A/N: Oh boy, this has been a long time coming. I think this is also the longest chapter I've written ever. Maybe I'll write longer chapters someday, but for now, it seems like my girlfriend rubbed off on me. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter because this is the last one!
While the gang continued to make their way to the headquarters of the Sikudzakhalanso Mafumu, they still couldn't help but think of their respective loved ones. Pearl was still worrying about what was going to happen to her children and yet grasping onto hope for Garnet's sake that they could get them back, Liddicoatite was yearning to be with his daughter again, Bloodstone and his guardian were quietly talking amongst themselves about something privvy to them, Princess Lapis Lazuli was feeling a bit homesick, and Larimar was training herself to do tricks with her pyrokinetic breath. For the moment, they were taking a break from planning what to do next and focused on whatever was occupying their thoughts at that moment, their loved ones especially.
"Oh, Garnet..." Pearl cooed to her wife.
"Yes, Pearl?" Garnet asked her.
"It's been a long time since we... you know. What do you say we do it whenever we make our next stop?"
"Sure. It would be nice to have some time alone after everything that's happened so far."
"Yes... yes it would. I can't wait to do it. We haven't had sex since the twins arrived."
And sure enough, when the group had made their next stop for the night, Garnet and Pearl proceeded to get straight to their unfinished business. It started with Garnet shapeshifting her clitoris into a tentacle dick and wriggling it straight into her wife's vagina. Pearl immediately started moaning upon being penetrated and she started clinging onto her wife like there was no tomorrow.
"Oh, yes!" Pearl screeched. "Yes! Don't stop!"
"I wasn't planning to..." Garnet purred suggestively. "Now... get down on your hands and knees. We're going to do this... doggy-style."
Pearl gave her wife a naughty smile. "Yes, mistress. I'll do whatever you say, mistress."
"Good."
They proceeded to get their funk on for the next several minutes. Meanwhile, Liddicoatite and the rest of the group were going over their plan to stop the Sikudzakhalanso Mafumu and get the children back.
"Okay, I got it," Larimar said. "But could you run it by me again just in case? I wasn't paying attention at all."
Liddicoatite drew out a sigh. "Just so we're clear," he began. "Since Garnet told us that recruiting the Gems who worked with the Sikudzakhalanso Mafumu won't pan out, we're going to try something different. In just a couple hours, we're going to try to find a back route and sneak into their headquarters that way. Now unfortunately, this means we might have to say goodbye to our ant-camel friend." He turned to face the ant-camel they'd riden from Titanoholtite. "I'm sorry, dear pal, but I'm afraid this is where we'll go our separate ways."
"Oh, come on, Liddi," Larimar whined. "Do we really have to say goodbye to Raglaia? She's been nothing but kind to us. She doesn't deserve that."
"Dammit, Larimar." Dumortierite shook his head with disapproval. "I told you not to name it."
"For the last time, stop referring to her as an 'it'. She doesn't like being referred to as an 'it'."
"Ant-camels don't have a concept of gender, Larimar."
"Yes they do! They just can't express it!"
"Both of you," Garnet suddenly cut in. "Knock it off right now."
Dumortierite and Larimar turned around to see the Gem Queen in front of them, her arms crossed and her legs closed firmly together.
"We're leaving Raglaia here when we make it to their headquarters," Garnet told them. "She'll be the first one to die if we bring her there anyway."
Larimar sighed. "Fine."
"Okay, so now that that's out of the way, what do we do now?" Dumortierite asked.
"Get your things together," Garnet replied. "Grab anything you might need. This includes: extra weapons, spells, gadgets, and so forth. Now let's move."
When they finally made it to the Sikudzakhalanso Mafumu's headquarters, they approached the back entrance just like they had said they would do. Almost immediately, they ran into a problem.
"Oh, damn..." Liddicoatite muttered.
"Something wrong?" Pearl asked her former stepfather-in-law.
"The back door's locked. Don't worry, I think I know how to fix this."
