It was around the middle of the afternoon when the Crystal Gems warped to the strawberry-infested battle field. They all walked forward and looked around.
"Wow," Charlotte said as she followed the gems. "This place is even bigger and more weapon-y than I remember."
"This was the site of an ancient battle," Emerald said with a smile. "Every weapon here was left by a gem over 5,000 years ago. I don't like to disturb it, but Jasper said we can't leave these weapons lying around."
Charlotte and Emerald turned around at the sound of Jasper lifting a battle axe nearly five times her size from the ground and resting it on her shoulder. "You never know when you'll need one of these."
"I need one of those all the time!" Charlotte exclaimed with a huge smile.
"Uh, why don't you look for one that's a little more…you?" Emerald suggested. She didn't want Charlotte to hurt herself with such a giant weapon.
"Okay," Charlotte simply said. "Hey, Lion, come help me look." Lion ignored Charlotte and walked right past her.
"You really need to train that thing better," Emerald said.
"We've been making progress," Charlotte said. "He now looks at me whenever I say his name. Watch." Charlotte looked Lion's way and cupped her hands around her mouth. "Lion." Lion didn't respond and continued to dig around in the dirt. "Lion. Lion. Lion." Still no response. "Well…almost always."
Lion grunted and pulled something out of the dirt. "What does he have now?" Emerald asked walking up next to Connie. She gasped when she saw what was in Lion's mouth.
"That's the scabbard for Lars' sword!" Emerald exclaimed. She angrily walked up to Lion and gripped onto the scabbard. "Unhand it!" She tugged. "Let go!" With one final tug, she pried it loose from Lion's mouth. "Shoo. Shoo," Emerald said waving off Lion. Lion grumbled in response.
"Dad fought here?" Charlotte asked.
"Yes, he did," Emerald said. "And I was there, fighting alongside him."
"Man," Milky Quartz said. "I wish I could've seen it."
"No you don't," Jasper said. "Countless gems were broken here. It was a maelstrom of destruction and death."
"But we won!" Emerald said jumping in front of Jasper to prevent her from scaring Charlotte. "Your father led us to glorious victory! The odds were against us, and our hearts were uncertain. But we chose to fight alongside Lars, and here we made our stand against our Homeworld!"
"Alright," Milky said. "I think we can do without the drama. Let's check this place out."
After a while of digging around through the old weapons, the Crystal Gems all gathered onto the warp pad and warped back to the temple.
"This is great," Milky said jumping off of the warp pad and walking to the temple door. "I've been needing some new weapons to train with."
"Milky, help me with this," Jasper said following behind her. Milky and Jasper took each end of the giant battle axe and tried to fit it through the temple door.
"It's been ages," Emerald said blushing as she continued to stand on the warp pad and hold the scabbard. She looked over and could see that Charlotte was staring at her. "Yes, Charlotte?" Emerald asked turning her head to face Charlotte.
"What was dad like?" Charlotte asked.
Emerald paused for a minute to think about what Charlotte asked. "He was…" Emerald paused. "Courageous…and brilliant…and…" Emerald looked at the portrait of Lars that hung in Charlotte's room. "…handsome. Sometimes," Emerald turned her head to look at Charlotte again. "You look so much like him."
"Really?" Charlotte asked turning to look at Emerald with an awkward smile.
"Uh," Emerald muttered. She was interrupted from her thoughts when she heard Jasper and Milky still struggling to fit the battle-axe through the temple door.
"Charlotte," Emerald said. "I think you should have this." Emerald handed Charlotte the pink scabbard.
"Wow," Charlotte said as she grabbed the scabbard. "Thanks, Emerald. If anything tries to eat me, I'll bop 'em with this."
"That's just the scabbard, Charlotte," Emerald said. "It held you father's sword. Nothing could fit inside it so perfectly. For all these years, it's been…incomplete."
"So let's complete it," Charlotte said. "Where's the sword?"
At that moment, Milky and Jasper finally got the battle-axe to fit through the temple door. "There we go," Milky said following Jasper into the temple with the door closing behind her.
Once the door closed, Emerald knelt down to Charlotte. "Can you keep a secret?" Emerald asked.
"A secret?!" Charlotte exclaimed excitedly.
"Shh," Emerald said bringing her index finger to Charlotte's mouth. "It's a secret even to Jasper and Milky. Lars had a place that he kept hidden from all but me, but you're his daughter. That place is rightfully yours now, and I can show it to you!"
"Okay," Charlotte said with a smile.
With that said, Emerald and Charlotte warped off. They ended up in a field with a few cliffs around it.
