Amber and Luca walked to the kitchen, the caretaker was making dinner. It smelled of some strange new essence. The curious gem looked into the pot and saw long pieces of thick yellow hair bubbling. She attempted to put her hand in the pot to get some but was halted by the uncle. Amber walked to the table and sat next to Luca.
"How long does it take for these injuries to fade? For some reason I couldn't feel them yesterday…" Amber said, "They really hurt."
"You were probably experiencing the feeling of shock," the caretaker said, "The human body takes a long time to heal, but your body is probably faster."
"Can I get a healer?" Amber said, rubbing her head and slowly recollecting her mission, walking out the screen door, "I have to capture Peridot!"
The caretaker looked to Luca, "Maybe she took some blows to the head. Her original mission probably took over in her mind, she could turn against us."
"I think she likes this planet, she said that Yellow Diamond wouldn't take her back, so what's the point of capturing the fugitives?" Luca said, suddenly starting to remember how she hadn't really ever had any good experiences.
"You never know, she probably really hates other humans," the caretaker said, "But let's not give up hope, Maryland is a while away from here."
Amber opened up the screen door and walked around in a circle, "Where is Mary's Land?"
"It's Maryland and it is way North from here," Luca said, "You shouldn't go there, the Crystal Gems could hurt you real bad."
"… But I want to finish my mission, just maybe, Yellow Diamond will make an exception for the planet…" Amber felt the fingers, which she had hardly seen before landing, "Some things here are worth protecting."
The caretaker and Luca looked on in silence until it was broken, "Luca, you know how to drive, right?"
"Yeah," the one-armed boy said, "I can drive us there, Amber."
"Okay, let's go," Amber decided.
"Don't try anything with her," the caretaker jokingly whispered in Luca's ear, but he only smiled and nodded.
"Well, good thing it's Friday today," Luca smiled widely.
"It is?" Amber questioned.
"Yes, now let's eat dinner and then we'll be on our way," Luca helped serve the pasta giving the smallest portion to Amber, "Uncle, can you tell my boss I am taking the weekend and Monday off?"
"Sure thing!" the caretaker was glad to see Luca with a good friend as opposed to his ex girlfriend, Wendy.
That girl had always bothered him, even if she was seemingly only being nice. She had a strange air to her, as if she was constantly judging everyone around her. The girl had even said plain out that if her husband didn't make a lot of money, she could never truly love him. But with Amber, she seemed pure; maybe she could do well with Luca if she was human. However she wasn't. He watched her trying to eat the pasta, constantly having trouble swallowing. If she was determined to do something, he might as well let her do it. The caretaker knew that there was no chance Amber could become murderous; Luca would be there to stop her.
The two left that night, bracing themselves for a sluggish eleven-hour drive. When they got into Maryland, Luca pulled out a map and drove to a place called Beach City. Amber's face was glued to the window in the back seat as she stared at her new surroundings. Luca had had to take a stop to buy snacks on the way and she had picked out a coloring book. He gave in to her puppy eyes and paid for everything.
The gem ran back to the car and hopped into shotgun, slapping the seatbelt on, "Come on, Luca let's go finish my mission!"
"You must have gotten hit really hard," Luca sighed, "Wait! You can't sit in the front with me."
"Please, just for the rest of the ride?" Amber begged.
"Fine," Luca sighed heavily and applied the gas, exiting the station.
Within the span of twenty minutes, the car had driven to a boardwalk. Luca parked it and pulled out the map, wondering how to get to the house. Amber fidgeted while he tried to figure it out, but he put the map away and walked into a donut shop.
"Hello, welcome to the Big Donut!" a blond smiled.
Luca smiled back, "Hello, we aren't from around here, do you know where Greg Universe lives?"
"Oh yes! He lives by the big mountain with the statue, good luck finding his house," the girl smiled while her counterpart nodded his head to some music.
"Thanks so much," Luca said gratefully.
"Wait, one question before you leave," the blond said, "How did you drive here with only one arm?"
"I got used to it, but it is a fairly strong arm," Luca said, "It's just a bit tiring over long distances."
"I see, well, my name is Sadie and this is Lars," the girl smiled, "If you need any help, don't hesitate to call us."
"I won't, thank you very much," Luca said, walking back to his car.
Amber was nowhere to be found, she must have heard the directions and gone off. Luca ran along the coast trying to find the tallest mountain in the area. When he finally found it, he walked to the house and knocked on the door.
A tall, pale woman with a pointy nose and a pearl on her forehead answered, "Hello, uh are you human?"
"Yeah, are you a Crystal Gem?" Luca asked carefully.
"Who sent you?" the gem asked, pulling in her fingers slightly.
"Uh, my uncle who knows Greg," Luca said.
"Pearl! Who's there?" a boy called from inside.
"It's a strange boy with one arm, Steven!" the gem answered.
