Temple, Ocasio's P.O.V.:
"Ok Ocasio, do you know what happens when our gems are cracked?" I hear mom ask me.
"Well don't we become corrupted?" I ask, actually paying attention to the lesson this time.
"Kind of; you see, when a gem is cracked its will is sputtered out over time. I'm sure your father has explained to you the will of our gems. Or at the very least you learned about it from that video file you saw," I nod in agreement, "When our gems lose their will; we begin to lose our personalities. Our personalities are merely a thought of our gems, kind of like an Artificial Intelligence's personality is made. Anyways as we lose ourselves, we lose behavioral functions; this in turn causes the corruption. Kind of like how Earth's animals act when infected with rabies."
As she continues I hear Obsidian and dad behind me talking. "So, Obsidian, did you find any good parts for the machine?"
"Not really Emerald. All we could find was some crystal glass in our sector. How about you?"
"Well before Howlite attacked, we found a spare battery pack and some shards of crystal glass."
"Oh yeah, I forgot about Howlite."
"Yeah, anyways any leeway with finding out what is wrong with her gem?"
"None right now, Moonstone and Jade are still trying to figure out how she is corrupted but still has her form."
Suddenly Mom is behind the two and hits them both in their respective craniums, "You two should be listening. If you don't you will never get out of this class and back into normal routines."
Dad sits back up still clutching his head and whines, "But I already know all of these things!"
"Yeah me too!" Obsidian whines as well. This causes me to laugh and mom to smirk. After they stop we get back on to the lesson.
Hours later on the Beach, Emerald's P.O.V.:
As I'm walking along the beach, my arm still in a cast, I can see the stars beginning to appear. I take this time to meditate about the past few months. I remember the good times and the bad times alike, each memory leaving a lasting implant on my psyche. After a while I hear footsteps drawing near; when they stop I open my eyes to see Lapis, "Got any room on the beach for another?"
I smile and nod towards the ground next to me, "Of course little sister, but you've never been into meditation, why now?"
"Always room for something new I guess." Lapis says with a half-smile.
"That is true, but I can sense something is bothering you. What is it?"
She gets a look on her face as if she is mulling some sort of life or death decision. After a few minutes she looks at me and says, "So that Howlite really messed you up huh?"
I smirk and say, "Worried for me are you?"
"Yes Emerald and this isn't the time for jokes. After so many eons of being separated, I nearly lose my big brother again. We were lucky you were able to recover so fast; those wounds would've taken even a Diamond at least a month to recover." Lapis says with ragged breaths. I put my arms around her protectively and smile.
"Hey Lapy, don't feel so blue," she glares at me, "That one was unintentional I promise."
"Sorry, it's just I feel you should be more serious about this." She says with an uncertain voice.
I begin to feel bad for her, realizing that she felt the pain I felt when I lost her, "You're right Lapis. I should be more serious; but hey, when have I ever let you down."
She semi-laughs and says, "Never... you've never let me down."
"That's right, and you better believe I will never let you down any time soon." I say while grabbing her and rustling her hair.
"Uncle, uncle!" She screams
"Actually I'm your brother!" I say as we both start laughing. Pretty soon I hear another set of footsteps.
"Emerald... a word please," Ilook to see Peridot, "Howlite is now reformed and ready for inspection."
I look at Peridot with a questioning look and ask, "How are we going to question her? She literally knocked me out and you expect to subdue her?"
"Emerald, relax, we have Moonstone and Ocasio's Crystallokinetic powers in place. After that Coral, Jasper, and Amber are in the first line of defense." Peridot says with business like speech.
I suddenly tense up at the mentioning of Ocasio, whose gem is currently still healing, being near Howlite, "What do you mean Ocasio is near Howlite?"
"Isn't it obvious? I mean she is helping Moonstone with keeping Howlite under control."
"I know that! I mean why, she is currently healing a hurt gem!" Suddenly Peridot realizes her mistake.
"Oh no… this is not good." She says with a look of fear on her face
"I know, that's why I'm angry! C'mon let's go, we have to get back and make sure she is ok." I say while running back towards the temple, Lapis and Peridot in tow.
Back at the temple, Ocasio's P.O.V.:
As I'm sitting down by Moonstone trying to restrain Howlite with my powers all I can think of is what Dad would do if he found out I was using my power with my hurt gem. Suddenly I start to feel a slight pain. Moonstone doesn't look over at me but she says, "Don't try to apply too much of you power, you are still young in the Crystallokinetic area. Exerting yourself, even without a hurt gem, can easily wreck your body and cause you to destabilize."
