The moment that they hit the water, their eyes jolted open. Lapis had entered their domain once more and here they were truly unrivaled. For what'd been surrounding them had been the sea in all of its beauty.
They couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief that they'd landed here instead of some place like a mountain or desert. Though the sea did house many of their worst memories, it also was the place where they felt the most secure. The control that it offered to them was incredibly valuable and they rarely gave that up.
Within moments of realizing that they were in the sea, Lapis also realized that none of the other gems were in sight. Thus they began quickly looking around. Darting their eyes in multiple directions. After still not being able to spot them, Lapis decided to start searching.
They moved through the water at rapid speeds, using multiple currents to aid in their travels. It didn't take long for them to run into Bismuth. They were merely sinking, knocked unconscious by the blast. Lapis debated saving them and as they did so Peridot and Steven came to mind. With hesitance, they decided concede to allowing them to live. They placed Bismuth in a small bubble of air.
Afterwards they began searching for the others, still dragging Bismuth along. Eventually managing to come across Peridot and Pearl. They gave them the same treatment. After them was Garnet, whom Lapis had saved a select few choice words for. Amethyst was also nearby.
The only one that'd been missing was Steven. As soon as Lapis realized this their heart began to race. Steven wasn't a full-on gem. His human half still played a big role and there's a chance that he could've been ripped apart in the blast. Lapis searched tirelessly for him, pushing the currents to their upmost potential. They breathed another, greater, sigh of relief upon seeing him. Most of his clothing had been blown off with his pants barely hanging on.
His skin, however, was fine. This was more than strange to Lapis. Though they were worried about the possibilities of his frail human body being placed in an explosion like that, it hadn't seemed as though the explosion had effected him at all. In all actuality, he appeared better to them then he'd ever been before.
They didn't take the time to examine him too in depth. Instead immediately placing him in a bubble of air as they knew that he needed it far more than any of the other gems.
After having collected the gems Lapis descended to a nearby sea bed. They then combined all of the bubbles of air and expanded them into an area comparable to that of a large cave.
The gems collectively collapsed onto the moist sand, shaking off bits of water and groaning at many of the scraps and burns on their forms. Lapis hadn't taken the time to notice. Steven was all that was on their mind and he hadn't even woken up yet. Though they did notice that his gem was glowing.
"Lapis." They heard. Turning to the direction of the sound, they then found that it'd been Garnet who'd called them. "Thank you." They finished.
Lapis' brow furrowed but they let it rest for now. Steven was priority. Pearl immediately ran over to him.
"Steven! Are you ok?! What's going on?!" They shouted, shaking his unconscious body and checking for scars. The rest of the gems followed suit, even Lapis ran in to get a closer look.
"Woah. Why's his gem glowing like that?" Amethyst questioned.
"Wait back away, let me see!" Peridot said, being far too short to actually look above the rest of the gems surrounding them. The gems did as they said and allowed Peridot to get a better gaze at the issue.
"Oh my.." Peridot said in awe as they touched his skin.
"What's wrong with him?" Pearl asked. Peridot took a moment to consider the situation before they answered. They lifted his arm, felt his chest, and even opened his eyes.
"This is... Fascinating." Peridot said.
"Peridot! Please tell us!" Pearl practically begged.
"Nothing is wrong with him! If anything the only thing that is concerning is the fact that his gem is effectively working on overdrive right now!" Peridot stated.
"W-what..." Pearl said, confusion carved into their face in a similar fashion to the rest of the gems.
"Our gems don't usually glow this bright unless they're being put to some serious work. Like when they have to bring out our weapons or, if they have to change our forms, or even when projections are made. The brighter they glow, the more energy they're outputting. Judging by the fact that his gem has been glowing this bright in spite of him being unconscious means that it's probably doing something big to his body... I just don't know what." Peridot said.
The gems were relieved to know that he was fine, but that's also when they remembered a horrific detail. The pink diamond that had been buried in his stomach.
"I still can't believe that he's a Diamond. If that's true then does that mean that Rose was..." Bismuth couldn't even finish that sentence.
"No! There has to be another explanation for why he's part Diamond! Rose wouldn't have.. Lied like that." Those words themselves were lies and Garnet knew it. Their fist balled upon recognizing just how many times Rose kept secrets from them, from all of the Crystal Gems.
"No! It's not like that! Rose wa-" Pearl's hands instantly clasped their mouth, they tried to pry them away but were futile in doing so.
"Pearl!? What's wrong?" Garnet asked.
"She knows something." Bismuth speculated. "After all she was with Rose from the very beginning. You knew that she was a Diamond!" Bismuth shouted.
Pearl continued to try and pry their hands from their mouth, crying as they struggled. Garnet held them in support.
