Another chapter, finally! Sorry for the delay, but y'know... I've kinda already told you about those, so sorry, nothing I could do about it. Life and writers' block gets in the way... If any of you have suggestions for a better title for the story, I'd love to hear it, cause to be honest, I'm not too proud of the one I have now.
Steven's gem opened the door to his mother's room. "Room, can you bring us down to the burning room? I- I mean the real burning room?" He didn't need another room situation now. Clouds in the background parted to reveal pipes leading down to the room. "Cool, isn't it?" Steven giggled. "Let's go!" He ran through the clouds to the pipes.
But Lapis stayed idle, taking in the sight of the room. This was where the leader of the rebellion spent her time. The whole war… she admitted she blamed the whole thing on her. She never cared for the Earth. Well… not until recently when she actually chose to stay. Now she agrees with what she was fighting for. She just wished she wasn't so blunt about it. She shattered a gem! A diamond, even! She wasn't too fond of those dictators either, but she knew, for all the time she spent on Earth, the notion of taking the life of another is not what it stands for. She wondered if Steven really knew what his mother did. She would never say it, of course, she never wanted to cause even more pain to Steven.
"Hey, Lapis! You coming?" Steven called from the pipes.
"Y-yeah!" She flew over to the pipes, picked Steven up, and gently flew him down to the burning room, where Amethyst and Garnet seemed to be talking.
"Hey, guys!" Steven called.
"Heyo, Steve-o!" Amethyst called back.
"We are going to be calling a raincheck in getting those materials. I sense a corrupted gem taking shelter near a human mine. We must take care of it immediately."
"Should we get Peridot and Pearl?" Steven asked. Lapis paled at the question.
"There's no time. The humans are approaching the gem quickly. We must leave immediately."
"Then let's go! C'mon, Lapis!"
The warp pad lit up the surrounding area as the four figures stepped out of it. Steven turned on the flashlight, with it being their only source of light after the warp pad dimmed.
"WOAH! Look at how huge this cave is!" Steven's voice echoed as it traveled through the gargantuan cave. Steven stared with amazement at the expansiveness of the cave before him. The warp pad sat at the bottom of the cave, the light from the flashlight only barely reaching the ceiling, rising many meters above them. "I didn't know a cave this big could exist!"
"That's because it didn't form naturally." Garnet stoically stated.
"Whaddaya mean?" Steven looked up at Garnet, who continued stepped off the warp pad and started walking.
"Creating these cave systems..." Lapis started for Garnet, "That's what I was made for..."
"Huh?" Steven looked to Lapis for clarification.
"That's why I have my water powers. Lapis Lazulis are made to terraform planets."
"WOAH! Does that mean you can control the ground too?!" Steven yelled in wonderment, so loud that it was surprising his booming voice didn't collapse the cave.
"U-um, no, there are other gems who do that. Lapis Lazulis are the ones in charge of making bases underwa-" She was interrupted by a piercing wail that echoed through the whole cave.
"What was that?!" Steven jumped in surprise.
"It's the monster... it's close!" Garnet grunted. "Let's go!" They started running towards the sound, which repeated itself every few seconds. It's screeching roar got louder and louder as they ran closer, to the point in which Steven had to hold his ears from the noise. It continued on and on until it suddenly stopped.
"What happened...?" Amethyst stopped and summoned her whip, not getting a good feeling from the sudden silence. They slowed their pace and continued listening for it to start up again. The silence continued, the only sound in the cave being their footsteps, until a faint, ominous hum started being heard.
"That... kinda sounds like a machine..." Steven speculated. The humming got louder and louder until the flashlight illuminated a large building rising all the way up to the cave's ceiling. "Wooaaahhh..." Steven marveled at the sight of the structure. The humming seemed to be coming from inside the building, but as they approached the door, it stopped. They stopped moving, the sudden silence again stopping them in their tracks. Then the wails of the monster started up again, now louder than ever.
"We have to get in there!" Garnet to open the door by putting her hands on the front screen.
"Gem Type: Unknown. Order of Command: Blue Diamond. Access denied, Pink Diamond controlled facility."
"Wh-what?! But you're a gem!" Steven yelled out, astonished.
"There are different kinds of gems, Steven." The roaring suddenly stopped again as the humming started again. Through the cracks of the door, they could see lights turning on.
"...What is this monster doing...?" Steven questioned.