"Alright," Emerald said. "It's a three hour hike that way, followed by a 90 degree climb. You think you can handle it?"
Charlotte made an unsure face. Emerald took not of this and provided a solution. Soon enough, Emerald was taking the 90 degree climb with Charlotte tied up in her cape.
"I was your father's sole confidant," Emerald said. "For all the words he could share with no one else, I was there to listen."
"Why'd he keep so many secrets?" Charlotte asked.
"He had to Charlotte," Emerald said as she continued to climb. "It's the mark of a true leader to know just what to keep hidden from everyone you want to protect. Everyone except me."
After a minute or so more of climbing, Emerald reached the opening of a cave. She pulled herself in so she was standing on solid ground. She untangled Charlotte from her cape and set her down.
"Welcome," Emerald said walking forward. "To Lars' secret armory."
"Woah," Charolette said. "I've been here!" She ran forward and climbed up the small flight of stairs.
"Huh?" Emerald asked. "You must be thinking of somewhere else. I'm the only one who's witnessed the armory's magnificence before now."
"Nuh uh," Charlotte said. "Lion showed me."
"The lion?" Emerald asked in a shocked and slightly disgusted way.
"Yeah," Charlotte said walking towards the middle of the large panel on the floor. Emerald followed behind her. "There's tons of neat stuff hidden here."
"I know!" Emerald said. "That's why I brought you here! Now, let me show you how it works."
"It's okay," Charlotte said. "I can do it without you." Charlotte placed her hand on the pedestal and waited. "Oh right." Charlotte poked her cheek. "We've got some axes." A group of axes rose out of the ground.
"The Axes of Ages?" Emerald asked.
Charlotte poked her side and activated another part of the room. "We got spikey chain lady and her metal dealies."
"The Heretic's Anguish?!" Emerald said.
"We got a…" Charlotte poked her side again and activated another part of the room. "Three pack of laser light cannons."
"The Quartizine Trio!" Emerald exclaimed.
Charlotte poked her nose and activated another part of the room. "And…a whole lot of these armor guys."
"The Armor of the Fallen!" Emerald said in a frustrated tone.
"What were we looking for, again?" Charlotte asked.
"His sword!" Emerald exclaimed. "Your father's sword!" Emerald formed a hologram of the sword from her gem. "It's a straight bladed saber that's pink with a red handle."
"Oh," Charlotte said. "I know where that is."
"What?" Emerald asked.
"Come on," Charlotte said as she lead Emerald to the opening of the cave. They both went back down the cliff and walked to the warp pad. As soon as they were both on it, Charlotte warped them back to the temple.
When Charlotte and Emerald came back to the temple, Jasper and Milky were sitting on the couch and Lion was sitting near the door.
"Lion," Charlotte said happily as she walked toward her pink companion. "Perfect timing." She reached into Lion's mane and pulled out a pink sword. "Here it is."
"Lars' sword," Emerald said. "How did it get in there?"
"I don't know," Charlotte said handing the sword to Emerald. "There's a lot of stuff in there. I keep stuff in him too." Charlotte jumped into Lion's mane. The gems waited until Charlotte came out of Lion's mane riding a bike. "Ta da," she said.
"But…how?" Emerald said pressing her hand against Lion's mane. Lion lightly roared at her to get her to stop."
"Does Lion have something to do with Lars?" Emerald asked.
"Oh," Milky said. "Of course. That's why he's pink."
"It's a little obvious," Jasper said crossing her arms.
"But Lars didn't have a lion," Emerald said.
"It looks like his stuff in there," Charlotte said as she put her bike back in Lion's mane.
"No," Emerald said. "Lars didn't have a lion! Because if Lars had a lion, I would've known about it!"
"Lars kept many things secret," Jasper said. "Even from us."
"But not from me!" Emerald exclaimed. "I was the one he told everything!"
"Hey, you're not the only one who misses him!" Milky said.
"You can't understand how I feel!" Emerald yelled. "None of you had what we had!"
"He probably just wanted to protect you like everyone else," Charlotte said.
"What do you know?!" Emerald snapped. "You've never even met him!" Emerald punched the wall with tears in her one eye. The force from Emerald's punch caused Lars' portrait to come loose. Emerald gasped as it fell to the ground. Jasper caught it just inches before it could hit the floor.
Emerald ran to the warp pad.
"Fine!" Milky said. "Go! Go cry about it!"
Emerald warped off.
"Where'd she go?" Charlotte asked.
"Who cares?" Milky said. "I hate it when she gets like this."
