Hey there, and welcome back to Hope of Morning!
Hope you've enjoyed it so far - if you have, please leave a review or something to let me know it's getting to people who really like what I'm pumping out! Feedback's always a surefire way to motivate me to finish stuff faster.
I'd like to point out that I'm including a lot of personal head-canons in this story, as well as some unconfirmed information. Like, from gem hierarchy shenanigans to what kind of gem does what, yada, yada. Anyway, yeah. Nice.
Disclaimer: I do not own Steven Universe! Rebecca Sugar does.
The wreaths of greenish smoke seeping lazily out through the dents and cracks in the pod's exterior were dull and weak, suggesting that the injuries afflicted upon the vessel had been some time ago.
But it couldn't have been more than forty-eight hours, judging from the still rising wisps of smoke and the awful soot marks that scorched the cliff wall behind it.
Both Garnet and Pearl stood motionless, fixated upon the small aircraft in soundless horror.
"Wh-Wh. . What is it doing here? It can't possibly be a. . a Homeworld pod, ha-ha! That's ridiculous, they have no reason to. . " Pearl's shaky voice twittered out of audible range as her hands clasped in dismay over her lips.
There shouldn't have been a reason for Homeworld to be invading now.
Her eyes sought to the sky, as though simply looking up would burden her with the sight of thousands of similar vessels soaring across the great dusk. Luckily, there was no such thing going on overhead. But it didn't help to alleviate the boiling sensation of trepidation that threatened to let the floodgates release with a wail of helplessness.
Pearl took a subconscious step away from the pod. "It can't be. . ."
"Pearl, help me remove these branches."
The slight gem's form perked in alarm, rheumy eyes blinking viciously to will away the tears. She hurried over, hands usually so controlled and carefully placed fiddling messily with the debris littering the pod.
"Yes, of course."
The thin gem's vocal cords failed her as she worked beside Garnet, working to remove all the excess debris showered over the pod, and revealing it in a fuller light to the Crystal Gems.
It had a dull green shell, dented and bruised from a harsh impact with human terrain. It lacked a glass hood, much like that of Peridot's escape pod from long ago, and Pearl assumed that it was an automatic electric seal. Some contents laid smashed within the cockpit, others laying in ruin on the ground.
An unspecified object seemed to draw Pearl's eyes toward it. There were strange symbols carved into its twisted, broken surface. They seemed to be written in a language that looked like Gem, but Pearl couldn't seem to translate - it gave her a little headache trying, actually. As well as a fierce case of shuddering to match.
Not that she wasn't already shaking like a brittle leaf in the middle of an autumn windstorm.
Garnet's gauntlets glittered as they increased in size, fixing themselves with an iron grip on either side of the capsule. "We need to bring it back to examine," she stated simply and gave a mighty heave.
The pod became dislodged from the sheer cliff face. A few loose clumps of yellow stone fell from above at the sudden movement, making Pearl summon another spear to deflect one of the falling pieces of terrain.
The pod gave an undignified groan as the unearthly metal settled.
"Garnet! We don't even know what it's here for," Pearl argued. "Or. . who was flying it, or-"
"Which is exactly why we need to study it closer," countered the fusion.
All that came out of Pearl was an impotent whimper.
"I. . I can't even make out what type of pod it is," Pearl half-heartedly divulged as she crouched in front of it. "I can certainly try to open it up and descry any information I can out of it," she added, reaching her hand into the open-air cockpit but pulling it back like an insect had stung her. "Yet it's not even reacting. I think it may be too far gone to-"
Garnet cut Pearl off by placing a disarmed hand on her shoulder. "We both know someone who can work with this."
The pale gem looked up into the other's reflective visor, swallowing down her agony and nodding complacently.
"Let's hope she knows what to do," she whispered, voice raw.
"Can you try holding a little more still?"
"You're pulling at my hair, Lapis!"
"No, I'm styling it."
Peridot's features sunk into an uncomfortable grimace as she tucked her nose into her interlocked arms, grumbling about the inefficiency of the human cosmetic system. Why did every technique humankind had created, each and every single one, seem to inflict the receiver pain of some sort?
Peridot wasn't even human, for Diamond's sake.
Shouldn't she be get some sort of alien loophole?
Veggie Head was settled drowsily across Peridot's crossed legs, his creeping tail flicking irritably whenever Peridot would jump or jolt when Lapis did something a little too rough for her barn mate's liking.
Frankly, the little green gem was scared to even see what she would look like. Thank all the stars in the sky that they never kept mirrors around.