"That's enough Bismuth." Garnet warned.
"Yeah! Quit picking on her! Just because she was with Rose doesn't mean that she knew about what she was!" Amethyst yelled.
"This doesn't concern you short stuff! You weren't there. You have no idea what Rose was like! The only people who do are me, Garnet, and Pearl and I have a feeling that one of us knew exactly what Rose was!" Bismuth said, their fury building with every word.
"Bismuth, I said that's enough. Now is not the time to being turning on each other like this!" Garnet shouted back, still attempting to comfort Pearl. Who'd all but given up on the situation.
"Oh I wouldn't say that" Lapis said. The gems then darted their attention over to them.
"You almost got all of us disintegrated back there! You could've destroyed all of us and for what!? Because we couldn't 'sit back and do nothing?'" Lapis asked.
"Lapis, I didn't know tha-"
"Didn't know what?!" Lapis interrupted. "That the robots would've seen us coming a mile away? That they'd be better and stronger than us? That they'd have more numbers?! I told you all of this and you still didn't believe me!" Lapis shouted. Garnet stared at them for a moment. It went silent as they listened to and understood their words. Garnet then looked down.
"I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking clearly and I wasn't utilizing my future vision to it's fullest. Next time I'll listen, I promise. Not just to you but to anyone who has these concerns." Garnet said. Their words failed to appease Lapis' anger however and they shook their head in contention.
"No. That's not going to work this time. With you gems it's always about next time. 'I'm sorry for releasing that gem but don't worry next time it'll be fine.' 'I'm sorry for upsetting Home-World again but next time we'll see them coming!' 'I'm sorry for putting you in a mirror! But don't worry next time we won't ever do something that bad again!' That's not going to work this time! You Crystal Gems are fighting for a doomed planet! Look around! We're in the ocean, hiding from a force that is superior to all of us and yet you still think that we have a chance in defending this planet like this! Not this time. I'm not going to sit idly by and let you gems order me around with no actual regard for my well-being!" Lapis shouted.
"Lapis.. Please calm down, there's no need to-"
"Enough!" Lapis interrupted once more. "Peridot and I have been working on a city named Oceanos! With it we're going to plunge this planet into the ocean and use its resources to finally, once and for all, destroy Home-World and the gems so that they'll finally stop taking over and destroying lives!" Lapis shouted.
"Woah, Lapis." Peridot said in concern. "I thought you sai-"
"I know what I said! But this is it's new purpose. If you don't like that, you're welcome to stay with these disgusting beings!" Lapis shouted. Peridot looked at their friends and even took a step forwards. After looking back at Lapis ,however, they looked down and silently remained at their side.
"Steven is the only thing that's good about the Crystal Gems. The rest of it is founded off of lies and hurting other gems. Judging by the fact that you're own leader kept secrets from you; I can't imagine them being any better. When Steven wakes up tell him that he's welcome in Oceanos. To the rest of you though: STAY OUT!" Lapis shouted.
They then grabbed Peridot and leapt out of the bubble. Upon their exit, water instantly poured inside.
Thus Garnet grabbed Steven before they were all submerged underwater. Garnet then rushed to the surface with the rest of the gems as quickly as possible. They held Steven up upon hitting the surface. Hoping that he'd begin breathing immediately. To their relief, he did.
The rest of the gems popped up beside them and looked around. They'd been in the dark of night, the moon being the only source of light that they had to guide them.
"Alright, I'll turn into a bird and hopefully we'll be able to find our way home on my back." Garnet said. The rest of the gems nodded at their plan. Garnet then handed Steven over to Pearl before jumping into the air and shifting into a bird large enough to support all of them. The gems then hopped on their back and Garnet began to sore through the air.
The ride had been anything but pleasant. It'd been silent and there was nothing but the moon and the clouds to keep the gems comfort. They all couldn't help but to wonder what'd just happened. They wondered about who Rose was, they wondered just how much danger the Earth was in, and lastly they wondered what was going on with Steven.
He still remained unconscious and seemingly lifeless and they couldn't help but to worry about the state that he'd been in. Garnet flew for hours on end. They searched for multiple land masses, the dark of the night only making it more difficult to do so.
Not to mention that the Kindergarten was incredibly far from Beach-City and without a warp-pad to go back-and-forth between the two ,travel, even in the skies, would take a very long time.
Eventually they spotted land and with time they spotted the beach that their house had been built on. Upon landing on the beach and eventually going inside, the gems took a moment to truly comprehend all that'd happened.
There was silence upon them entering the house, Pearl put Steven in his bed while Bismuth simply stared Garnet down. Garnet had even removed their shades to get a better look at the anger in their partners eyes.
"What are we gonna do Garnet?" Bismuth asked.