"Jasper?" Charlotte said turning to look at the large gem. "Is she okay?" Jasper didn't respond. "Well, I'm gonna find her." She turned to Lion. "Do you know where she went?" Lion lightly roared in response. "I'm going to assume that means you do." Charlotte climbed on top of Lion. Lion created a portal and jumped through it.
"Good luck," Jasper said once the portal closed and she had put the portrait back on the wall.
Charlotte and Lion ended up back on the strawberry battlefield. "Emerald!" Charlotte called out once she spotted the green gem.
"Leave me alone!" Emerald said as she ran off. Charlotte and Lion chased after her. Lion created a portal to catch up with her. They appeared right next to Emerald. "Hey, Emerald," Charlotte said. "Wait for me."
Emerald gasped ran faster until she jumped onto floating chunks of earth. "Get that thing away from me!" she exclaimed.
"You better sit this one out, Lion," Charlotte said. She got off of Lion and jumped onto a close chunk of earth. "Okay, I've had a talk with Lion, he's gonna, uh, chill out here, uh, we're alone now, nice and private."
Emerald continued to jump to jump onto higher chunks of earth while Charlotte struggled to follow.
"Good idea," Charlotte said. "I'll meet you at the top." She jumped one more time, landing on the top chunk of earth. "This is hard to do in sandals."
"Go away!" Emerald said.
"Emerald!" Charlotte yelled. "Did I…did I do something wrong? You got to tell me!" Emerald didn't respond.
Charlotte took a step back and jumped, trying to reach the largest, highest chunk to get to Emerald. Emerald turned around showing the anger on her face. Charlotte's eyes widened, and she began to plummet down.
"Charlotte!" Emerald said as Charlotte started to fall. Charlotte quickly caught herself on a giant root that was growing out of the chunk of earth. She quickly climbed to the top of the chunk.
"Emerald!" Charlotte exclaimed once she reached the top of the chunk. Emerald was sitting down, holding her hand up to her face. "Emerald, you have to tell me what's wrong."
"Sometimes," Emerald said. "You even sound like him." Charlotte's eyes widened. "Do you remember this place? Do you have any of his memories?…We were right here. Over 5,000 years ago." Emerald creates a green hologram of Lars with his back to her. Charlotte stared at the hologram.
"Emerald," the holo-Lars said in Emerald's voice as it turned around.
"Yes?" Emerald asked looking up.
"I'm going to stay and fight for this planet," the holo-Lars said. "You don't have to do this with me."
"But I want to," Emerald said.
"I know you do," Holo-Lars said. "Please. Please, understand. If we lose, we'll be killed. And if we win, we can never go home."
"Why would I ever want to go home, if you're here?" Emerald said.
Holo-Lars chuckled and held his hand out to Emerald. Emerald stared at his hand for a moment.
"My Emerald," Holo-Lars said.
"You're wonderful," Emerald said gripping Holo-Lars' hand. As soon as she did, the hologram disappeared. Emerald remained silent for a moment.
"Everything I ever did," Emerald said. "I did for him. Now, he's gone. But I'm still here." Emerald sighed. "Sometimes I wonder if he can see me through your eyes. What would he think of me now?"
Charlotte was still and silent for a minute. She suddenly leaned forward and hugged Emerald from behind. "Well," Charlotte said. "I think you're pretty great." Tears started to flow down Emerald's face.
Charlotte and Emerald stayed up on that chunk of earth for a while longer until they finally came down where Lion was waiting for them. With the sword placed in the scabbard, Emerald and Charlotte placed it into Lion's mane. Emerald wiped a few tears away from her eye.
"Wait a minute," Charlotte said jumping into Lion's mane. A minute later, Charlotte came back out of Lion's mane with a pink flag. Emerald gasped at the sight of it. With it in hand, she told Charlotte of the great battles she and Lars fought together.
After a while, Charlotte and Emerald got on Lion and rode back home.
In this AU, Lars was a human that was killed in a gem attack but was resurrected by a Rose Quartz. Once Homeworld found him, they took him to their home planet to conduct experiments. He was able to escape and make it back to Earth. With his new powers, strength, and confidence, he stood up against Homeworld to protect his home planet. He was able to convince many gems to join him, leading to their victory. Being resurrected made him immortal, so he was able to stay alive for the 5,000 years that followed. He eventually met Sadie when she came to Beach City to perform a pop concert. They ended up together. Lars passed some of his powers onto Charlotte, making him a bit weaker. This leads to him getting killed on a mission not too long before Charlotte is born. The gems kind of blame Sadie and Charlotte for his death because they think if he didn't pass on his powers, he would have survived the mission.