I don't specifically name what Sapphire's weapon is in this chapter. I don't want to interfere with the cannon of the show. (Even though I like the headcannon of her having brass knuckles.) Just know that it's a weapon.
There's not much dialogue in this chapter, and I fully admit to it being a boring one, which is why I updated two days in a row to forget about it. But, it's one of those necessary evils that we must all deal with. If dramatic things keep happening, this will turn into a soap opera with plot twists thrown out of nowhere. I promise things will actually be interesting in the next chapter. But for now, it's time for a little cooling off period.
Disclaimer: I don't own Steven Universe.
"I-I can't believe you-"
"He just saved our butts and then you-"
"Sapphy-"
"-what were you thinking-"
"-I never agreed to this! I didn't want him to-"
Sapphire ignored the three voices. Instead, she continued to freeze Ruby in place as they yelled at her. Pearl and Amethyst were already stuck to a wall and unable to escape. Ruby however was flaming, and she refused to let a small amount of ice stop her from being angry. Just as she got her leg to stick in place, her arm thawed out, and when she tried to freeze the rest of her body, the gem turned it into water.
This was all taking place outside of the containment room used for the corrupted gems. Sapphire had successfully stopped Pearl and Amethyst before they could break into the area. And it looked like Ruby was on their side now. All three of them were trying to get to Steven's gem so that they could take him out of the bubble. But she knew that this would happen the moment they arrived back at the temple. She knew a lot of things after all.
"Steven needs to stay bubbled." She said.
"He does not!" Pearl yelled back.
"He's just scared and mad." Amethyst added. "If you stopped trying to hurt him and got to know each other-"
Turning to face the immobilized gems, Sapphire shook her head.
"Amethyst, Pearl. Ruby and I need to talk about this alone. So I'm freezing over your heads."
Neither of them had time to react. Sapphire froze the gem's faces, rendering them speechless. Both of them were caught with comical expressions stuck on their faces. Pearl's mouth was open, and she was preparing to yell at her, while Amethyst was half-way to hacking up a loogie to spit on her hair. Now the two could only move their eyes slightly.
Out of the corner of her eye, Sapphire saw Ruby pull out her weapon. Sapphire subtly did the same, keeping it closely hidden in the folds of her dress. She had the advantage in this fight. She could see all of the move Ruby might make just moments before she did them. She knew how to counter and dodge everything that was thrown at her. But wait... They hadn't started to fight in the present time yet, she still kept her back to Ruby, and she had not yet summoned her weapon.
In present time, Ruby grabbed her weapon, and Sapphire did the same. This time she did not wait before jumping over the leg sent out to trip her. Twirling in the air, she pulled out a duplicate weapon. She slashed downwards, blocking the punches that were sent her way. She launched an offensive attack of her own, pushing Ruby farther away from the room's entrance. Ruby pushed back, trying to gain more ground.
The gem snarled and sent a barrage of fire balls her way. They all missed her though, hitting the walls of the temple and melting the ice that had formed around the area. Sapphire twisted so that she could freeze Pearl and Amethyst back into place again, but an unexpected slap knocked away her hand. It fiercely stung, and she let out a hiss of pain.
For a moment, Ruby looked like she wanted to apologize for hitting her hand, but she place a stern face on again. The gem tried to make a run for the door, but Sapphire swiped out a hand, covering the floor in ice. Ruby slipped and fell, crashing into a wall. This only made her more enraged. She let out a roar, and the temperature of the room swelled. The ice she had made melted almost instantly.
Steam rose up and curled through the area, obscuring regular sight. She didn't need regular sight though. She swung her arm out to the left, and her weapon collided with something solid. Ruby, position revealed, now leaped out at her. But Ruby was blinded by the steam and by her anger. Each attack thrown her way became less accurate, even with the difference in temperatures.
Ruby was only getting started though. Her attacks started out controlled, but they became stronger as she wildly lashed out. She let her built-up anger take over and start to do the work for her. Sapphire on the other hand was growing tired. It was hard to keep up and predict things at the same time. She may have began with the advantage, but Ruby was steadily gaining ground on her.
At the worst possible time, Sapphire felt a wall behind her. She tried to back away, but something quickly wrapped around her. She realized that it was Amethyst's whip. That meant Ruby had melted the two of them free. How had she not thought about that before?! Using her weapon to help, she tore through the whip and then made a move to dodge out of the way. Another whip was sent spinning through the air.
Ruby heard the sound before she felt the strike. Amethyst's whip caught her just as Pearl came from behind and knocked her over with her spear. Sapphire was sent tumbling down. She hit the stone floor hard. The gem felt her dress tear, and her weapon vanish. She looked up to see the three gems standing there, with weapons pointed at her face.