"How?"
"Tabby's father used to do this every time before we would have sex. He'd take some of this slime that he harvested from a Yilgarn-Didyma's skin and lather it onto his nether regions and voila, he had his own lube. I've still got some in a flask I take with me. If I could just slather this slime onto the door, Larimar could use her fire breath to set it ablaze and we could get in."
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Bloodstone asked. "Do it, dude."
"Alright, alright, just hold on." Liddicoatite pulled out the flask containing the Yilgarn-Didyma slime from his robe, opened it, and then slathered the contents all over the door. As he did so, he made sure that it was covered in an even coating. Once he was confident that it was all even, he stepped aside and let Larimar use her powers to set the door on fire, guaranteeing it would burn to ashes. With the door now burned down, he turned to the others and said, "Entrez-vous."
"Awesome," Lapis Lazuli just said.
Once inside, the group quickly proceeded to crowd into a large, spacious room where they could only presume Chalcedony and the other members were holding meetings. They weren't sure what to make of anything. Something about this seemed... off. They cautiously made a few steps forward, trying to get a bearing on the surroundings, when Pearl noticed something out of the corner of her eye.
"Oberon?" she asked softly. "Titania? Is that you?"
"Mother!" the twins shrieked with joy.
The children rushed over to one of their mothers, who proceeded to happily embrace them as they made contact with her body.
"Oh, my darlings!" Pearl exclaimed. "I'm so glad you're okay. Now we can go home and be a happy family again." She stepped back when she noticed that they were no longer babies. "What happened to you?"
"We were scared after the bad lady took us and we grew up," Oberon said. "Can you tell?"
"Not at all."
"Thanks, Mother. Me and Titan missed you so much."
"Your mommy and I missed you, too, sweetie."
Pearl embraced her children again. This time, she wasn't about to let go. She didn't want to lose them again.
"This is a trick," Garnet suddenly said.
"Really?" Larimar asked her sister-in-law. "How can you tell?"
"The Sikudzakhalanso Mafumu wouldn't just give up the children like this, and they especially wouldn't just leave them here for us to just get them. They're trying to let our guards down so they can trap us. In fact, any minute now, one of the members will be coming in." She suddenly caught sight of Tabby Quartz entering the room. "That must be her now."
"What, Tabby? No way."
"Yes way. She's not as she seems. Just watch."
Tabby Quartz beamed up and outstretched her arms. "Oberon! Titania! It's so nice to see you reunited with your moms. Now come here. I want a hug."
The twins could tell something was off about her and refused.
"Oh, come now, darlings. What's the matter? Can't be bothered to give Aunt Tabby a hug?"
Once again, the twins refused. They were rather adamant about not wanting anything with the Gem claiming to be their friend.
"Oh, to the infinite depths of hell with this..." Tabby Quartz changed her form to reveal that she was actually... Priestess Neptunite?! "No more Nice Priestess. You're coming back to your cells." At that moment, Chalcedony, Margaritasite, and Lady Phantom Quartz appeared right behind her. "And this time, we'll see to it that you two never try to leave again."
"What's going on?!" the real Tabby asked frantically as she came onto the scene. She gasped when she saw Neptunite in possession of the twins. "Neptunite! I should've known you would pull something like this."
"Tabby!" Liddicoatite exclaimed. "You're alright!"
"Well, yes, but..." Tabby gestured to Neptunite doing her best to keep the twins from squirming in her arms. "The children!"
"Mommy!" Titania yelled out to Garnet. "Get us out of here!"
"Give our children back, you monsters!" Pearl screamed. "How can you be so callous and thoughtless as to use our children for your own political leanings?!"
"The moment these children grow up to take your place, they will do everything they can to abuse their power and lord that power over others," Lady Phantom Quartz said. "Getting rid of them and all other monarchies is the only way we can ensure all nations live freely."
"But surely, you realize that how you plan to achieve that goal will ultimately backfire on you, don't you?" Liddicoatite asked plainly. "Like you've failed before? Now give us back the children. That's all we want."