"We're going to fight." Garnet replied calmly.
"Fight who? Home-World? Or Lapis?" Bismuth asked.
"Both." Garnet replied.
"And for what?" Bismuth asked.
"To protect the Earth." Garnet replied.
"To protect the Earth!? Garnet are you insane?! We're talking about a near three-way war and newsflash: We have the weakest side in it!" Bismuth shouted.
"We have to protect the Earth. It's what we fought for. It's what Rose..." Garnet couldn't even finish that thought upon saying their name.
"Oh yeah. Rose. Who could forget about them and their legacy of lies? They fed them to all of us and look at what they've led to. Most of her army is either corrupted or littered across the Earth's floor and you wanna fight for this rock?!" Bismuth asked.
"The life on this planet doesn't deserve to be destroyed like the life on other planets has been!' Garnet argued.
"You know what, I agree. Gems taking over other planets sucks. But guess what? We can't do anything about it! There's only a few of us left, meanwhile Home-World has thousands, maybe even millions of robots, each stronger than probably all of us put together! We'll be shattered, no probably just vaporized going against them. Not to mention that Lapis and Peridot are also going to be involved in this and Lapis can probably stop all of us in our tracks because of this planet's ocean!" Bismuth shouted.
"What would you rather we do?! Sit back? Watch as the world that we fought for thousands of years ago crumbles under the weight of the worst war imaginable again?!" Garnet asked.
"No! I say we don't sit back and get the heck out of here and don't look back!" Bismuth shouted.
"That's the cowards way out." Garnet said with contempt.
"And what you're talking about is a suicide mission. Which one sounds like more of a garbage plan to you?" Bismuth asked.
"We can get creative! We can fight! We can use everything at our disposal and find a way to push back! We always do!" Garnet said.
"No. We always did. Back when we had Rose, when we had an army, when we had leaders, we could push back. But right now, when we're about to be involved in one of the worst wars that this planet has every seen. There's no pushing back, every leaders knows the rule: live to fight another day. What you're suggesting is suicide and if you don't come up with a plan right now then I say you do what I'm about to do. Get out of here and free yourself of this terrible planet." Bismuth said.
Garnet stared at them. Taking a deep breath in frustration. Bismuth was right to an extent in their mind. They had no way to fight back, no plan, no soldiers, nothing. But Garnet knew that they simply needed more time, more time to plan, more time to understand the situation with even better depth. They needed to fight for this planet. Thus they had a suggestion.
"Fine. But we put it to a vote, we're a group after all. We need to stay together. What do you say?" Garnet asked. Bismuth looked at them with reluctance for only a moment.
"Alright. Fine, majority rules." Bismuth said. They both then turned to Amethyst and Pearl, who up to this point had been watching as the two went back and forth. Now they were tasked in finding out who they should follow.
"Raise your hand if you believe that we should leave this planet." Bismuth said. They then raised their hand. Reluctantly, Amethyst followed suit. No one said anything about this however. They respected the opinions of one another and acknowledged them as well.
"Alright then. Raise your hand if you believe that we should stay and fight for this planet." Garnet said. Bismuth and Amethyst then put their hands down but Garnet and Pearl raised theirs into the sky.
The group had now reached an impasse.
"Now what?" Bismuth questioned.
"We stay and fight." Garnet said.
"You can't do that! This is a tie, a 2 on 2!" Bismuth pointed out. Garnet however pointed in the direction of Steven's bed and the gems collectively turned to see him. He'd still been lying on his bed, however his arm had been raised in Garnets favor.
"Steven!" The other gems said, rushing over to him to make sure that he was ok. He chuckled as he sat up.
"Guys, don't worry, I feel fine." He said.
"Were you listening the entire time?" Bismuth asked, he shook his head.
"I only heard the part when Garnet asked us to raise our hands if we want to stay and fight." He said.
"Steven... You understand that that's insane right? There's no way we can beat our opponents." Bismuth said hopelessly.
"Guys." Steven said as he then hopped off of his bed onto the floor. His skin began to glow and pieces of it also broke off of him. In spite of such it didn't seem to do any harm to him ,however, the large pieces that broke off molded into the shapes of spheres.
Within moments so many spheres had broken off that they surrounded him. He then outstretched his hands and the spheres began colliding with one another other. As they did so they became even larger and began molding into new forms. The forms took the shapes of animals who's skin eventually changed color and even grew fur.
It only took a few minutes but after that Steven had been surrounded by five different creatures. A bunny, a bird, a snake, a hawk, and a wolf. The gems all stared, awestruck at his new abilities. He simply smiled, his diamond eyes shining at the overwhelming joy that he felt.
"I think that we have more than enough of a fighting chance!" He said with genuine hope.