CHAPTER VII

DANBURITE

Two days had passed since my awkward and violent introduction. I had slept on the couch (which apparently Aquamarine slept on when he stayed here) which was surprisingly comfortable. The first day I was there was mostly Pearl and Garnet getting me up to date with the current crisis happening. After telling me about Malachite, Pearl decided to go with Amethyst and Steven to search for the missing gems. Garnet told me the rest, the way they met Aquamarine and Amber, the whole reason they were working so hard to find them, but she kept the circumstances of their disappearance very vague. Only that it was a training exercise gone horribly wrong. I guess it was that touchy of a subject. They had information about Homeworld and the plans they had for Earth. While explaining everything, you could tell Garnet blamed herself for their disappearance. I guess this was a touchy subject. I changed the topic and that was that for the day.

The next day, it was Garnet's turn to search for Aqua and Amber. Amethyst insisted on going. Pearl said that she needed a rest, which was completely true. Amethyst eyes had dark rims around them, her hair was a mess, which was saying something. Garnet refused to let Amethyst go, agreeing with Pearl in that Amethyst needed rest.

"Well, fine!" Amethyst said angrily "Go look for my sister without me!" She stormed off into her room, stomping her boots on the ground in anger as she left.

After she was gone, Garnet sighed, her visor appeared to have a blue tint to it for some reason. "That did not go well a' all" she said.

Pearl shook her head in disapproval "Not in the slightest."

"Will Amethyst be okay? She hasn't been herself. I'm worried about her" Steven said nervously. Poor kid. He was in the midst of all this madness. I could only imagine what it was like to go through something like this as a kid. The boy was half of Rose Quartz. From what Garnet tells me, the two share compassion, pacifism, trust, leadership, kindness, and love so similar, its scary. The boy is probably much stronger than he looks, both physically and emotionally.

Pearl started to head over to the warp pad, followed by Garnet. "Amethyst is strong," Garnet said "I have confidence she'll be alright."

"Are you sure?" Pearl asked "She did seem more shaken up than usual"

Garnet nodded, not facing away from the warp pad. "I'm sure. We should all trust each other like that. I want to give her a little alone time as well. I know it's what I would want".

And with that they warped away, leaving me and Steven alone to do nothing.

An hour had passed and Steven and I had pulled out a puzzle with around 500 pieces. the completed picture was the character his favorite ice cream, Cookie Cat. We started on the floor and Steven and I worked cooperatively to start to solve it. It was completely silent and it was a bit awkward. I could literally hear the seconds passing, as the clock's second hand ticktock-ed it's way around the numbers. Almost like it was laughing in my face. As time went by, the clock's ticking started to drive me insane until I couldn't bare it. I fired up a conversation to keep my sanity in check.

"So how are these puzzles supposed to work? They aren't that hard at figuring out."

"Well they're like when you're trying to cook something," He said, putting another piece in it's obvious place in the picture. "You have everything you need, you have to put them in the right place in the right order."

Like the circumstances of my damn creation I thought, but I didn't say that.

"Kinda like how you don't understand how you got made." He said.

WHAT? How? Erm... Ooookay. I'll just let that slip. Keep talking, Danburite, keep talking.

"Yeah, I guess so, but it's like if I'm missing a piece. Nothing is going together quite right." I said. "It's all shrouded in mystery"

Steven looked up from his puzzle "Ohhh! I like mysteries!" He said enthusiastically, walking over the side of the stairs and completely forgetting about the puzzle. He opened the door and took out a box. He pulled a deerstalker and a bubble pipe from the box. "I'll be the detective!"

(How much you want to bet you googled both of those?)

I smiled, Steven always knew what just to say or act. He put on the hat and put the pipe in his mouth and blew a few bubbles "How do I look?" He asked.

"Like a true detective" I answered, smiling. "Where do you plan to look first Detective Steven?"

He pulled a magnifying glass from seemingly nowhere and put it up to his eye, enlarging it by a tenfold. Steven faced to the temple and pointed at the door.

"That way!" He slowly walked to the door, crouching slightly. i stood up and followed him, also crouching a bit. Steven faced the floor as he walked as if he were following a trail. He stopped at the door and looked up at it.

