JESUS CHRIST THIS TOOK LONG AND WAS HARD TO WRITE. I'm still not satisfied with it; I feel like it lacks my usual juice. I wrote two versions of this chapter and scrapped them because I didn't like them, and eventually decided this was closest to what I had in my head, even if it isn't quite it.
I answer the question here of what's up with Greg passing on. It's much more important than a simple memorial, though. Let's say Greg is kind of a legend, even if a select few got to actually meet him. I will elaborate on that later.
College started, and writing chapters is getting hard, so if updating is nightmare-ish, I will make sure to write drabbles and one-shots set in the universe to fill a quota of sorts. so if there is something about the universe you'd like to read about feel free to suggest!
"Welcome home! Oh my gods, we hadn't seen you in so long!"
The young woman launches herself into Pearl's arms like she would with a mother. Being how her own mother had passed away in childbirth—a rare occurence at this point in human history— Pearl had, actually, been her closest experience to a mom. She'd grown much like Steven himself, with the gems as mothers and his living father.
Europa squeezes the gem in her arms, burying her face in the crook of her neck. It doesn't take long for Pearl to understand that she's in massive pain, and she squeezes back, rubbing the youngun's back, feeling her shoulder and neck grow wet.
"It's okay," she mumbles, and she moves the woman so they're looking eye to eye, holding her chin up. "Come on. Just say hello to everyone for now, okay?"
She's still teary-eyed, but she nods and walks into the living room, where the gems sit on the L-couch, expectant. They all stand up and greet her in a mass, save for Rose; hugging her and welcoming her back with several degrees of enthusiasm, though the girl herself seems rather dull.
After the necessary small talk, Europa's eyes finally veer to her grandmother. Pearl imagines she must be shocked at best—Gems have a quality for retaining an image of youth, with few wrinkles or marks of age, and Rose doesn't look much older than Europa herself.
She walks up to Rose and offers a hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Europa Quartz Universe," she greets, droning.
"Rose Quartz," the gem replies, giving the frail human hand a reassuring squeeze. "Nice to meet you, too. Never did I expect to come back to the children of my child."
"Nor did I expect to finally meet grandma someday," is the reply.
"Alright," Jasper yells from the kitchen counter. Pearl can't help but admire the way she keeps trying to sustain this image of happiness. "Lunch is all ready! I made pasta with bolognese sauce, Europa. Your favorite!"
It's nearly noon, and the girl's stomach unintentionally growls, drawing a hearty laugh from Jasper and a couple of giggles from other gems. Garnet offers help with serving the meal, pouring the pasta al dente in square bowls and generously dousing it with the seasoning, moving the plates to a sleek glass-and-metal dining table nearby. "We're going to have to move a seat or two from the counter."
"Amethyst! You heard her. Move some seats to the table, will ya?"
Said gem salutes and obeys.
"Tell me some more about yourself," Rose Quartz prompts, pointing at Europa with her fork. She's already done some update small talk with the other gems, talking about college —she's majoring in Literature— and about life overseas, but the gem wishes to know the basics.
Europa drinks some orange juice and swallows her pasta, clearing her throat. "What would you like to know?"
"Well, I'm not sure. Your age, who your mother was… Did you grow in this house?"
"Ah," she replies. "Well, right now I'm twenty-two. I moved to start college around two or three years ago, but when the news of… well, you know, dad's passing arrived, I agreed to pack up and come back home until his funeral." Her freckled face grows dim. "I never thought I'd be the one to fall on the Dad Dies bingo, and I'm sure Io didn't either." She opens her eyes, recalling Rose probably doesn't know about Io. "That Io girl, she's my older sister. She's finishing her thirties now. Has two kids already, started her own branch of the lineage. She's married, too. I just have my first sweetheart." She giggles. "Io did know mom, but I didn't. Death on childbirth is rare these days, but well, I guess I just had to fall on that other lucky bingo."
Europa's lips purse, and she quickly shakes her head, dismissing the painful memories for now. "Hey," she asks. "How come Opal isn't here?"