"Hey, um did another gem come by here?" Luca asked.
"No," Pearl said flatly and slammed the door.
"Something is up with the gems over here…" Luca said aloud, turning to walk down the steps.
"Wait!" the boy burst open the door, "Hey, a gem did come here, but she was poofed…"
"Can I see her?" Luca asked, "She is kind of my friend."
"Sure, come on in," the boy said, "By the way, my name is Steven."
"Okay, Steven," Luca followed the boy inside to a bustling house.
"It was a really bad idea for your friend to come in here and try to hurt Peridot," Steven frowned, "She was poofed in seconds…"
"Sounds like her," Luca said.
"Hey Steven, who is he?" a green gem on the couch frowned.
"Uh, he is-"
"Luca, my name is Luca," the one-armed boy waved.
"Hi Luca," a tall red gem said, "I am Garnet, and this is Pearl, Amethyst, and Peridot."
The presumably Crystal Gems narrowed their eyes as Luca went up the stairs to Steven's room. Steven gave Luca the gem and he felt the crack with his fingertips; it had deepened since he last felt it. He walked past the other gems with her gem and was followed. Luca turned around; all of the gems had their eyes on the gem within his protection.
"Dude, where you going with the enemy?" Amethyst asked, frowning.
"I am going to take her to my car," Luca frowned.
"Uh no, she will come back in a few hours and try to hurt Peri again," Amethyst said, "We don't want her to hurt her."
"I will be here with her this time," Luca said.
"You can wait here while she regenerates," Steven said, "It was a long ways from Georgia, right?"
"Yeah," Luca nervously grabbed his stump with Amber's lifeline in hand, "Are they friendly? I forgot to ask my uncle about them…"
"When you get to know them, but right now, they are on high alert," Steven continued, "They want to make sure that Peridot is safe as can be as she is a part of our team."
"Alright," Luca walked over to the couch.
Peridot stared into Luca's eyes; she feared the other gem as her face reminded her of an old friend. Luca blinked his chocolate eyes unintentionally, but Peridot found him to be an interesting person. She sat back and acted cool as Steven sat in between her and Luca. The gem felt slightly warm to the touch and Luca wondered if it was because it was cracked, but he pushed the thoughts away.
"Is Georgia nice this time of year?" Steven asked sweetly.
"Yeah, usually autumn is beautiful," Luca paused, "Plenty of trees out there."
"Do you go to the beach?" Steven smiled.
"Usually I don't go," Luca said, "It's kind of hard to swim with only one arm. I used to go with my ex, she and I would lay on the sand."
"Oh, how did you lose it?" Steven asked steadily.
"I…" Luca put his hand to his forehead, "I don't, I can't remember…"
His head felt like it was splitting in two until Steven spoke up, "Hey Luca, it's okay, don't try to think about it anymore."
Peridot had turned her head to see what was going on with the boy. She stared into his now pained eyes and remembered them from somewhere.
"Did you live on the West Coast before?" the green gem asked.
"Y-Yes, why?" Luca answered, wiping his brow.
"Well, I saw some strange files with you in them," Peridot wondered why she was telling him this information, "Apparently, your parents were on the road and-"
"They were attacked by gems…" Luca began to remember horrible thoughts and memories, "Mom and dad tried to protect me, but they were cut up… My arm, it had an infection from something so I had to get it removed."
All of a sudden, Luca started to get a headache and Steven put his hand on Luca's shoulder, "Luca, you don't have to remember if it hurts you."
"I know, I just can't stop…" Luca panted, "There was a yellow gem, an orange gem, and a light green one like Peridot but much bigger…"
"I think I know who you are talking about, but two are dead and the green one is good now," Steven looked down, he had no idea that she could have been there.
"You know her?" Luca asked, "She just kind of walked around in circles and stared at my parents like she didn't want to hurt them. I just sat there, she walked up to me and cut a vein in my arm then went back to her teammates."
"She probably did it to make sure that her old teammates didn't hurt you," Steven said, "I haven't seen Vexus in a while."
"Oh…" Luca ran his fingers over Amber's cracked gem as it started to glow, "Is she finally coming back?"
"Yeah, just let her do her thing," Steven smiled as the gem formed a body.
Luca caught Amber but she frantically squirmed out, "P-Peridot, you are coming back with me!"
"Amber, she isn't the enemy," Luca held her fighting body back, "Yellow Diamond already dumped you, what's the point?"
The orange-haired gem stopped fighting Luca, "I see…"
When she felt the tension of Luca's arm release her, Amber slipped out and ran out the door, slamming it. She ran far away along the beach until she discovered a series of tall mountains. Amber climbed up them, never looking back. Eventually she reached the top of the tallest mountain. The tan gem looked down, the rocks invited her as water lapped over them. She didn't know why she felt these feelings after Yellow Diamond threw her to the side, shouldn't she despise that gem? Amber looked at the view; it was a beautiful afternoon, the perfect day to end herself. She heard shouts; the others had tracked her here. Looking down once again, quickly contemplating her decision Amber walked away from the edge.