It was after another few sounds of clamps closing, hair pulling, and a breathless squeaking on Peridot's part that Lapis crawled around and gave Peridot an examination from the front.
"Hmm. . ."
Sweat beaded on Peridot's brow as she wondered exactly what the dubious hmm meant. "What? What is it?"
"I'm going to need to add a few more of the hair clips," the blue gem mused, taking a swift dive to the right to rifle through the little basket of hair cosmetic products the two had. . . borrowed. . . from a nearby hair salon. When she pulled back, a few blue hair pins were tucked between her slight fingers.
"Are you sure you need more?" Stressed Peridot, wringing her hands worriedly. "I mean, you've already used half the-"
"I'm sure. To make it look like it does in the manga, this is a requirement." She fixed Peridot with a quiet look, before her eyes drifted up to the gem's yellow mess of a hairdo and snorted. "And that means you've got to put up with this for a little while longer."
"Nehh."
Lapis chuckled as she dove around the grumpy gem. "That's the spirit!"
The next few minutes were horrible. Not only did Veggie Head decide that Peridot's squirming was too much to deal with and run off, but Peridot was certain Lapis was going to poof her at this point.
"Curse humans and their unnecessary needs to modify their appearances with. . weird. . human. . tools. . " She mumbled at one point, met with a mock gasp of offense from the water gem behind her. "Peri, I'm hurt."
"Actually, I'm the one hurting."
"Well, it shouldn't be for long," Lapis consoled semi-apologetically as she gave Peridot an inspiriting pat on the head. "There's only one more thing I need to do."
It felt like the weight of the whole Cluster had been lifted off of her tiny shoulders. "Oh, thank the stars."
Peridot felt Lapis deal the final hair clip and moved around to her bin again. She rummaged through it until she pulled out a pair of. . .
"S-Scissors?"
Lapis turned back with an electrifying grin. "Yeah!"
"I-I don't think that's necessary! Isn't the hairstyle you want to achieve possible with the current length of my form's hair?"
The grin dampened slightly as the wielder of the terrifying human gadget turned towards the magazine she laid on the floor beside Peridot. It was opened to the designated cut, modeled by a sharp-faced woman with hair that looked close enough to Peridot's in colour to be feasible for experimentation.
But, it was too short to be pulled off without giving Peridot's hair a couple snips. Or, multiple snips. More likely the latter.
"No."
"Uhm. ."
The taller gem prowled around her wild-haired barn mate and crouched to become equal level with her head. "You ready?"
"Am I supposed to say yes to make you happy?"
"Close enough."
Lapis' fingers wound inside the metallic arms of the scissors as she spread apart the blades, drawing it meticulously closer to Peridot's hair. . two inches. . one inch. . .
Peridot felt her gem figuratively crack with anxiety.
The scissors suddenly shot out of Lapis' hand, shooting across the barn and into one of the wooden poles that held the loft up.
Peridot looked up, flushed with embarrassment, while Lapis accusingly frowned down at her.
"Did you have to do that?"
"Heh heh. . ."
"PERIDOT?"
"GYAH!"
Both gems spun with shock toward the barn entrance, where in the light, two familiar silhouettes stood.
"Pearl! Garnet!" Peridot yipped, frantically throwing her hands up to cover her mortifying half-styled hair. "Wh-what a surprise! Uh, Lapis and I were just-"
"I'm sorry, Peridot, but there's no time," the fusion intervened, shaking her head in dejected denial. "You must come outside."
The barn gems shared a shaken, bemused look before turning simultaneously back to her.
"For what?"
Steven's flip-flops sunk into the sand as he waved Connie good-bye, watching her mom's cleanly vehicle pull onto the nearest road and begin their journey back to their home away from Beach City.
The wooden stairs leading up to the entrance to his home creaked as he scrambled up - admittedly dropping down onto all fours to speed up the process a mere quarter of the way through.
The boy pushed through the screen door, an animated smile on his lips as he greeted the Gems.
Or, as he greeted the empty house. That was okay, too.
"Pearl and Garnet must still be on their mission," he murmured to himself reassuringly. "Yeah. And Amethyst's probably in her room."
Since he'd lost his fry bits to gravity and to the savage seagulls, he only thought it fair he comb through the contents of the fridge for anything good to eat.
"Yogurt. . . a sandwich from a few days ago. . . " His nose scrunched up as a malodorous smell burned at his nostrils. "Amethyst's engine oil. . ." He sighed. "Nothing to satisfy hungry little Stevie."
He turned in defeat away from the refrigerator before snapping to attention.