Tears formed in her eye, and the gem hung her head in defeat.
"Pearl, you're the tallest." Ruby said. "You go find Steven."
Pearl nodded, and put away her weapon. Ruby shifted on her feet a little, still not comfortable with the situation. Just as Pearl was about to go into the room, Sapphire spoke up.
"Don't you get it?" She hissed. "If Steven gets out of that bubble, we'll all die!"
All three gems stopped, and they stared at Sapphire.
"I see what happens. I know all the different outcomes. But all of them end up with us dead! And if we willingly let him out, Ruby's death date moves forwards! Every time!"
A grim silence set over the gems.
"Every... Time?" Ruby asked.
"Yes! There's only one outcome where that doesn't happen! And that's one in two million! I just wanted to keep us alive for as long as possible!" She sniffled. "I-I just wanted to protect you."
"There really is another war coming." Pearl murmured.
"Yes! And Steven's going to be the cause of it!"
"Steven? But how?"
Amethyst looked around the room before deciding that she needed to speak up.
"Uh, this may not be the best time to mention it, but Steven told me his teacher was like, super important on Home World. A lot of gems are supposed to be scared to even look at her."
"That's why he knew they'd be looking for him!" Pearl gasped. "He's important enough to start a war over!"
"What are our odds of surviving the war?"
It seemed like a horrible question to ask. But Amethyst couldn't help herself. She needed to know.
"I n-never looked that far." Sapphire whispered.
The gems went back to silence. Amethyst got rid of the whip that had been holding her teammate in place, while Ruby dismissed her tiny gauntlet as well. She helped her partner off the floor, and she smoothed out her hair and dress. Sapphire began to cry all over again. Ruby hugged the gem and patted her back in a soothing motion. Ruby felt her own eyes begin to water as well.
"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked.
"I-I didn't want you two to w-worry."
"You mean, you didn't want to fuse on purpose?"
"N-no, no, no! We were arguing, and mad! I didn't want you to find out and be mad all over again."
"But-"
"Being Garnet is..." She took a shuddering breath. "Wonderful."
"She is." Ruby sighed. "But you know what's nice about being split up?"
Sapphire looked up in concern.
"What?"
"I get to look at you."
The gem snorted, and then burst out into peals of laughter.
"Be serious!" She giggled.
"There's my Laffy Sapphy." Ruby grinned.
Sapphire blushed at the nickname.
"Shhh! You're embarrassing me in front of them!"
The two laughed again. Ruby picked Sapphire up and kissed her. That was the last thing the two gems did before they started to glow white. Then, Garnet reappeared, still spinning in place. She was hugging herself and had a huge smile plastered across her face. When she remembered that her teammates were there, she stopped, blushing slightly.
"Garnet!"
"You're back!"
Amethyst and Pearl immediately hugged their teammate. She returned the gesture, a slight grin still on her face. It was great to be back.
The deserted island was busy and alive with the sounds of wildlife. Colourful birds sang their songs, exotic fish swam around in the water, and countless bugs hummed and chirped. The sky was a perfect blue, and it had large, puffy clouds dotted throughout the sky. The island was humid, but not uncomfortably so. The forest created plenty of shade, and there were many different sheltered areas they could nest in.
But first, water was needed. The centipeetle was still carrying the pink one in her jaws. She had gone through many pains to make sure that she did not salivate on him at all, not wanting to harm his gem. Her mouth ached from holding the pink one. She wanted to drop him. She couldn't though, not until she found some water.
The centipeetle trekked through the forest, putting some distance between herself and the warp pad. Her eyesight was not very good, but her other senses were. She picked up the sound of water not too long into their trip. The corrupted gem trotted along a path that had been worn into the ground by other animals. A game trail. That meant food. There was food on this island. Good.
Eventually, they broke through to a clearing. It was decently sized, and secluded. To one side, there was a cliff. There was water at the bottom, a pristine, shimmering blue. It morphed back and forth between brilliant hues of blue and green. The top of the island was visible from this clearing, and a waterfall flowed down from the top of it. The waterfall was calm and controlled though. It gently poured into a pool of water, which gave away into a river. The river wound it's way off of the cliff, pouring back into the sea.
To the far side of the clearing, and gentle slope began. The area there turned into a beach. It had pure, white sand, that sparkled in the sun. Just behind the waterfall, there was a large boulder, that curved inwards. The inside of the boulder was made of jagged crystals, that were growing out of the rock face. There was enough space inside of the boulder to block out the sky. And the waterfall kept it somewhat concealed from outside eyes.
The centipeetle decided then and there that this island was paradise. It was warm, an improvement from the cold she suffered before. There was food. Her mouth almost watered at the thought of food. She was hungry. But the pink one was in her mouth, so she made sure not to do so.