Amethyst slurps her pasta and chews noisily before answering. "Opal didn't take what happened too well. We've tried but she hasn't come out since Rose is here." She doesn't elaborate any further, not wishing to put any more strain on Pearl.
"Oh," the girl mumbles, fiddling slightly with the food on her plate.
Most of lunch transcurs within awkward silence, particularly from the Lapis and Garnet portions of the team. The former refuses to communicate with anyone but her mate, leaning into Peridot's ear and speaking in whispers, and the latter simply refuses to speak at all, giving her inner turmoil right away. Pearl is sure that, were she to remove her shades, her eyes would look tired and clouded.
As soon as the meal finishes and the dishes are washed, Pearl and Amethyst retreat into the 'art room' common area of the temple, just one of the many chambers that were built during war-time to shelter all the healed, formerly bubbled gems. They'd been re-adapted for other, miscellaneous purposes after-war, and one of those had become an unofficial art studio. It'd all started when Pearl and Amethyst had used it to store the effigies of Mauve and Junior after their passing, and had rolled from there. Europa follows, and Rose is surprised by the fact Lapis joins the little squad. Her curiosity is piqued, but she also feels unwanted. Thus, much like she did the first night, she heads out for an afternoon stroll.
She feels overwhelmed by the city technology, so her feet guide her around the temple and up the cliff where it has settled, where she always brought her moss to bloom. The lighthouse has disappeared, replaced by what seems to be a reinforced concrete tower with circuitry. She wonders if this is just a more advanced version of a lighthouse, using some sort of contrived signal to serve its purpose, but figures there's not much she can look into with her current knowledge.
The mid-summer afternoon heat has her sweating in a jiffy, and her dress is damp by the time she's finished the climb. She doesn't remember her form being this exhausted when she guided the moss, and she figures that, much like her mind was in stasis, being half of Steven must also have rusted her form.
She stops when she finally reaches flat ground, taking a few seconds to admire the expanded Beach City, the way it flows into the sea like a net and the literal net of magnetic rails through which pods float. The city feels almost organic in its artificiality, simulating motion when the walls of the buildings change color.
The corner of her eye catches a pedestal to her far right, and, being absolutely sure that wasn't there when she lived for the first time, she snaps to look at it. It stands proud and tall, polished and flawlessly rectangular, its marble so clean the light hitting it makes it almost blinding. Curious, Rose walks the distance splitting her from it, and notices what she assumed to be a pedestal is in fact a massive, smooth marble slab, so big it could be a wall. Several bouquets of flowers are spread all over its base, some of them withering, some almost new. A wooden guitar, so ancient it's dried and cracked, sits amidst the flowers, eternally suspended in a glass case.
Her hands trembling, Rose walks towards the glass protecting the guitar, analyizing the old instrument, enchancing her own sight. The paint is almost gone, having peeled off, the floor of the case dusted with flakes. A marking prevails slightly, though, almost faded by the passage of time, but preserved just enough for her to notice—
Her eyes are wide as saucers. She stands up, squeezing them shut. Her hands ball to fists, nails digging so hard in the skin of her palms she's in real pain. She opens them very slowly.
Gregory Universe (1977-2050)
In loving memory
"If every porkchop were perfect, we wouldn't have hotdogs."
Rose feels like she felt that one time back in the war in which a gem had finally snuck up behind her and stabbed her right through with a particularly thick-bladed sword. She feels like she's going to split right in two. She can barely make the words through her tears, and her whole face is burning, like she's had it sunk in lava.
Everything hurts.
She doesn't notice when she's fallen to the floor, to her knees, nor does her throat hurt when the ear-piercing scream breaks the peaceful silence atop the cliff.
But of course. It was wont to happen, Rose. You knew this was fate when you chose to have his child.
It hurts…
A faint memory of words makes it through her mind. Those tears are for healing, hon'. Don't waste them on sadness.
It just makes her sob louder.