"Why?!" Chalcedony screeched. "These babies are going to grow up into tyrants! And I refuse to let tyrants rule our dimension."
"They're children! Do they look like tyrants to you?!"
"No, but they will be!"
"Come on, Chalcedony," Bloodstone said sternly while he slowly pulled out his rifle and aimed it right in the middle of her forehead. "Just give it up. It'll be way easier and this whole ordeal will be over a lot sooner."
"You want me?" Chalcedony asked incredulously. "To cooperate?" She started laughing hysterically, laughing especially at the thought of the royals taking her into custody. "Like I'm going to cooperate with you."
As Chalcedony continued to laugh, the young Crown Princess Lapis Lazuli rushed forward and spontaneously produced water from her palms.
"I'm going to kill you!" Lapis Lazuli shouted as she had the water in her control freeze Chalcedony into a wall. "And then I'm going to keep killing you and killing you!"
"Oh no, you don't!" Chalcedony yelled out as she struggled for air.
Garnet and Pearl incessantly shook their hands while the blue Gem had her eyes dead-center on her target and her hands hovering at the victim. Meanwhile, Bloodstone still had his oversized rifle cocked straight at the Sikudzakhalanso Mafumu leader's head. But just when he was going to pull the trigger…
"Stop!" Tabby screamed out at her friends. "Don't kill her just yet!"
"W-What?" Liddicoatite stuttered. "Why?"
"She's the monarch who was supposed to be the next in line for the Zultanite throne!"
"And you know this, how?"
"She explained it to me when we first met. Her family disowned her because she didn't want the throne and she didn't want the throne because she thought her family was wrong to claim absolute power over their people. That's why she founded the Sikudzakhalanso Mafumu in the first place. She thinks what she's doing is good!"
"Are you serious right now? She thinks murdering children, murdering other monarchs, and throwing people who support monarchies and other forms of government that aren't democratic in cells is good? How did you two even meet anyway? I mean, before you were kidnapped."
Tabby sighed. "I'm sorry, Dad, I should've said something a long time ago." She then began to explain the complete history of how she came to be associated with the Sikudzakhalanso Mafumu in the first place, from wanting them to assassinate Zoisite to her trying to leave up until when they decided to kidnap her. "Now you know everything… can you ever find it within yourself to forgive me?"
"Tabby…" Liddicoatite could feel the tears welling up in his eyes, he was so beside himself. "So that's why they kidnapped you? I didn't want to believe you'd even do such a thing, but you did… and to kill your own brother? I… I don't even know what to say. I think I might need some time to think this over."
"I know. I understand. Whatever you do, whatever you say, I will support it."
"T-Thank you."
"Uh, guys?" Bloodstone squeaked all of a sudden.
"Yes, Bloodstone?" Tabby asked. "What is it?"
Bloodstone shakily pointed at someone who happened to be right behind him. "Behind you..."
Liddicoatite and Tabby quickly turned around to see Lady Phantom Quartz, who was now glowing intensely and gearing up to vaporize the group with her powers.
"Oh shit!" Tabby exclaimed. "Everyone, get into position!"
Everyone did as they were told. Soon after, everyone had their weapons out and they also ran at once to stop her before she could use her powers. Garnet was the first, using her gauntlets to deliver blow after blow upon the sides of Lady Phantom Quartz's head. However, they didn't seem to faze her in the slightest and she started charging her powers again. While she was doing so, Chalcedony and Margaritasite made their presence known and started attacking as well.
"Fools, do you really expect to stop us?" Chalcedony asked the group. "No matter what you do, democracy will always win."
"Keep saying that!" Bloodstone taunted the former monarch. "It might come true eventually!"
"Oh, really? Well, in that case, I'll be glad to do it, but first..." She produced her giant scissors from her gem and started snapping them at the young bounty hunter. "I want to get you out of the way."