When would the pink one come back? She knew that he was weak. The other gems had made him weak, and now he had retreated to his gem. A sudden thought crossed her mind. What if the pink one didn't return? She would never get out of this if he didn't reform. She would be trapped in this form.
The corrupted gem bristled. No. The pink one would return. He had to. She hadn't taken him all this way for nothing! The pink one would be able to fix her, she was certain of that. But it could take some time for him to return. Until then, she had to guard the pink one, and make sure that nothing happened to him. She was on her own now. She needed to stay on guard because of this.
Her body was weak upon reformation. Tiny, shorter. Less legs as well. But she needed... What did she need? Remembering still hurt. She shut out any memories of her past. The pain was just too much for her to handle. Instead she focused on the present. She had escaped with the pink one, and now she had to wait for him to come back. He would know how to fix her.
But for now, she could wait. The glistening, blue water beckoned to her. The centipeetle dropped the gem by the edge of the pond. She grabbed some leaves and made a tiny nest around the pink one. The corrupted gem waded into the water, and let out a content growl. The water was refreshing. And she could finally bathe properly.
She splashed around in the water for a little while, playing and causing trouble. She chased away the little water bugs that skated across the surface, occasionally catching a few in the process. There were tiny fish in the pool as well. Not a good meal. But they served well enough as snacks. The fish tasted salty, and they practically melted in her mouth.
Well, everything put in her mouth tended to melt, but this was a different kind. The fish here were not so bad. The centipeetle ate them until she had her fill. After that, she rolled around in the pond a little while longer, and tried swimming against the current that the waterfall created. It wasn't very hard for her to swim against, even with her short legs.
Once her amusement with the water had faded, the corrupted gem exited the pond, and shook off the water clinging to her. Unfortunately, the pink one still had not left his gem. It lay in the place where she had left it, dormant. The centipeetle felt a small flicker of annoyance. When would he be back?
She wondered if a better nest would help the pink one return. Something softer might help. And maybe if he were sheltered and safe... She picked him up again, this time with the pincers on her tail. The gem then explored more of the area, looking for something soft to use as a nesting material.
The beach was the place she went to first. The sand beneath her feet was soft, but not what she was looking for. It would make a mess. She had no way to carry the sand. The corrupted gem wandered closer towards the water, sniffing the ground as she did so. Many colourful seashells were scattered across the beach, seaweed and driftwood mixed into the bunch.
The centipeetle turned over a rock. She snarled in alarm when something gripped onto the end of her snout with it's pincers. Instantly, she snapped her head back and tossed the attacker into her mouth. With a crunch of blood and bones, it was felled. It didn't taste half-bad either. She now knew that there was food hidden under the rocks as well. Not salty like the fish, but sweeter instead. And crunchy.
Continuing her journey down the beach, she found nothing of interest. At least until she cane across some new creatures, strolling around and swimming in the water. She bristled when one of the white-feathered creatures squawked and snapped it's beak at her. The corrupted gem launched a spray of acidic, green saliva upon the nearest creatures.
It started up a chorus of screaming and flapping wings attacking her. Some of the white creatures were blinded by her attack. She spat and hissed at any of the ones that came close to her. One of the animals swooped down from behind, nearly knocking the pink one out of her grip. In a flash, her jaws closed around the offender. It hit the side of her face with it's wings, but she held the animal until it had gone still.
The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth. For a moment, she was disgusted and horrified by the flavour. What was she doing?! She was attacking these creatures as if she were some kind of wild animal! That wasn't gem-like in the slightest! The centipeetle eased her grip on the creature. But then, more of the animals started to attack her. The taste of blood stuck in her mouth. The fish from before only whetted her appetite for more.
The air grew thick with white feathers as she hunted down every one of them in her reach. By the time she had finished off her meal, the once tidy sands were stained with crimson and feathers. Only one more animal remained. One of it's wings was torn off. It was now digesting in her stomach with the rest of them. It stumbled across the beach, dazed and bleeding.
Her mouth began to water. Despite all the things that she had already eaten, she still had room for more. The corrupted gem lunged hungrily at it. She caught the animal, and was preparing to tear it up when she remembered the pink one. He would need food as well. She should save this for when he returned.
The corrupted gem victoriously carried her prize back up to where the nest would be. She sat it down near the back of the cave, and then dropped the pink one. She still needed to find something to make a nest with... Then she recalled all of the feathers that had been scattered across the beach. She went back and grabbed mouthful after mouthful of feathers. She arranged them around the gem.
She sat down facing the gem, eagerly waiting for him to return. But nothing happened. The warm tropical air and relaxing atmosphere was calming. She was still in her weaker form after escaping. She'd need more power. The idea of sleep seemed like a good one... She'd just rest for a tiny bit...