Suddenly the door glowed purple down the center. It split open and Steven was face-to-face with a wide eyed Amethyst, who was carrying a pile of junk in her arms.

"Erm...Hey there. Little man" She tried for a smile, but it was hard when Steven examined her closely with his magnifying glass. "What are you doing?"

I shushed her "He's looking for clues." I said quietly. I winked, gesturing for her to play along.

Steven blew more bubbles from his pipe. "This ma'am is not a suspect."

Amethyst smiled, which was nice to see after she decided to blow off some steam in her room. I was worried for her too, to be honest. I barely knew her, but I had an odd attraction to her. Not like "oh, love at first sight" attraction, but like if she were my sister. I swear, it's like a sister.I should not have said ANYTHING. Great, now some of you probably ship us. I can see it now, DANMETHYST. Ugh...whatever.

"Suspect of what?" Amethyst snickered, playing along.

Steven squinted at her, acting suspicious "Thieftery"

I coughed "You mean thievery?"

"That's what I said, my old bean."

I rolled my eyes, smiling "Alright"

Amethyst dropped her stuff in the middle of the room and started playing with us. Everything went mad. We came up that Suspect #1, codenamed "Amethyst", had stolen the precious stones from the jewelry store and framed Suspect #3, codenamed "Garnet". Then we made a conspiracy that they were actually in cahoots. We laughed for a bit and both me and Amethyst sat down while Steven kept examining everything.

"So have you calmed down" I asked Amethyst.

She glared at me, this was definitely a sore spot right now. I was about to change the subject when she responded.

"Sorta." she said " Not gonna lie, still a bit miffed, but I don't got a reason to hold any beef"

I sighed. "Well, ya had me worried there for a bit, Purple, thought you would flake out on me and Steven"

Amethyst laughed, which filled me with relief. The woman could glare nasty when she wanted to. "Nah, I would never do that to Steven. Little man's a riot."

"Damn right about that"

I noticed the pile of junk in the middle of the room and wondered what it was. I mean, I could see what it was, but it looked like a normal heap of trash.

"Hey, uh" I gestured to the pile "What's in there?"

"Hmm? Oh the pile? Just some junk."

"From your room?"

Amethyst nodded stoically.

"If it's 'junk' from your room, it must be the abomination of the Earth."

She smiled "Awww, thanks! I try my hardest!"

I chuckled a bit "So, the real question is, how did you label the crap 'junk'?"

Amethyst shrugged "I dunno how I started, but I was putting my room back into system."

I tilted my head, "Your landfill of a room has a system? How do you keep track of it?"

Amethyst scoffed "Oh easy. I find something that belongs in my room, try to make it 'clean' and go," She gestured an object from one spot to another " 'This lives there now!', then I just toss it to it's new home wherever it lands "

"Sounds hard to mess up" I said, trying not to laugh.

"That's what I thought, but Pearl somehow manages it."

I laughed for real, then I looked back down at the pile. Something caught my eye. I squinted to see it better. I stood up and walked over to the heap of trash.

"What is it?" Amethyst asked, snickering "See your sister in that heap?"

"Stop talking about yourself like that, sis'" I slapped back, not taking my eyes off the pile. I picked up a small cylinder about two inches long and a centimeter wide. I was made of metal and had a lime green tint to it. I sat back down and looked at it closely. Amethyst leaned in close to me and examined it with me.

"What is that thing" she asked.

It's a part for limb enhancers from Homeworld. The Voice said. This part is a finger, it is completely detached from the palm of the forearm limb enhancer and could form with the other fingers to make a screen which is uploaded to the HIVE, Homeworld Intelligence Verification Encyclopedia. A gem named Peridot has limb enhancers. I reality she is very short and small.

Huh. So this is likea part of a prosthetic limb for gems, is what it's telling me.

"It's a finger" I said "Part of limb enhancers from Homeworld."

Amethyst smiled nervously "He-he….like Peridot's….finger…"

"Exactly like that, from what Pearl describes it, you guys don't know it but Peridot does have limb enhancers"

Her expression went from confused to angry real quick "Is it broken?"

