AN: Sorry for the delay! Some writers block got in the way, but the presidential elections made me want to distract myself as much as possible. And considering I couldn't really escape them any other way, I forced a bit of this chapter out of me. But it's ok, because I think it turned out decently. Once again, sorry about the wait, I hope this is worth it. I'm not the best at finishing things that I start, and I'm going to do my best to make sure this isn't one of those instances. Anyway, hope you enjoy!
Sam and Steven continued their trek through the path of burnt trees and ash that whatever they were following had left in its wake. The smell of sulphur grew stronger with every step the duo took. It wasn't long before Sam had brought her shirt collar up over her nose in a futile attempt to mask the rotten egg smell that wafted through the air.
Steven's feet, unprotected from the elements due to his flip flops, had become black from the charcoal that littered the forest floor. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem for the boy. His feet got dirty all the time. But it became an issue when the charcoal had started to get warm. Soon after, the ground they were walking on was burning hot.
"We're close…" Steven whispered, trying to walk on the edge of the war path that stood before them.
"Steven, listen…" Sam harshly whispered, stopping in her tracks. Steven followed suit.
For the most part, Steven just heard the wind flying through the barren branches. But if he concentrated, he could hear scratching. Like rock against rock, the sound of removing the lid of an ancient sarcophagus.
Steven sped off, Sam following right behind him, the key word, of course, being "behind." The thought of taking on any kind of monster out here in the dark terrified her. But she believed in Steven's ability. She was sure she would turn out ok.
But before she could put any more thought into her current predicament, she found herself held back by Steven's outstretched arm. She almost questioned him, but quickly saw why he was doing it.
Before them, bathed in a red light emanating from inside itself, was a large, corrupted ruby.
Its shape was grotesque, having these massive, muscular arms that it used to move around. Its legs were small, sharp stumps that it was using to scrape at the cliffside that stood before it. The whole of its body was covered in some kind of rocky scales, mimicking that of a pangolin's. The head was, by far, the most disturbing. Its mouth was a circle of teeth that remained open at all times, drooling molten rock from the open maw. The gem that lay in its forehead was surrounded by six eyes that never seemed to quite close at exactly the same time. It was as if it wanted to keep watching Amethyst and Peridot, no matter what.
Amethyst was scared, but tried her best to not show it. She wanted to pull out her whips and teach this corruption a lesson it would never forget, but the cave that she and Peridot were in was too small for her to move with the finesse she was usually capable of. Even if she summoned her weapons without the corruption noticing, she would scarcely be able to use them effectively. As soon as she tried to get a hit in, their cave would be flooded with molten lava, destroying both of their physical forms as well as melting their gems. She had to admit, she never thought it would end this way.
Peridot held Amethyst tightly, trying to make sure neither of them moved an inch. She thought maybe they would survive if they just kept still. Maybe it wouldn't notice them and it would move on. She was 99% certain that this was the end for both of them, but after everything strange that had happened to her in the past months, she was able to hold on to that one percent for dear life. And the one percent happened to present itself in the form of a small rose quartz gem and his human companion.
A loud clang rang out, loud enough to scare any birds away, were there any in the woods to begin with. The corrupted ruby turned its head around on a horizontal axis with a disturbing scraping sound. Its gaze met Steven's, who had already thrown another shield discus right at it.
The pink projectile did little to harm the beast, as it bounced right off of its hard, scaly body. Though it did provide a much needed distraction to allow the trapped gems an escape route, which they took immediately. They moved out of there so quickly, Steven didn't notice them. Not that there was enough time to do so, anyway. The creature lunged after Steven, who bubbled himself and prepared to be launched back into the forest. But liftoff never happened.
Amethyst, who was now free to move about as she pleased, had swung both whips around the corruption's shoulders, rendering it unable to advance on the boy.
"Hurry, Steven!" Amethyst yelled between strained grunts. "I can't hold it there much longer!"
Steven processed the situation quickly before dispelling his bubble and bringing his shield back out. As soon as he did. The beast raised its head and began spraying its fiery bile at him. The boy merely held his shield up, diverting the lava spew around him. He smiled, as the plan was coming together.
"Now, Sam, she's wide open!" Steven yelled.
Sam had spent most of the fight climbing the most in tact tree she could find. When the whips wrapped around the monster's arms, she had gotten in position, mimicking a sniper in some ways. She aimed right down the neck of the Gemcaster at the ruby's gem. With its focus on Steven she had a clear shot at its gem. Letting out a steady exhale to keep her aim on point, she flipped the switch and sent the string of gel right onto its target. Seeing the shot land, she declared, "Bullseye!" before launching into the diminished seventh scale, hoping for something to happen.
If her goal was to cause loud shrieks, she succeeded in spades, but the corruption was still standing. If anything, it was behaving more erratically, more dangerously. She switched tactics immediately, going into a soft, Ionian major scale.