The sound of footsteps is the first thing to pull her out of the void, the one thing that makes her notice she's been singing Let Me Drive my Van (into your Heart) for the past twenty minutes or so, inert on the floor and surrounded by flowers. The crown of her head touches the glass casing and her eyes have watched the clouds drift by, but she's so lost in thoughts only now does she remember she has senses.
Her line of sight scans the distance and finds a profoundly reflexive Garnet and Jasper walking up the cliff, standing next to Lighthouse two-point-zero. They seem to be conversing, but she can't make out the words. Both warriors are about as stoic and firm as they always are, but Rose can see their bodies fiddle awkwardly, either because one rolls her shoulders stretching her back or because the other clicks her fingers anxiously over her thigh; and despite the fact Garnet is a perma-fusion and an actual relationship and thus should be closed to herself, she can't help but feel as if she's witnessing an intimate moment.
Garnet turns her head to look at Jasper, and her face makes the slightest turn, and her finger points, and it's then Jasper who's turning and looking at her, though she's too grief-stricken to even feel embarrassment.
Then, the footsteps are going in her direction.
The fusion is looking down at her from her zenith. "What are you doing?"
"My family is dead," she drones. "All my family. My husband is dead, my son is dead, my lady in waiting is figuratively dead…"
"The fact you even considered Pearl to be yours at one point is disgusting in and out of itself," Jasper spits, her golden eyes staring her down condescendingly. She's willing to flex until a certain point and give her sympathy, but as a jasper gem, she's still fiercely protective of her family and-or brood, and having a foreigner claim possession over one of hers is simply over the edge.
Rose doesn't want to argue about this, so she closes her eyes and lies her head sideways. "It doesn't matter. My family is dead. Nothing matters. Nothing has meaning."
"You are acting incredibly stupid."
She looks at the bronzed gem with the corner of her eye, not even bothering to turn her head.
Garnet nods. "We felt the same when you died because your selfishness made you have a child on impulse, disregarding three other lives you had at your charge, albeit your mistake brought us not only inmense joy, but also inmense maturity. Every day I thank the gods Pearl is finally over you, I am over you, Amethyst is enough over you to be her own adult and mature gem. We would have never done that if not for your little impulse. So, yes. Thank you for dying."
"Garnet, you really are an asshole."
"I am not. I am a leader who visualizes the best for the team at her hand. I have to be firm. If you think this little speech I am giving you is hard, you should ask anyone else in the team about the reprimands I have given them after heavy mistakes. Yes. Even Jasper." She's crossed her arms and cocked her hips, and Jasper has nodded her head in admittance.
"Stop acting like a human cub, Rose. You're too old for petty tantrums. So, you lost your status on your team. So, they moved on. I expected you to understand this is natural. At least you were never a foe. I wonder how you would have reacted if you were treated right now the way Lapis, Peridot and I were when we first arrived at your temple." Jasper's meaty index is pointing at her vigorously, and she never expected to be lectured by her of all people the way she is now.
The fusion crouches next to her, being far more up close and personal. "You can stay here wailing, or you can do what we did when you ditched us. Pearl acted the way you are now, and eventually I had to beat her back to Earth. Amethyst and I preferred to help with your son. Amethyst herself also did a few bumps along the way, but she was naught but a child, but your child, so I had to be milder with her. I eventually learned to discipline her correctly. But we moved on. We enjoyed the company of your son. And it is time you move on, and I am not talking of Steven. Move on from your status. Move on from your possession over Pearl."
The rosy gem rouses from her spot defensively, forcing Jasper and Garnet out of her way. "You are all acting awful. You don't even consider my grief or the fact I don't know anything about this planet. I don't care. If you're going to see me crying over my husband and my lady in waiting and react by nagging me, I'm out." She stands after her little show of sass and walks away, frustrated.
She stomps her way back into the temple, holding back tears of anger and sadness. She doesn't even know what upsets her more; if the disrespect to her grief, or the utter rejection, or the realization of Greg's death, or what.
She opens the door angrily and strolls around the expanded inner sanctum, recalling it from the past two days but never exploring it in-depth. She wonders when she'll have enough regard from the rest of the team to ask about it.
