her own tears. She was trembling in fear and started hyperventilating.
Then to her surprise, Soren appeared sitting next to her on the bed and tried to comfort her. He wrapped his arms around her in a tight but and said sweet things to calm her down.
"Shhh, it's okay Connie." He assured. "It was just a bad dream, none of it is real. You're safe."
After realizing that Soren was right, Connie settled down and just sat there in Soren's warm and comforting embrace.
"It was Amethyst." She finally said. "She killed me."
"You're not dead and Amethyst is still in Florida." Soren said. Then we looked over and saw Steven's gem sitting on the bed next to her pillow. He grabbed it and put it in her hands.
"It'll be over soon. The gems and Steven will be back in a while, and the bad dreams will stop. I promise you. Just hang on for a bit longer."
Connie, tears in her eyes, stared at the gem in her hands.
"Will they try to love each other again?" She asked.
"I sure hope they do. If not for themselves, they will for Steven."
"Will Steven ever forgive me?"
Soren didn't respond immediately, he hesitated. He thought about everything they've been through together. He pictured everyone resenting each other at first, but as time went on they learned how to love each other again. He believed it could happen, he knew it would.
Connie had broken a promise. But time heals all wounds.
"You know what, Connie. I think he'll understand. After all, he is the son of Rose Quartz."
There you go guys, the search begins! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter.
I forgot to mention it in the last chapter, but special thanks to Dante Watterson for letting me use his OC Soren Spessartine in my story. I made up a few things about him so it could better fit the story, but all credibility goes to him. Thanks Dante, I hope I didn't make Soren unlikable for you (;
Be sure to review, follow and favorite this story for more chapters, and PM me for thoughts and ideas.
Take care everyone and I'll see you in the next chapter. Lazuli out!