She kept at it for a while, watching the lava spray slow to a stream that dribbled out. Before too long, the creature had fallen backwards, its eyes closed. And from its glowing red gem, a projection appeared, going right through the gel from the Gemcaster and displaying on the cliffside.
While Sam continued playing, Steven dismissed his shield and watched the scene playing out before him. If he didn't know any better, he'd say the corruption was sleeping.
While it was true that gems did not require sleep, that did not mean that they couldn't. Amethyst knew this best of all, as she practiced this ritual almost nightly. However, as it's become apparent through Pearl, one's dreams may be projected during this period of time. It doesn't happen to every gem, but it appeared that it was happening to the ruby that lay dormant on the ground in front of them.
To Steven's horror, he saw the ruby that this monster used to be. He watched her being swallowed by a violent ocean, forced into unknown depths until she cracked from the pressure. Her form didn't dissipate, however. She remained alive, but parts of her began melting away. Eventually, she was nothing but a writhing mass of some strange, jelly like substance. In this state, she drifted to the bottom of the sea floor, where an impossibly small hole sat. She was forced through it and reformed, screaming in equal parts fear and pain, until she fell into the violent sea and repeated the process again.
By the third time the Ruby had fallen into the sea, Amethyst could no longer stand to watch. She plucked the gem out of the corruption's physical form, poofing it in the process. She immediately bubbled it and sent it into the burning room.
The sun had risen enough to illuminate the woods enough that everyone was able to see each other. Though the sky was completely overcast and the wind had only picked up, there was still some light shining through the clouds.
Peridot and Amethyst stood hand in hand across from Steven. The three of them were paralyzed by fear and sadness at what they just witnessed. Is this what every corruption experiences? Is this what happens to their mind? Do they still feel this when they're bubbled and poofed? Are some of them too far gone to ever be ok again? So many questions hung in the air with no answers for any of them.
During this silence, Sam had climbed down from the tree with the Gemcaster on her back. She hadn't seen what happened, as she was focusing on remembering her scales and not slipping from the branch she was precariously situated on. So when she joined her comrades and cheered, it was a bit unceremonious.
"Woohoo! Oh yeah, we did it, guys! We took that monster down! And I can't believe I was able to help! That was so cool! And you, Steven, your shield is awesome! I didn't… Didn't know you ah… could, you know… throw it…"
The deafening silence finally got her attention.
"Everything ok…? I didn't screw anything up, did I?"
Nobody answered Sam. Peridot and Amethyst actually turned away for a moment, conversing with one another. This left Steven alone, contemplating exactly what they all just witnessed. An idea began forming in his head, but it was only a passing thought at first. He was definitely not in the right frame of mind right now to consider any ideas. He would save the thought, however.
Several minutes went by of Amethyst and Peridot quietly talking with one another. Sam had placed a hand on Steven's shoulder to comfort him. He looked like he saw a ghost. While it didn't seem to help much, it certainly wasn't unwelcome.
Sam observed the two gems as they talked. She was sure she saw tears glistening in Amethyst's eyes on a few separate occasions. There was a lot of hugging, but that was normal. She and Steven both saw them kiss one another, which was a bit odd in Sam's mind, but she just assumed it was a gem thing. As for Steven, he knew it wasn't just a gem thing. In fact, it was the only thing that could get him to smile after everything they saw.
Just before Steven was about to address everyone, Peridot and Amethyst turned around, holding hands, and the green gem began speaking.
"In light of extremely recent events, Amethyst and I have decided that this new information about corruption is much bigger than whatever problems she or I have with the Crystal Gems back at the temple. We will be returning with you without resisting. In exchange, we expect you to tell us both what exactly that… instrument… can do to gems. But no matter what, we all need to get back to the temple and explain what we saw as soon as possible."
Steven smiled and let out a sigh. He was hoping it wouldn't be difficult to drag these two back home.
"Uhh…" Sam interjected, "That's all well and good, but you guys walked here. Steven and I took a lion, and still ended up walking for a few hours just to get here. And if the skies are any indication, it's about to start storming. So how exactly do you plan on getting back so quickly?"
Amethyst let out a short chuckle. "I guess I can bring back a classic. But I'm only flying us to the closest warp pad. This takes a lot outta me…"
Before Sam could figure out what that meant, Amethyst had shapeshifted into a large, purple helicopter.
Garnet and Pearl were both sitting in front of the warp pad in the temple. There was quite a disagreement between the two about what should happen once they discovered Steven and Sam were both gone, but Garnet's future vision won out. Though to be frank, it was also common sense. Neither gem knew where the pair had gone or if they even used a warp pad to begin with. Pearl was adamant about searching anyway, but Garnet reminded her that Sam was with Steven and the Gemcaster was missing from the burning room. So if they were attacked, they had a powerful way of dealing with whatever came their way, even if they didn't fully understand what it was they had.