There was an unopened bag of popcorn with its clear packaging still plastered on lying innocently on the kitchen counter. "Oh! Nevermind!"
In no time the transparent wrapping was discarded in the trash bin and the paper bag was stuffed into the microwave.
"One minute and forty-seven seconds," Steven recalled as he punched in the correct time. "Because that extra thirteen seconds makes the difference between good popcorn and burnt popcorn. Yeck." He didn't want a repeat of his last attempt at microwaving the buttery bagged kernels.
Pearl wasn't very pleased with him when the entire beach house reeked of burnt starch for half an hour.
"Now. . . to wait," Steven muttered to himself, sprawling out on the marble countertop as he gazed at the gridded bottom of the microwave buzzing overhead.
Not even a few seconds later and he felt something warm and wet nuzzle his foot. Then, a guttural grunt.
"Huh- Lion!"
The boy sprang off the counter and landed squarely on the large pink creature's head. His reward for his pique targeting was an indignant huff and a bat of a massive black paw pad, sending him sliding slowly back onto the kitchen floor.
"Aww, c'mon, you know you love me," Steven crooned as he stroked the big cat's head.
Lion grunted nonchalantly before settling back onto his powerful haunches, dipping into a comfortable crouch as he tucked his forelegs beneath his mane. Another incensed chuff and he butted Steven with his muzzle, scooting Steven backwards as the gem hybrid flailed.
"Whoa- what's up with you, boy?"
Another grumbling chuff and the lion's head pivoted around to the warp pad near the door to the Temple. Steven gasped as stars billowed in his eyes.
"Another lion! And it's purple!"
"Rawr, I'm a lion."
"Oh." Well, that made more sense. Real lions can't talk. "Hi, Amethyst."
"Yo, Ste-man. Lion doesn't seem to like it when I do this, does he?"
Amethyst padded over towards Steven and his disgruntled pink beast, her shape-shifted tail furling testily over her back as she watched Lion send her a somehow vacant yet adverse stare.
Steven caught onto Lion's low-key hostility and patted the feline's head. "Yeah, I don't think he likes it. Look, his fur's all spiky on his back!"
Indeed, the pale pink fur lining the lion's spine was risen and giving ominous little twitches.
Amethyst chafed with a groan of surrender. "All right, all right." Resplendent light engulfed the purple gem's body until she'd shrunken in size back to her original form, torn white tank top and all. "Where were you today? You weren't here when I came out earlier."
"I just got back in from hanging out with Connie!" Steven explained as the microwave dinged to signify the end of the cooking cycle. "I got attacked by seagulls!"
Amethyst's brows quirked with bewildered mirth before her lips shook with a pff. "Yeah, you don't wanna mess with those guys. They don't mess around when you get 'em all riled up." Her eyes briefly retained a darker, haunted look. "I should know."
Steven's instincts probed him to ask about what exactly that meant, but, the smell oozing out of the cracked microwave door handle was too alluring to ignore. "Yep," he huffed as he climbed over Lion's shaggy shoulders and used the lion as a step-stool to pop the popcorn out of the machine. "They wanted my fry bits. They took like, all of them! And then I died."
"That's nice," droned the stoutly purple gem as she opened the fridge to sift through the old food and drink with lusterless interest. She ended up grabbing the uncapped bottle of engine oil and twirled it in her hands as she watched Steven rip open the bag.
"What're you gonna do now?" She pressed as she took a greedy swig of the stuff.
The boy stared at the little wisps of steam the popcorn bag exhaled with a crinkle as he gripped it a bit tighter. "Not sure. I was gonna watch Crying Breakfast Friends or something." He lifted his gaze to pierce Amethyst with it, wiggling his dark eyebrows temptingly. "Wanna watch it with me?"
Amethyst's face tightened as probable flashbacks of the. . . strange. . . cartoon show came to mind.
"Ehh," she finally ceded, eyeing his bag of popcorn hungrily. "Why not?"
"You're joking me. . ."
"What makes you think we'd be lying about this, Peridot?" Pearl demanded, hands poised on her thin hips as she stared down at the smaller technician as she perused the damaged gem pod.
"I- nevermind," Peridot grumbled as she crouched to inspect a rip in the exterior of the capsule.
The four gems stood outside the barn, hovering around the carcass of the air craft like vultures with Peridot being the only one to dive in.
Lapis lingered just behind Garnet, giving the gem pod a wide enough berth to be reclusive but not far enough away as to seem unincluded. Veggie Head lingered cautiously at her feet, whimpering at the sight of the dysfunctional object. Lapis eventually picked him up and held him, resting her head thoughtlessly on his as she watched the two technicians work.