"Oh yeah?" Bloodstone pointed his rifle straight at her head and had has finger hovering over the trigger by a couple inches. "Step closer. I dare you. I double dare you. I triple dog dare you!"
Before either of them could do anything, the rifle suddenly disappeared from his hands. It only took the boy a few seconds to realize what had happened before he turned to see Margaritasite holding his beloved weapon.
"Hey!" he yelled. "You better give it back, you witch!"
"Ah, ah, ah," Chalcedony mockingly sounded. "You have to say the magic word first."
"Oh yeah? And just what do you want me to say?" Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Pearl preparing to throw her spear at Chalcedony's back. "Oh, let me guess: 'watch out', right?"
"What are you...?" All of a sudden, Chalcedony could feel an overwhelming twinge as Pearl's spear sunk itself into her back and drew blood and she shrieked in pain. She turned out and screamed at the white Gem Queen, "You'll pay for that!"
This managed to buy Bloodstone enough time to swipe his rifle back from Margaritasite and then cock it back into place.
"Hey, Sultana!" Bloodstone called out to Chalcedony. "Or should I say would-be Sultana? I dare you to pull another fast one. I dare you. I double dare you. I triple dog dare you!"
"Alright, you asked for it!" And just like that, she readied her scissors and went in for the kill, only for Dumortierite to suddenly rush over and throw himself in front of his boss.
"Morty!" Bloodstone yelled. "What are you doing?!"
"Don't worry me about me, boss," he assured the young bounty hunter. "I've got this."
"Thank you, Mr. Dumortierite." Chalcedony could only smirk at him while she had her scissors at the ready. "You just made this easier for me." Now she started focusing her energy on the blue Gem before her while Bloodstone ran off after Margaritasite, his rifle still in tow.
While his guardian was putting up a good fight, Bloodstone was shooting at the yellow Gem witch, hoping to get at least one good hit in. Unfortunately for him, she was using her magic to teleport away before the bullet could pass through her body. Once he ran out of bullets to use, he then proceeded to flip the rifle upside down so he could smash the blunt end of the rifle into her. Once again, it was to no avail as she disappeared and then reappeared behind him.
"You're going to have to do a lot better than that, dearie," Margaritasite said. She then started chanting. "Per la potenco de la ĉiopovaj Dioj, mi ordonas al vi doni al mi ... la potencon!"
In an instant, Margaritasite had grown a foot taller and gained much muscle in almost every part of her body. The first thing she did after being granted the kind of power only the Almighty Gods had on them was unleash as many lightning bolts as she could on Bloodstone and his friends.
Garnet gasped. "Look out!" she yelled out to Larimar, who was just standing there like a deer in headlights.
Larimar braced herself for impact, but just like he had done for his boss, Dumortierite threw himself in front of her and absorbed all of the energy from the blast. Then, just like that, his gem splintered apart and fell to the ground in asymmetrical but beautiful little pieces and his form disintegrated shortly after.
"Morty!" Bloodstone shrieked in distress. He ran as quickly as he could right up to what was left of his guardian's gemstone. "Oh no! Morty! Oh no, no, no! Morty… Morty." He started weeping in despair. "Oh no… Morty. Not you, Morty. Oh God. Oh God. I already miss you so much…"
"What, what happened?" Larimar suddenly asked, now confused.
"He's gone!" Bloodstone yelled in response while still weeping.
"What?" Liddicoatite asked now.
"HE'S GOOOOONNNNNNNEEEEEE!" Bloodstone screamed at the top of his lungs. "What am I going to do now?! I lost the one person who saw me as family..."
"I'm sorry for your loss, Bloodstone," Garnet said. "But don't worry. I'm going to make sure he didn't die in vain."
The young speckled Gem sniffled a bit as he looked up to her. "Thank you."
"Alright!" Larimar cheered. "Go, Garnet!"
Garnet now ran over to where Chalcedony was and slammed her into a wall five feet away.
"Holy crap, that was amazing!" Tabby Quartz exclaimed. "You think you could finish what we started for us?"