I don't say anything but I do nod; I look back at Howlite and see her face, but this time I actually focus on it. The look on her face easily depicted an insane person, but that was only what one could see on her face. When I looked into her eyes I could see the depression and the sadness in them, as if she knew what she was doing was wrong. I started to feel bad for her; I began thinking about how I could save her. I knew it was a fool's dream, but I still wanted it to happen. I began thinking that maybe if I could somehow get her to calm down I might be able to heal her gem. Maybe even cure her of the insanity that plagued her. I turn my head towards Moonstone, "Moonstone?"
"Yes young one?" She responds, almost as if she was expecting me to say something.
"Do you think we could save Howlite?"
For a few minutes Moonstone doesn't speak; but then she takes a deep breath and says, "I don't know little one. She may be too far gone, just look at her. She is howling even though we cause her no pain, she is squirming as if we are tearing her apart little by little. She just may be too far gone."
I look at the ground and back at Howlite and I see her staring directly at me. For a moment it's as if she was looking at me with a pleading look, but just as soon as I saw it, it was replaced by the usual insanity. "Did you see that?"
"See what Ocasio?"
"Howlite, she looked at me with pleading eyes. I think she might want help!"
Moonstone freezes for a moment, as if discussing something internally. Which she may have very well been doing, as she was a fusion between Citrine and Aquamarine; after another long and tense silence Moonstone looks at me, a look of confusion in her eyes, "Maybe she was," I start to smile but then she looks the other way, "But that's impossible, she is too far gone. She is a corrupted gem without any signs other than mentally."
"Moonstone what's wrong?" I ask fear lurking in my tone. Without warning, Moonstone unfused and leaves Citrine and Aquamarine sitting there dumbfounded. Then I suddenly hear Howlite howl in anger and I turn to see Howlite getting up off the ground and moving. In a split second Coral, Jasper, and Amber are there holding Howlite down. I look at Howlite who once again has that look of sorrow and the want of forgiveness on her face. I raise my hands and will the three gems off of Howlite, "Stop! Don't hurt her!" I scream.
"Kid are you crazy? She's going to kill us if we don't do something now!" Jasper yells. They try to get back up but I keep them at bay; suddenly Aquamarine grabs my shoulder but is quickly torn off by Citrine.
"Aqua let her do this. If she can't we can always take over."
"But citrine, if she doesn't then we can all die."
"But imagine if we can save Howlite; imagine the strides that would make in the mission." Citrine pleads
As I turn around from their feud I am met by the face of Howlite, her face murderous and insane, but her eyes are still pleading me to save her. Howlite backs up and puts her hand out, "You… aren't…afraid?" She asks, suddenly more calm and her face losing some of its insanity.
"No… if anything I want to help you. But you have to calm down. If anyone tries to attack you, don't fight back. They will see that as a reason to hurt you, and I think I know how I can help you." I say. Howlite then smiles, it is still a little scary, but it is less scary than before.
Just then I hear, "Step away from her you demon!"
As my dad runs in with Aunt Lapis and Peridot I shove my other hand at them, causing them to fly backwards, "Dad don't hurt her. I think I know a way to fix her, just trust me to do it." My dad looks at me and back to Howlite but I can tell he is looking into her eyes and not her face. After a bit he sighs in defeat.
"All right Topy; but if Howlite decides to attack you, I'll be ok with my gem being destroyed to destroy hers."
Howlite looks at Emerald and smiles, obviously unaware of the threat, "All right, but first we need to go to the Moon Base." I explain.
"Why the Moon Base?" Aunt Lapis asks.
"You'll see; just follow me. Howlite you too please."
Moon Base in the Dark Orb room, Ocasio's P.O.V.:
"Ok Topy, why are we here, specifically why are we in a room with just a dark orb?" My dad asks with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"Well Dad, the way I was able to heal you last time was due to this Dark Orb here. I merely touched and I guess since you were the most conspicuous thought in my head I traveled to your psyche." I explain.
"But how is that possible, as far as I know the Dark Orbs were mainly used for communications or just decoration." Peridot says confused by my explanation of the Dark Orb.
"I don't know, but I'm sure if I touch it again I will go into Howlite's mind," I look at Howlite, "Howlite you have to be accepting for this to work, so just lie down and think about nothing. Sleeping would be preferred." To which Howlite just falls down and immediately begins to doze off.
"Well that was easier than expected, but Ocasio… how do you know the orb will transport you into Howlite's psyche?" Aunt Lapis asks.
Before I can answer a newly fused Moonstone puts her hand on Lapis's shoulder, "She will make it, of that I am certain." With the reassurance from Moonstone I nod and bring my hand towards the orb.
As my hand touches the orb everything goes black and I hear my dad yell, "Ocasio!"