Pearl stood close to Peridot, giving the short gem insight about how and where the pod was found.
Peridot huffed and heaved herself up from the ground, sending Lapis a worried look before turning it to Pearl. "This is an older model. A TG-18 Transport Pod. It wasn't made to land on planets, it was only meant to land on larger Homeworld vessels in secured side units," she explained as she ran a hand over its dimpled shell.
"Generally they were for messenger gems, like hyalites. But for the past few decades Homeworld has been extending their usage to other gems due to the lack of resources." She gave a little shrug. "Out to quartz soldiers, even."
A seed of fear planted into Peridot's chest, then, as she wondered if the gem assigned to this capsule had a mission similar to that of the Ruby's: to locate and seek progress on the Earth mission. Which, fortunately, had been put down and nullified about long ago when Peridot became a Crystal Gem.
Pearl was visibly shaken beside her, crouching down to investigate a loose piece of machinery Peridot was fondling in her elfin hands. "You don't suppose. . ."
"There's no way to be sure right now. . ." Peridot pursed her lips pensively.
A brief moment of silence among all four gems before Peridot huffed with resolve and hopped into the open pod.
"Peridot!" Pearl and Lapis both blurted at the action.
The tiny gem popped into view, looking rather hilarious with her hair stuck out in different directions from all the paste and hair clips stuffed into it, but considering the dire situation, no gem could find it in them to laugh.
"I was simply getting a closer look from the inside," Peridot pointed out snidely. "It's not exactly easy identifying an internal issue from the outside."
"Well?" Pearl pressed, leaning in. "What's the issue? It's gem tech too new for me to pinpoint, and I even utilized your old escape pod to track your location!"
Peridot's face squeezed as though she'd just discovered lemons. "Ha."
The blue and white gem recognized her error. "Oops, ha-ha, silly me. Sorry, Peridot."
The small gem grunted her forgiveness as she dove down to investigate the battered control panel, vanishing from sight temporarily as she ducked beneath the overhead. "If I was able to reboot its system, restore it to before it collided with Earth, I'd be able to see what type of gem was was responsible for flying it."
"Would you be able to track her location?"
"Most likely."
A collective sigh of relief was released. "That's wonderful news," said Pearl.
"Did you take anything from the crash site aside from the pod?"
Pearl and Garnet met eyes. "No. . ."
"Hmm. I'll need to just work with this old thing, then." Peridot noncommittally grunted. "It's obvious that it's suffered recent injury, discerned by how the grime is still so fresh and how nothing is really collapsing onto itself."
She tapped the blank, crack-speckled screen on the main user interface. "But it's damaged so badly it's inoperable. It won't even react to gem presence."
"You can fix it?" Garnet asked, adjusting her visor and giving the destroyed pod a vacillating inspection.
Peridot cackled from within the pod, a loud, grating one that betrayed the gem's trademark pride. "Of course I can! What do you think I am, dull?" The technician crowed. "Just come back in a day or two and we'll pick up from there?"
"Sounds like a plan, Peridot," Garnet concluded. She gave the newest Crystal Gem a thankful pat on the shoulder. "Thank you."
"My pleasure!" Peridot beamed to the leader as she pattered over beside Lapis, hands on her hips as she viewed the capsule. "I'll have it running by the next time you visit."
Garnet nodded. "We'll have her tracked down in no time."
The fusion twirled around and hailed Pearl, bid farewell to Peridot and Lapis, before walking off together towards the warp.
Once Pearl and Garnet were out of range, and the sound of the warp pad activating in the distance sung through the air, her lips pointed into an uneasy scowl as she gave the crumpled gem pod a wary stare. She leaned into Lapis, and she felt a hand clasp her shoulder steadily.
Apprehension swirled like thunderclouds inside of her mind.
"Do you really think you can track. . whoever it is, down?" Lapis questioned wearily.
Peridot nodded certainly. "Yes. But. . . " She paused, hunching her shoulders and craning her head up to look at the ocean gem in concern.
"I'm just wondering what she's doing here."
...Ahah.. ahaha.. ha.. I've been really excited to put my little barn nerds in here. I love them a lot, okay? Like, a lot. A lot. Wow, there's an echo in here. Uh. Anyway. It's for certain they'll have big roles (or at the very least, heavily recurring parts) in the story, even if they've only just gotten their debut to Hope of Morning.
By the way, I'm procrastinating and stressing over studying for like, four important mid-terms by writing this. Woohoo.
In any case. . . seeya 'round, guys, gals, and non-binary pals! Woop!