The atmosphere in the Sun Incinerator had taken on a thick silence. Lars couldn't believe he had let this happen. Flourite had been one of the most harmless gems Lars had ever met.
All she had wanted was to live in harmony as herself. She had given up her one chance of ever getting that for Lars. Lars of all people!
Didn't she know what a horrible person Lars was? Didn't she know what a waste that was? Lars should have been the one to die.
"Captain, don't blame yourself." Padparadscha said. Again, Lars couldn't tell if she was picking up on his past thoughts or was actually in real time.
"I'll blame myself if I want to." Lars said. "It was my fault we were captured in the first place. I stopped thinking Emerald was dangerous, and I started thinking that she would go easy on us."
"I saw you would do that." Padparadscha said quietly, "but I also saw telling you would make you feel sad."
Lars stared at her. Was it possible that Padparadscha could sometimes see the future? And now Lars was certain that she was in real time. Maybe traumatizing events like this was enough to shock Padparadscha into a normal timeline.
"Why then?" Lars asked. "Why didn't you tell me!"
"I don't know." Padparadscha said softly.
The two sat in silence as the other off colors continued to pilot the ship.
"Did I ever tell you about Sadie?" Lars asked. Padparadscha shook her head. "Well she's the kind of person who would sacrifice herself for her friends. Like Flourite did. But if it were Sadie instead of me, she would find a way to keep going, I don't know what to do now. I'm not sure what happened to Emerald, and the Diamonds are aware of us now. Maybe I thought I could do this once, maybe I...I don't know."
Padparadscha sat there silently.
"Padparadscha?" Lars asked.
"I'm getting a vision! Captain Lars will blame himself for what happened to Flourite!"
Lars smiled sadly. "Thanks Padparadscha."
"I JUST DID THAT!" Emerald screamed at the blinking signs on the Destiny Destroyer's screens. They were blinking and telling her to recalibrate the weight the ship was carrying.
"STOP MOVING!" Emerald commanded, typing on a holographic keyboard. "There, I recalibrated the stupid...OH COME ON!" she yelled as the signs blinked back on.
"Stupid stupid stupid." Emerald muttered, typing it in again. "AAAAAAGH! THERE ARE TWO GEMS ON THIS SHIP YOU IDIOTIC COMPUTER! STOP TELLING ME THERE ARE MORE!" Emerald kicked the dashboard.
The signs continued to blink.
"RECALIBRATE THIS!" Emerald shrieked, switching off all warning systems. She punched the dashboard which was starting too look a little more then battered.
"This is your fault." Emerald said, turning back to the containment cell. "I should have left you to be shattered if you weren't so precious to that pirate. And don't look so relaxed! I only extended your lifetime briefly! I will shatter all of you shortly."
The warning signs blinked back on.
"WHAT?!" Emerald yowled. "I TURNED YOU OFF! DAMN MACHINE! I'LL SHATTER YOU! WHY CAN'T YOU WORK LIKE YOU WERE MADE TO! WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE FLAWED-"
Emerald's form crackled violently. "WHY-W-HY D-DO YOU-HA-HAVE TO B-BE BRO-KEN!" She yelled as her form wavered.
She fell backwards wheezing.
She looked up to see several pairs of eyes staring down at her in concearn.
"I d-d-don't want your pity." Emerald growled, slowly recovering. "It doesn't matter what that pirate did to me, it can be fixed and I will be flawless once more."
"We're nearing earth." Rhodonite said. "Only a few days now."
"I thought it would feel different." A rutile said. "I still feel sad."
Lars nodded. He couldn't imagine telling Steven that he had let Flourite get shattered. Not even in space could Lars do something right.
Could he go back to Earth like this? He had not imagined returning even more pitiful then when he left.
"Let's land somewhere for the night." Lars said. "We all need a rest."
The other gems nodded. Padparadscha nodded a minute later. It seemed she had returned to whatever strange time zone she was usually in.
From the surface of the planet they had landed on Lars could see the galaxy where Earth was located. So close to home, yet home had never felt farther.
Lars could tell that the off colors were trying to be strong, but every so often he would catch one of them crying. Why did these things have to happen? He always brought some sort of misery to people. Misery and chaos.
More and more often Lars found himself wishing that he was more like Steven. Steven created chaos and brought misery (usually to Lars) but people loved him for it. He had some kind of magical destiny and everything.
Lars was just the guy-who-died-and-was-saved-by-Steven-good-job-Steven-lets-leave-Lars-all-alone-in-space-now-and-Lars-stole-a-ship-and-made-a-psychotic-enemy-and-oh-yeah-killed-one-of-his-best-friends.
If Lars was going to be honest that title sounded a lot cooler before he thought it out.
And if he was going to continue to be honest there was no way he could go home and face everyone after killing Flourite.
He just couldn't.
Emerald kicked a chair across the room for the seventh time. The Destroyer kept picking up the Incinerator then losing it.
"WHERE IS IT!" she screamed. She turned back to the containment cell. "You're doing this aren't you? You're hiding them!"
Emerald's form began to waver again.
"I'm...not...doing...anything." Flourite said.
"LIAR!" Emerald screamed, form glitching. "It was a mistake to bring you! I should have let the diamonds shatter you like they wanted and taken something useful along instead!"