"That doesn't matter. We need to get in there." Garnet was tempted to summon her gauntlets to break the structure down, but the building looked incredibly unstable, and seemed to be the only thing keeping the cave intact, with its rafters extending across the whole cave's ceiling.
"But... how? It's not letting us in!" Amethyst summoned her whip, preparing to smash the door down, but Garnet held her arm out signaling her to stop.
Lapis hesitated, but she stepped up and put her hand to the screen.
"Gem Type: Lapis Lazuli. Order of Command: Pink Diamond (Temp.) Welcome."
"Oh... That works!" Steven said as the door creaked open. "I thought you were Blue Diamond's though…?"
"I am- uh- was..." she explained as the door slowly opened. "But the Diamonds are allowed to lend each other gems."
"Um, hey, if you two are done squawking back there, we have a monster to catch." Amethyst impatiently called back to them.
They nodded to each other as they walked into the building. The lights looked to be struggling to stay on, they were consistently flickering every few seconds.
"I didn't think this place would still be working!" Steven remarked. "Usually these ancient gem places are broken down!"
"They are…" Garnet warned.
"Then… how is it still work-" he was interrupted by a distant boom, presumably from a malfunctioning machine, and the whole facility dimmed, all the machines turned off, and the monster's incessant wails began again. They started running towards the roars, which led them to a gigantic door. Lapis put her hand on the screen and the door managed to open despite the facility having no power. She assumed it was running on an emergency supply. They entered through the threshold to find themselves in an expansive empty room with what seems to be a single control panel at the other end of the room.
Steven started walking towards it, only to be held back by Garnet. "The monster is here. Stick together, be careful."
They walked together as a group, each individual searching in a different direction for the monster. As they got closer to the control panel, Steven's flashlight revealed a giant mural depicting Pink Diamond standing over the Earth. Clearly an art piece (at least, he hoped, he didn't want the diamonds to be able to get that big), but he couldn't help but staring and walking towards it, even getting separated from the group. The lights and machines suddenly turned on again, and the monster's wails stopped once more. He was able to get a better look at the painting, walked towards the control panel to get a closer look at the mural behind it. It depicted Pink Diamond towering over the Earth, with her hands nearly clasped around it. With the facility operating again, the gem depicted on its figure had lit up and was protruding out from the mural, and was shaped very much like the direct-to-diamond line that Peridot had used. Was the monster trying to contact the Diamonds...?
Little did he know, the monster was hiding right behind it and jumped out and attacked him. From the surprise, he managed to summon his bubble and shield himself from getting harmed. When he gained his senses from the shock, he was able to get a good look at the monster. It was a huge, four-legged beast, with horns protruding from its head, all the way to its posterior. They had a certain wooden texture to it somehow. It had both marks of brown, green, and pink strewn all over its skin, with tufts of green fur scattered around its body. Its large green mane consisting of many leaf-like leaflets bounced up and down and rustled as the monster moved back and forth. Despite its obviously savage nature, Steven could still feel a sense of humanity (or, well... gem-ity) radiating from it. Ever since the Centi situation, he just... didn't feel right hurting these gems anymore. At least, not before trying to heal them first.
He was still in his bubble as he regained his vision to see that Garnet and Amethyst summoned their weapons, ready to fight. Lapis, having no water around, stayed behind, but still in between Steven and the monster. He dissipated the bubble and ran past Lapis – despite her misgivings – and yelled "Stop!"
Both Garnet and Amethyst stopped in their places. "C-can you... let me try to heal it?" he begged of them, only barely taking notice of the fact that the beast was charging towards Garnet, who managed to just hold it back from taking a bite out of her form.
She grunted as she struggled to hold its mouth away from her body. "Hurry, make it quick! The gem is on its back..." She grunted, gaining help from Amethyst, who summoned her whip and was pulling it back away from Garnet. Lapis stood helplessly behind, gazing at the scene before her.
Steven quickly ran up to the beast and licked his hand. "I hope this works..." He rubbed the hand on the gem, which seemed to be primarily orange, except... usually corrupted gems looked normal (or at least... the gems themselves did). This one even seemed to have pink, yellow, and green corruption-esque marks scattered about the gem. He wondered which kind it was, but there was no time to think.
The gem glowed a bright orange as it begun its healing. The gem's body, however, seemed to remain unchanged. Its gem stopped glowing and revealed a clean, illuminous orange. The monster's eyes seemed to have changed from a more reptilian kind, to be more mammalian. Even its movements became less erratic. As if it's gained a new conscience. Has his healing... helped at all?