I was about to answer when the Voice told me to try and bend it, if it worked, It would bend like a paperclip. If it was broken., it would be stiff. I tried to bend it and it didn't budge.

I shook my head, "Nah, It's busted. Sorry. Didja want to use it-"

Amethyst angrily snatched the finger from my hand and crushed it into pieces with ease. She tossed the shards at her door and slumped down in her chair.

I held up my hands "Ooookay. What was that about?"

Amethyst had her face covered in her hair. "Nothing."

"You just crushed that poor finger into bits, you're obviously not fine"

"You don't need to know" she said bitterly

"But I think I should if we're gonna be a team" I insisted

She looked up at me, then back down to see Steven. He had tired himself out and started sleeping on the floor, with every snore, bubbles came out of his fake pipe. We were in such deep conversation, we didn't even notice him fall asleep. Amethyst looked back up at me and gestured to him, her expression still withdrawn. I nodded and stood. I picked up Steven, not saying a word and placed him on the couch next to Amethyst. I took the pipe out of his mouth and seeing glass out of his hand and put it in the bo, then the box went in the stairs. I sat back down next to Amethyst.

I cleared my throat. "So? You were saying?"

Amethyst looked at me and stared at me with sadness and anger "Fine. I'll tell you, but you better not tell Pearl or Garnet."

"What about Steven?"

She paused and looked at him as he slept. Then she looked back at me, "Only if he asks"

I nodded "Unless you tell me otherwise, this is a beef between you and me."

Amethyst closed her eye's and exhaled, "I have an old grudge with Peridots, possibly this one in particular."

"Why?"

She shuffled in her seat, obviously uncomfortable. "When I was made in the Kindergarten, I didn't have other gems to tell me how I was made. Well, that's what other guys told me. They told me what they knew, but something was off y'know? Something wasn't right. One day, I met a Peridot from Homeworld, she told me I was a defect because of how late I came out of my hole."

"Did she tell you everything?"

Amethyst shook her head "No, but I heard Peridots work the Kindergartens."

"So you think she knows what she's talking about. That it's true about being a defect"

She nodded bitterly "Yeah."

We just sat there in silence for a few minutes. I didn't know what to say or do. Amethyst was like a sister to me, but I had no idea how to comfort her. Once again, the clock ticked the seconds away as I listened and listened, this time the tick-tock of the clock was accompanied by Steven's snoring. It was 7:47 PM and the sun was setting outside. I looked back down at Amethyst who was staring at the floor.

"Hey, at least you let it out." I said reassuringly.

Amethyst smiled appreciatively "Thanks, homie, I owe you a solid."

"No prob, sis'. I'm here to help"

The warp pad activated and the stream filled the room with light. Both me and Amethyst watched in anticipation if the stream would fade and have the two lost gems accompanying Pearl and Garnet. When the stream faded, only a grim Garnet and Pearl emerged from it. Pearl seemed surprised that Amethyst was here. Garnet, on the other hand, looked more relieved than surprised. She gave me a look of gratitude before stepping off the pad.

"Any luck?" I asked hopefully.

Pearl shook her head "No, but we might have a lead on finding Peridot."

Amethyst shot up at the mention of Peridot's name. "What is it? Come on! Spill, P'!"

Garnet stepped in front of Amethyst, putting her hands on her shoulders "Amethyst we all apparently have had a long day." She said, gesturing to Steven, who snored loudly. "We should all sleep on it"

Amethyst looked like she wanted to argue. Instead she sighed and smiled wearily "Sure thing, G-Squad. And it has been quite the long day"

Then she bolted to her room and quickly closed it. Pearl turned back to me and gave me look like, what did you do to her?. Then she saw the pile of trash and exhaled exasperatedly.

"Amethyst!" Pearl yelled as she stomped over to the temple door "Oh, why do I bother with that slob?"

Garnet chuckled, taking off her visor, revealing three eyes. Not going to lie, it caught me off guard. "Goodnight Danburite, and thanks for talking to Amethyst."

I was still a bit stunned as she walked into her room. "No….problem…."

Then the door closed and left me in the room with Detective Steven snoring on the couch