The warning sign blinked back on.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" Emerald yelled.
"Calm...down." Flourite said soothingly.
"NO!" Emerald yelled.
"You're...only...hurting...yourself."
"What do you know?" Emerald growled.
"I...know...more...about...being...an...off...color...then...you."
Emerald's jaw dropped. "HOW DARE YOU!"
"I...meant...no...offense."
"Oh really?" Emerald asked.
"I...suggest...changing...the...weight...to...seven...gems...I...count...as...six."
"You...what?" Emerald asked.
"Six...gems."
Emerald quickly counted the gems on Flourite's body. "I thought only two or three gems could fuse!"
"Not...at..all." Flourite said chuckling.
Emerald stared at her prisoner. "You're six gems!"
"Yes."
"Six different gems?"
"Yes."
"THATS ILLEGAL!"
"Nothing's...illegal...about...love."
Emerald snorted.
"What's...so...funny?"
"Gems don't love each other!" Emerald said. "That's rediculous!"
Flourite's face shifted into an expression of sympathy. "You...poor...thing."
"I SAID NO PITY!" Emerald said.
"You...don't...know...how...love...feels?"
"Why would I?" Emerald asked.
"You've...never...fused?"
"There are no other Emeralds around to fuse with so of course not." Emerald said. "I'm not a law breaking off color freak!"
"You...can...let...people...in."
"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!" Emerald screamed. "I don't need anyone!" She turned back to the dashboard.
"Do..the...diamonds...love...you?"
"They need me." Emerald said.
"Then...why...are...you...so...scared?"
Lars opened his eyes. He had fallen asleep only to have repeated nightmares of him leaving Flourite behind over and over again.
"Captain?" Rhodonite asked.
"Huh?" Lars asked. Then he felt something wet slide down his face.
"You're crying." Rhodonite said gently, sitting down next to him. "Are you ok?"
Lars stared at her before completely falling apart.
"NO! NOTHING'S OK! IT'S MY FAULT! I KILLED HER!" he fell forward sobbing.
Rhodonite pulled him closer to her.
"It's not your fault." She said, tearing up. "We all underestimated Emerald."
The two cried together for a minute.
"B-but Flourite would want us to keep going." Rhodonite said. "So that's what we'll do! If you want to captain, otf course you're still in charge."
Lars wiped the tears away. "Then we're going to Earth."
Emerald slowly stood up. She had suffered another glitch attack.
She almost fell over again but Flourite nudged her upright.
"Don't touch me." Emerald growled.
"Let..us..help...you." Flourite said. "We...can...show...you...how...to...live...like...this."
"No!" Emerald hissed. "No you can't!"
"Our...captain...helped...us...come...out...into...the...open...he...can...help..you..too."
"NO HE CAN'T!" Emerald howled. "HE DID THIS TO ME!"
"Maybe...this...happened...for...a...reason." Flourite said.
"NO!"
"I...think...you're...no...more...broken..then...you...were...before."
Emerald flushed a deep green. "How dare you...I..." she trailed off.
"You're...hurting"
Tears fell from Emerald's eye. "No...you're wrong. I...I'm fine."
She slumped against the wall next to the cell. Flourite reached through the bars and patted her head.
Emerald looked up at her. "Just tell that captain if I ever catch him he's gonna pay."
Flourite looked at her in surprise.
"Oh no." Emerald said. "I accidently hit the switch to turn off the bars. And now the fusion has me pinned."
Flourite nodded slowly.
"Oh no, now the fusion's set a course to the sun incinerator and I am helpless to stop it." Emerald said, pressing buttons. "Curse you fusion."
"We'll...help...you...Emerald."
Emerald grunted and turned back to the dashboard.
Lars slowly dragged himself back to the ship. His head hurt which was understandable, he had just spent the last half hour crying...
Lars gasped.
"FLOURITE!" that was Padparadscha. The smaller gem raced towards Flourite. Lars followed suit.
"How..what?"
"I...escaped." Flourite said. "It was...six...on...one."
"Wow." Lars said.
"Emerald...is...alright." Flourite said.
"What do I care?" Lars asked.
"You...don't...know...the...full...story."
Emerald massaged her temples. She was probably going to pay for this. What had possessed her to let the permafusion go?
And no way did she need love! She was an Emerald! And she had still only extended the permafusion's life by a little. She would still shatter them in the end.
Emerald lifted her head slowly to look up at the diamonds.
"I'll admit, this was unnexpected." Yellow Diamond said. "We have underestimated the Lars. We believe he is a fusion of an unkown gem and rose quartz. He is stronger then anyone thought."
"It is now a priority to capture him" Blue Diamond had chimed in.
"On the positive side we did capture on of the freaks rose quartz has used as a crew."
Emerald didn't know what had stirred in her, the fusion seemed so sad and scared.
"I want the fusion your clarities." Emerald said. "She could be useful."
She would never admit it but she had turned the voltage down on the jail cell on purpose.
A/N Heyyyyy! Thanks for all the favorites and reviews! As you can see Flourite is fine so there's no cause for alarm :)
Alright that's all for now, leave a reveiw pls, it makes me happy and I'll see you next time!