"Sure," Garnet said. She then winked at Tabby and proceeded to curb-stomp the ever-loving hell out of Chalcedony. The leader of the Sikudzakhalanso Mafumu had a trick up her sleeve, however, and just when Garnet was looking away for even a second, she produced a bag of pocket sand and threw what she could grab into her opponent's face.
"Ahh, fuck!" Garnet yelled as the sand irritated her eyes.
"Garnet!" Pearl yelled. "Hold on. I'll give you something in a second."
"No time, Pearl," Liddicoatite said. "Chalcedony's already got her scissors back out."
Sure enough, Chalcedony's weapon was already back out and she started slowly opening them up.
"Garnet, look out!" Bloodstone yelled.
Garnet moved away too quickly for her opponent to snip at her. She then turned around and caught the blades of Chalcedony's giant scissors with both of her hands.
Chalcedony found herself taken aback by this. "Wha... what are you doing?!" Fear was now present all over her face.
"It's over, Chalcedony," Garnet calmly told her. "You've lost."
She grabbed the scissors away from Chalcedony by the handles and, without a moment's hesitation, snipped her form and her gemstone in half...
"Holy shit!" Larimar exclaimed. "That was awesome!"
"Thank you..." Garnet simply replied.
...and just like that, Garnet's body suddenly hit the floor. She was still alive, but barely clinging on to life, just trying to hold on for dear life.
"Garnet!" Pearl screamed as she ran over to her wife. She scooped up the hot pink Gem's head and shook it violently. "Garnet! Damn it, Garnet! Can you hear me?"
Garnet was quiet for a moment before she finally said something. "Pearl," she whimpered hoarsely. "Is that you?"
"Yes, Garnet," the white Gem Queen croaked. "It's me. Are you okay?"
"What do you think?" Garnet gently laid her palms on her wife's face and let her feel the cracks on her gems. "Doesn't look good for me, does it?"
"Oh, Garnet, don't say that!" She gingerly set her wife's head down and buried her face into her hands. "Oh God, I can't believe I let you down like this..."
"You did what you had to do, Pearl." She pried her wife's hands away from her face and looked deep into her eyes. "You have been and always will be... my wife and my friend."
"I know." Tears began to roll profusely down Pearl's face. "It's just... I never dreamed that I'd love you so much, despite everything I went through. After Rose went away, you came back and stole what was left of my heart. And now..." She struggled to keep herself from producing more tears as she let the ones already on her face slide down to her jaw. "...I'm about to lose you forever."
Garnet couldn't stand seeing her like this, on the verge of breaking down and turning into a huge weeping mess of emotions; yet at the same time, she knew her life was ebbing away and the pain radiating from the cracked gems on her palms was too visceral to ignore. She knew that she was going to leave Pearl all alone when she died, just like Rose had done when she fell for Greg. She knew that without her, Pearl would lose all will to function even for the sake of her own children. And because she knew, she started to cry herself.
"Pearl..." she called out with a clear tremor in her voice.
"What, dear uxor?" the white Gem asked gently, her breathing starting to hitch.
"You have to move on. Ruby and Sapphire would want each other to do the same if anything happened to them."
"I... I can't."
"Yes, you can, Pearl. I know you can. I-I love you..."
Unable to help it now, Pearl started sobbing into Garnet's chest. Oberon and Titania approached their mother from behind and hugged her.
"Don't cry, Mother," Titania whimpered. "Be strong!"
But Pearl only continued to wail as she held fast to her wife's rapidly-dying body. She tried to convince herself that Garnet was right, that life would still go on; then again, she'd done the same when Rose died and look how that turned out.
Oberon then suddenly broke away from Pearl and ran over to Garnet, his eyes growing mistier as he did so. "Mommy!" he screamed at her. "Get up! Get up for God's sake! She's gone!"
But Garnet didn't seem to hear him. It wouldn't be long now...