The monster took them all by surprise, however, by suddenly jumping up, releasing Garnet's grasp on its snout and making Amethyst lose her hold on her whip, which was still wrapped around its torso. Steven was thrown off the monster, and summoned his shield by instinct. When he regained his senses, he saw the monster looking at him intently. More specifically, his shield. Something seemed to ping in its mind, as the monster now grew more chaotic than ever before, charging intensely at Steven. He yelled in fear as he summoned his bubble, which seemed to break on the monster's attack. He luckily still had his shield, which was able to absorb most of the blow. He still felt his back being crushed against the ground, and the pain only grew worse as the monster kept pushing. Amethyst summoned her whip and tried pulling the monster away. Garnet wrapped her arms around the monster, trying to pull it away, then trying to crush it and poof it. Even Lapis, upon seeing Steven in danger, had summoned her wings – thus losing her flying ability permanently until she absorbs the water again – and formed a rapier. If she had a Sapphire with her, she could freeze it to make it even sharper, but she was obviously fused into Garnet. She charged towards the monster, jumped up high, and stabbed it straight into its back. The monster roared in pain as it threw all of them off of it, releasing Steven just long enough for him to run behind the gems. Even after being stabbed, the monster trembled as it turned around, and glared at Steven, completely ignoring the gems that had just defeated it. It was glaring down at his gem, through a hole it has made in his shirt. With the last of its strength, it tried charging at his gem to crush it, until its legs failed it and fell to the floor. Steven couldn't help but put his palms to his mouth and began running up to it, but was held back by the three gems. With the biggest cloud Steven has ever seen, the beast finally poofed, and its large gem fell onto the ground. The damage it has done has done significant damage to the machines around them, and just as the gem fell to the ground, the whole facility powered down again, leaving the place in total silence. Steven stumbled towards the gem, and got onto his knees to pick up the gem. He rubbed it around in his hands, examining it closely. It had an exterior of a bright orange, though it was slightly clear, and inside it, he could see what appeared to be another part of the gem, which was completely opaque, and – even though its color was tinted by its orange exterior – looked to be bright pink in color.
Judging by all that happened, he could already assume who this gem belonged to. He shined his flashlight on the mural of Pink Diamond, focusing intently on her gem. He then looked down at the gem in his hands and bubbled it, and sent it back to the temple. The gems walked up to him, but he still looked off to the side.
"Steven... I know-" Garnet started.
"No. It's okay. Let's just go." His hands turned into fists as he took big and quick steps out of the facility.
Lapis tried following him to try to console him, but was called back by Garnet. "He needs time."
"He knows... doesn't he...?" Lapis looked up at the mural.
"Yes, he does. Please... for his sake... don't tell him anything... He must not know any more about this..." She was begging. Even if she hadn't seen much of her, Lapis knew that that was uncharacteristic for Garnet.
"But... why?! I thought you were a team! Don't you have to tell everyone everything?!" Garnet looked at Lapis. She couldn't see Garnet's expression through her visor, but she wouldn't imagine it was good.
"I... understand where you're coming from, but... we can't ruin the image of Rose Quartz in his mind. It would break him."
"But... with something as big as... that," she indicated the mural of Pink Diamond, "don't you think the secret will come out at some point?"
"She's... right..." Amethyst stepped in for the first time this whole conversation. "I've seen this before with... you and Pearl... when secrets come out... they turn out ugly... we've seen how much he freaked out when he got the book, and he's surrounded by gem stuff! He's gonna find things out on his own, and when he does..."
"I don't think there's much more to tell him now... the secret's out..." Lapis muttered under her breath.
"Hey! You guys coming?!" Steven yelled from outside the facility. The gems looked at each other and walked out of the building, with Steven waiting. "What were you guys doing in there?"
"Just... investigating... we had to find out what that monster was doing..." Lapis knew Garnet was lying to save their skins.
"Did you find out?"
"No." She said in deadpan. "It doesn't matter. It's taken care of, there's nothing to worry about anymore."
Steven looked down and shut his eyes. "Yeah... nothing to worry about..." he muttered. He began walking back to the warp pad, leaving the gems to follow closely behind.
Oooooh, drama... if ya have criticism, it'd be much appreciated! If not (and, well, even if you do), then enjoy the few weeks of delay between this and the next chapter. ;)