Luca's head popped over the top of the mountain, "Amber! Wait, please! Don't do this!"
Amber walked away from him towards the edge, she felt embarrassed that he had to run up the hill. He walked over to her side and looked down silently. Suddenly the rocks gave way and Luca slipped, falling downwards. Amber jumped and held Luca's body as they fell to the approaching rocks. She used up the last of her energy to shove her friend to the water, hearing a satisfying splash as she fell. Her gem hit the rocks, widening the crack.
The tan gem struggled to pick herself up as she was surrounded by the Crystal Gems, "Luca… Are you okay?"
She crawled to the water where Luca lay, his eyes opened, "It hurts, how about you?"
"I feel fine," Amber looked back, she couldn't see very well, but there were three gems already there, "Here, let me move you out of the water."
Her arms wrapped around Luca as she pulled him out and onto the rocks, "How do you feel now, Luca?"
"Better…" the one-armed boy looked into Amber's eyes and removed her visor, "Oh gosh, your eyes… They are all gray…"
"Sh, please don't stress your body. I feel perfectly fine," Amber stroked his wet hair as her eyes became completely black.
Luca started to worry, "Can you see me?"
"Yes, I can see you fine," Amber felt herself destabilizing into the air, "Hey Luca, I have something to tell you."
"Don't talk, you are disappearing…" Luca tried to push himself to his feet.
Amber lifted his sore body to his knees, "I l-"
She couldn't finish her sentence as more pieces of her floated into the air. Tears rolled down Luca's cheeks as her hands vanished from his cheeks. Steven came rushing down and ran forward to Amber, licking his hand. A smile showed on her face as the last parts of her vanished. Steven's hand pushed into her gem, making it start to heal over. The pieces of Amber that floated around went back into her gem as it started to drop to the ground. Luca caught the golden gem and held it to his chest.
"I think she will come back soon, her gem healed over," Steven panted.
"Okay…" Luca said before keeling over onto his side and involuntarily closing his eyes.
"Luca? Luca?" Steven cried out, but no responses were given, "Garnet can you carry him home?"
"Yes," Garnet picked him up and carried him and Amber home, "That was a long fall but he should be okay."
"I guess Amber wasn't so bad after all," Pearl said out loud.
"No… A while ago when she asked for my help, I couldn't give it to her and she got sent to Earth," Peridot frowned, "She must hate me."
"Peri, Amber doesn't hate you, if she did, she would have continued to try and hurt you on the couch," Steven said reassuringly, "She doesn't seem like she wants to complete her mission anymore."
"Okay," Peridot smiled, thinking of ways to get to know Amber, "How long are they staying?"
"Just until Monday, they drove here but I don't know how Luca did it. He is probably tired," Steven replied.
"Alright," Peridot and the Crystal Gems made their way home.
Luca was set on the couch to rest with Amber's gem on his chest. Several hours later, he woke up to a warm body on top of him. He didn't dare to disturb her so he lay still, steadily breathing.
Two ocean blue eyes opened slowly, "Hello Luca, good morning."
"Good morning," Luca responded, his body no longer feeling hard to move.
Amber got off of him and helped him up, running to the kitchen. She whispered something to Steven and he nodded. Within minutes, a giant stack of waffles was made with whipped cream on top and chocolate syrup. He attempted to eat the masterpiece, but couldn't.
"Yeah, we weren't able to eat it either," Steven giggled.
"Thanks for breakfast though," Luca smiled, standing up, "Where are the gems?"
"Peridot is at the barn with Lapis and the others are on a mission," Steven said thoughtfully.
"Okay," Luca walked outside the house to the porch, "I wonder how the car is doing."
"The vehicle is fine, I drove it over here!" Amber said, "Look at my parking skills!"
Luca put his hand on his face, "Was Steven in the car with you?"
"No, he just watched and tried to tell me not to do it," Amber said.
"Oh geez, it's not made to go on the sand," Luca frowned.
"Oops!" Amber said, walking over to Luca's side, "Can we fix it?"
"Maybe if we get a car wash from my dad," Steven said hopefully.
"Sounds good," Luca said, "By the way, my uncle knows your dad."
"He does?" Steven said, "Oh he must be the sound technician he used to work with."
"My uncle was a technician, but now he works on the farm. Makes sense that he would know something about gems," Luca said, "Well, might as well take the car to get washed."
Amber followed Luca and Steven to the car, "Who wants to sit up front."
"Me!" the both of them said at the same time.
"Argh, I guess Steven can sit up front because he is going to direct me," Luca looked to Amber, "You can sit up here on the way back."
Amber's eyes turned to stars as she and Steven hopped into their seats.
Luca sighed, "Alright, let's go."