Tabby could feel her heart start to break as she watched the whole scene unfold before her. "What... what have I done?" She began to weep into her father's shoulder. "Oh God, Dad... I don't think I want to see this..."
"It wasn't your fault, Tabby," Liddicoatite tried to assure her. "You didn't know..." He stopped himself from going any further when he realized what he was saying. "I'm sorry..."
At that moment, Kasolite suddenly came onto the scene and saw everything that was going on, including her friend Tabby crying into her father's shoulder.
"What's going on?" Kasolite asked, confused.
"Garnet's dying and it's all my fault," Tabby continued to weep. "She cracked her gems to the point that she might as well have shattered them. Why, why?"
"There has to be something that can be done," Liddicoatite added. "Do you know anything that can save our friend?"
Suddenly, a figurative light-bulb lit up over Kasolite's head. "I have an idea. But I don't know if you'll want to hear this."
"What is it?" he asked curiously.
"Well, one of us can heal Garnet and restore her gems to as they were, but..."
"But what?"
"One of us will have to die in the process. Everything about them will be gone: their gem, their form... It'll be like they never even existed..."
"Who's going to be ballsy enough to die like that?"
"I'll do it," his daughter spoke up.
"Tabby, no! I can't lose you too!"
"I gotta do this, Dad! My brother did so many terrible, terrible things before he died..." She looked back at Pearl, who was curled up into a fetal position next to her almost-dead wife and still crying over her. "...and I was there to help Garnet and Pearl with their wedding. Please, think about Papa for a moment."
Liddicoatite finally relented. "Alright, but remember: I love you and I'm also extremely proud of you today." He sighed and wrapped his arms around her.
"I love you too, Dad," Tabby sniffled.
The young speckled bounty hunter looked up at her. "So you'll do it?" Bloodstone asked Tabby eagerly.
Tabby solemnly nodded her head. "It's for the good of everyone involved... including myself," she spoke softly. "At least I'll have closure now."
She bent down beside her queen, breathed slowly and deeply, clasped Garnet's hands into her own and then started speaking. "Sana animam meam, et reginam pro Garnetto fac alium diem vivit propter eius uxor ac liberi exsequuntur." While she was saying all this, her body was rapidly engulfed in an almost-blinding light that shone across half the room. As she was undergoing this metamorphosis, every ounce of energy in her body (as well as her gem) made its way towards Garnet's palms; once there, they began to repair the cracks on her gems to the best of their ability all while Tabby's entire body was devolving into nothing more than pure, unfiltered energy. When it was all said and done, what was left of Liddicoatite's daughter spread through the hot pink Gem Queen, soon renewing her gems and reverting her back to normal.
"Garnet!" Pearl screamed with joy while rushing over to her.
Garnet sat up and was happily embraced by first her wife, then their two children, then Larimar, then Princess Lapis Lazuli and finally the young and impressionable Bloodstone.
"Oh, welcome back, you glorious bitch!" Pearl breathed while tears of joy were leaving her eyes.
Garnet's mouth turned up in a playful little grin. "Pearl, please," she chuckled. "There are children here."
"I know, I know. I'm just so glad you're still here."
"I can tell." She looked over to her sister-in-law and added, "We're sorry we doubted you before. You can fight beside us anytime."
"Thanks, Garnet," Larimar said. "That means a lot to me."
As they were leaving the ancient monastery, the queens and their entourage couldn't help but notice just how beautiful the wildlife was. Pearl herself was blown away by the glorious purple and navy blue sunset the evening sun was giving off. One sunset was absolutely gorgeous enough for her, but she was always willing to believe that the most beautiful sunset of all was yet to come and perhaps when Mineralis's three suns came together at just the right time.
Before she could get lost in her thoughts, though, another Gem ran up and bumped into her.
"Hello, can I help you?" Pearl asked this stranger.
"Hi, my name's Gahnospinel," the stranger replied. "I'm Tabby Quartz's fiance."