Speaking of the Gemcaster, the instrument was dominating Garnet's thoughts. This gem artifact was able to do some very, for lack of a better term, weird things with gems. Excluding the events that she and Pearl weren't privy to in the forest, they already knew it was capable of both harming gems in excruciating fashion, and give them some strange kind of waking dream, the effects of which were still felt. Garnet noticed that Pearl, though she was still fuming at what Steven and Sam did, still bore the deep blush of ecstasy on her face that showed up hours ago. And she herself could feel Ruby and Sapphire even closer with one another, a feat she thought was nigh impossible. It was as if whatever bad feelings they were harboring in that moment were dealt with and eliminated through the power of a major scale. A ludicrous idea, for sure, but the only one she had.
And then it clicked. An idea that might change everything. An idea that they needed to test out right now. Which was convenient, as Sam, Steven, Amethyst, and Peridot had all warped back into the temple in that short moment.
The four were laughing for a moment when they noticed Pearl staring daggers into the group of them. Quickly, their laughter died down. Peridot slowly slid behind Amethyst, and Sam put her hands on Steven's shoulders, trying to keep him comfortable before they were all scolded.
"Well?" Pearl said, waiting impatiently, "What do you have to say for yourselves?"
Sam was about to speak up on Steven's behalf, but she was quickly interrupted by Garnet.
"Pearl, we'll have to save the arguments about listening to rules and running off without telling anyone for later. I think we might have something much more important on our hands right now. Amethyst, Peridot, head into the burning room and carefully bring Jasper's bubble out here. We'll take her to the beach and surround her when we unbubble her. No buts, no questions, just do it, everything will become clear later."
The green and purple gems looked at Garnet incredulously, but obeyed. The way she spoke, it seemed like Garnet thought time was of the essence. Pearl looked at Garnet like she had lost her mind.
Garnet took the Gemcaster from Sam, who didn't object, and began looking over it with interest. "Ok, Sam, Steven, while you were out there, did you learn anything new about the gem guitar?"
"Gemcaster," Steven corrected.
Garnet waved it off. "Sure, Gemcaster, but did you learn anything new?"
The two looked at each other and started to tell the story of everything that happened. Lion, the weird webbing that shot out of the guitar, how it affected the corrupted ruby they found, everything. Garnet was paying steadfast attention, absorbing every word, but Pearl seemed almost dumbfounded. She was picking up on what Garnet was trying to do, but surely this random instrument wasn't more powerful than Steven's healing powers. And in a way, she was right. It couldn't heal gems in the traditional sense. It probably couldn't fix them if they were chipped or almost broken. But according to the story she was hearing coupled with the experience they had earlier to back it up, Garnet might be on to something.
Just as the story was finishing up, Peridot and Amethyst came out of the burning room with Jasper's bubbled gem. Amethyst held it as if she were afraid it could explode.
"Alright," Garnet started, "Gems, out onto the beach. Put Jasper's bubble on the sand and wait for my instructions."
All of the gems began leaving the beach house one by one. Garnet was the last gem to leave, with Sam remaining inside, on the couch. She sat there for a few minutes, sighing. She was tired, so it wasn't terrible that she be left out. Her eyes were about to close when she heard the screen door open up. It was Garnet, still holding the Gemcaster by the neck.
"Sam, what are you doing? I said Gems outside."
Sam stood up, staring at Garnet confused. She gestured to, well, all of her, and attempted to insinuate that she was a human. "Uh, Garnet, I'm not a gem. I'm just some punk kid from Keystone who can play the guitar."
Garnet smirked. "Sam, Steven saved your life and he's friends with you. You're the rightful owner of a gem weapon. And last night, I'm fairly certain you only went with Steven because you knew you couldn't overpower him, talk him out of it, or distract him enough to stop him. Which means you went with him because you wanted to make sure he was safe. That makes you as much a Crystal Gem as any of us." She finished her last sentence with a shrug.
Sam smiled widely and rushed out the door, grabbing the Gemcaster from Garnet on the way. Garnet returned the grin, happy to have a new member of the team. Sure, she was human, but so was Connie. And considering she was the only one who seemed to be able to competently play the strange instrument, she was a valuable asset.
"Alright already, Garnet, can you explain to us what we're doing now?"
Garnet slowly made her way down the stairs, summoning her gauntlets halfway down. Pearl and Amethyst took the hint and summoned their weapons as well, though they weren't sure exactly why.
"Alright, Gems, if what Steven and Sam said was true, corrupted gems are in a constant state of nightmarish torture. When they're bubbled and unable to form, it's fine, but at the same time, we don't want them to stay bubbled. Currently in our midst, we have someone with healing powers and the ability to enter into others' minds via dreams. We also have someone with an instrument that has, probably amongst other powers we are as of yet unsure of, the ability to clear gems' minds and also put them to sleep. So without beating around the bush anymore this morning, I'll put it bluntly. We're going to uncorrupt Jasper."