Eventually, much to her surprise, she crashes in the art room.
Lapis and Peridot are having a chat with Europa, and, in the background, Pearl and Amethyst work separately on the first representation to the likeness of her son she's ever seen. She hadn't thought of asking her room to make a projection—since the room projected only likenesses of what the gem bearer already knew— and she doesn't know how photos work in this epoch.
As she waltzes in, the couple of mates retreats, leaving only her, Pearl, Amethyst, and Europa.
She takes a seat next to the human girl, admiring the other two crafting the statue nearby. If she's to go by it, Steven had a rounded face, not unlike Greg's —that makes her heart hurt—, a nose reminiscent of that of both parents, and a mane about as dense as Greg's, but as curly as hers. She doesn't think she can determine a body type yet, but he seemed to never lose his pudge, powerful as he might be.
Just looking at the rock is enough to sink her in nostalgia and she sighs, remembering the wall with the bouquets at its base.
"Did you know him?" she hears, and her eyes meet Europa's chocolate-y ones. Despite her tan skin color and freckles, the features of her face mirror hers and, thus, those of her father so well it feels plain weird to look at her. "He talked to me once about this tape, whatever that is, in which you told him you'd always be part of him or something like that."
"I was part of him," Rose answers, recalling herself pregnant on the beach recording said tape for him. "But merely as a magic rock. My conscious and physical form were in stasis while he lived. I don't have any memories of his, nor do I know what he looked like. It's basically as if I was dead all this time and resucitated."
She notices the human is writing on a clipboard and, much like everything in this epoch, it makes her curious. "What's that?"
"Pearl asked me to write an eulogy to dad for the funerary ceremony," she answers, sniffling. "It's been a little hard. Lapis and Peri were helping me out with ideas. I just wrote them down to have them as inspiration for the final writing. Jasper and Garnet threw some of her own, but then Garnet got too sad and they walked out. I've basically just asked everyone if they want anything in. Do you have any suggestions?"
Rose giggles. "Not the slightest. I didn't know him. I was thinking you could tell me a bit more about him, in fact." Yes, it might be masochistic of her to do this right after Greg's memorial, but who cares?
"Ah, my dad," Europa begins. "Good question, you know? It might help me put my own touch into the eulogy. Well, dad was a papa bear, really. He was this gentle, pudgy giant until something messed with what he loved, then he got unstoppable. It was mostly the former with me, though. I didn't grow up during the war, when he got in berserk mode. I was born well after Yellow Diamond gave up. So, yeah."
She sighs. "He used to love animals, too. We'd heal strays and put them up for adoption. I think he just loved everything and saw the good in everyone, and it took a lot of stuff for Yellow to make him hate her."
She scribbles a line about him being loving, before turning to look at Rose, whose eyes are sparkling with both excitement and tears. "I wish I knew more about him and his war accomplishments but I only got to see him as a dad. He'd only use his strenght to twirl me around when we danced in the living room or something." Faint smile.
"Don't worry about it," Rose answers. "I don't need you to know about him as anything else but a dad. Thank you, Europa."
Silence prevails in the room for a second while Rose fixes her attention on her two former younglings, their bodies sweaty with effort as they break out forms of the rock. Pearl is retouching a quite reliable rendition of a face, while Amethyst alternates between chiseling a hand and using one of her own, shapeshifted to look like Steven's, as reference.
"Say," she asks, turning to look at the human, and remembering the question in the back of her mind since day one. "May I ask you about this 'Universe Lineage?'" She makes air quotations for reference. "I've heard it here and there since I returned, and everyone seems to know of it but me."
Europa sighs. "That's one long explanation. I was just assuming the other gems would update you on that. I guess I can try my best though. Basically," she says, and she traces a globe with the sides of her hands. "The Universe lineage is the hundreds of descendants, and their families, that have been born from Steven's forty-five children."
Rose's face is so dumbfounded Europa can't help but laugh. "Want me to show you? In your room, maybe? There's much more to it than just that."
Everything and Anything you Need to Know about the Universe Lineage next chapter! Hope you enjoy!