"Oh... hello, Gahnospinel." Pearl's voice quietened slightly as she said this. "I'm Queen Pearl from Chalcopyrite. My wife and I and some friends were looking for her. Nice to meet you."
Gahnospinel noticed the change in her voice right off the bat and he frowned. "What's wrong, Your Divinity? Did you find her?"
"Yes... we did."
"Well, where is she? I want to talk to her about something."
"She's... not here."
"What? What are you talking about?"
"She sacrificed herself to save my wife, the Queen Garnet, with a healing spell. I'm so sorry..." She stretched her arms out as an offer to help him hug out the sadness. "I can only imagine how hard it must be to lose the love of your life. In fact-"
"It's okay, Your Divinity. I understand. If it hadn't been for her, your wife wouldn't still be here. At least now I can rest easy knowing her death wasn't for nothing."
It was at that moment that Garnet, Liddicoatite, Bloodstone, Princess Lapis Lazuli, and Larimar caught up to them to see what all the fuss was about. Almost right away, Liddicoatite recognized Gahnospinel's face and solemnly wrapped his arms around his would-be son-in-law.
"Thanks, Liddicoatite," Gahnospinel said. "I appreciate it."
"It's the least I could've done for anyone, least of all you."
Gahnospinel sniffled at this. Before long, Pearl, Garnet, Bloodstone, Princess Lapis Lazuli, Titania, Oberon, and Larimar all joined him and Liddicoatite in this embrace, hoping to convey to him once more that he was blessed to have Tabby in his life, if only for a brief time.
"Alright, guys," Larimar finally said. "We need to get back home. We've got things to do."
"You're right," Liddicoatite said. "Gahnospinel, why don't you come with me? I was hoping we could work as partners."
Hundreds upon hundreds of Gems had gathered to see Pearl and Garnet introduce their newest child to the public. Everyone waited with bated breath as they wondered to themselves what this newest member to the family would look like. They only became more hyped when Pearl and Garnet stepped out from behind the curtains with Oberon and Titania standing beside them.
"Ladies and gentlemen and everyone else in-between," Pearl began. "I know you're all here to see for yourselves our newest member of our family, but first, we must hear from my wife how special Dumortierite was to us despite him only knowing us and vice versa for a short time."
Garnet nodded at her wife. "Thank you," she replied. She cleared her throat. "Dumortierite was a Gem who truly knew how to put all others before himself. He was a selfless man who knew when he needed to do the right thing and why it had to be done. Him taking in his boss was no exception. The day he took in his boss was the day both of their lives changed forever. From the moment he took him in, his boss had no choice but to trust him no matter what. And now with Dumortierite gone, his boss has now found another family who will make sure he lives another day."
"That's right."
"And now, without further ado..." Garnet stepped aside to make way for the Gem of the hour. "Please welcome our new pride and joy... our son, Bloodstone!"
The entire crowd cheered as Bloodstone made his first public appearance as Garnet and Pearl's new son. Larimar and Blue Topaz were there to congratulate them on adopting the boy after Dumortierite's death, as were Liddicoatite and Gahnospinel. All four of them walked up to the Queens to embrace them and wish them luck.
"I'm so glad you took it upon yourself to adopt him personally, Pearl," Blue Topaz said to his daughter.
"Thanks, Dad," Pearl responded. "I just didn't want to think about Bloodstone having to be shipped off to an orphanage, so I asked Garnet if we could adopt him and the rest is history."
"I'm sure that's what Dumortierite would have wanted anyway."
"Me too." She looked back at Bloodstone giving his new siblings a bear hug. "I'm sure he'll be a wonderful addition to the family."
"He looks so happy with you guys," Larimar said. "I'm glad you adopted him. Who knows what would have happened if you hadn't?"
"I'm sure Garnet would know," Pearl quipped. "But then I don't want to think about it."
And so Pearl, her father, her sister, former stepfather-in-law, and his new partner all laughed amongst themselves, happily looking forward to what the future would bring them.