I am in only darkness, something that feels familiar. Suddenly I get that familiar sensation of being pulled towards a certain area. This time I just let the sensation pull me towards the area. After a bit I see myself at some sort of plateau, on both of my sides are soldiers, though they don't wear the usual Crystal Gem star on their bodies. Suddenly I hear a booming voice, "Homeworld Warriors! Today we drive the rebels from this planet so we can continue the search for the planet where love is seeded so we can once again see the goddess, Star Quartz!" I look up to see a Gem I don't know on top of a hill, it wasn't very high, but it was tall enough for the Gem to be a few feet above the army all around me. "Homeworld Warriors, today we shall drive the rebels from their holes and burn the plague known as humanity that they are protecting." Everyone begins to yell and run up the hill; I follow them and continue until I see a small fort, when the warriors reach at least a few yards from the fort projectiles are flung at them. Eventually there is only a few warriors who are surrounded by a bigger Crystal Gem force. With the General dead I can see Howlite rising out of the center, her clothes changing into the leather black and red armor that I know of today. She charges the Crystal Gem forces, her warriors following right behind her. In mere minutes the only gem left is Howlite all around her is smashed gems, from ally and foe alike. She alone continues into the fort and kills every human left in it. After she comes out of the fort my vision fades to white and I am at some sort of flat field. I wander around it for a while and I see Howlite on a rock holding her legs up to her chest. When I near her she yells, "Go away!"
I look at her and continue, "Why do you want me to go away?"
"You'll just get hurt… I'm incurable, didn't you hear them?" She says once I am below her rock.
"I don't care; your eyes say it all. You just want to be forgiven; you just want someone to save you from this insanity. You can say you are incurable all you want but I won't allow myself not to try," even though I couldn't see behind myself, I could feel that once I got on top of the rock that Star Quartz appeared right behind me, "Even though you killed so many, you even attempted to kill my father, but I can forgive you for one reason and one reason only," She looks over at me confused, "I can't allow myself to have someone who never knew what they were doing to be killed. You had no idea the horrible things that Homeworld was forcing you to do was wrong. You are as innocent in this as me; I know you can be saved from this. But only if you allow me to Howlite, please just let me do this."
Howlite looks at me and begins to smile, she then responds with a nod of her head.
A few hours later:
After hours of terrifying soul healing, I manage to get Howlite stable. Throughout that entire ordeal I could feel the blood of the humans that was shed. I could feel their fear; I could feel the death of every gem she had killed. I look over to Star Quartz who is smiling, and as the world begins to dematerialize around me she waves her hand and I once again return to the darkness.
Moon Base, Emerald's P.O.V.:
As I hold Ocasio's limp body in my arms, I still can feel the warmth in her body so I know she wasn't dead. As we waited her and Howlite to wake up we told stories to pass the time. After a few hours of stories Ocasio bursts up, "Howlite! How is she?"
"Woah Ocasio, calm down. Howlite hasn't woken up; are you okay though?" I ask.
"And you haven't checked to see if she might not be dead?!" Ocasio scolds me.
"I mean Topy; she is a gem after all. IF she was dead, her gem would be cracked or she would have poofed by now." I explain. At the mentioning of this Ocasio seems to relax and let out a sigh of relief.
"We are going to bring her to the temple, right?" Ocasio asks.
I think about it and nod and motion for Coral to pick her up; we then proceed to go back to the temple with Ocasio bringing up the rear so she can keep a look on Howlite.
Back at the Temple, Ocasio's P.O.V.:
As we enter back into the Temple we rush to put Howlite somewhere. We eventually decide to place her on the couch, which in hindsight is probably the choice that was the most obvious. As everyone crowds her, awaiting her to wake up and destroy us I shove them away with slight pushes of my power. Eventually everyone grabs a seat or sits on the floor; out of them all I can feel myself the most anxious for her to wake up.
A week later:
It's been a week since Howlite was brought back and she still hasn't woken up. After the first few days everyone kind of just left to do other things. Of course I still had to do lessons and practice my fighting. But whenever I had free time or just any part of the day that I wasn't in class or practicing I would check up on Howlite. You know, out of worry; I kind of felt like a doctor, which was probably childish of me to think so.
A few days later:
As I was beginning to sit down next to Howlite, I noticed her shuffle a bit. I quickly grew excited and rushed to the front of the couch as she opens her eyes. When she opens them I can see the insanity gone from them but confusion replaces it. She shoots up and looks around until her eyes finally settle on me, "Who are you!" She screams in panic causing such a commotion that is attracts Mom and Dad.
"Howlite calm down."
"Once you tell me who you are then I will become calm!" She says trying to get up without much success.
"You honestly don't remember do you." she nods her head cautiously, as if I might try to kill her if she doesn't answer. After sighing I begin to tell her of what had transpired over the week or so. After a few hours of explaining I am finally done. When I look at Howlite she looks as if she is coming out of a daze. Her eyes are glossed over and she seems to be thinking of something else besides what has happened.
Eventually, after a few tries of getting her out of her stupor, she looks at me and asks, "Why did you do it?"
"Do what?" I ask, hoping she remembers something.
"Why did you save me?"
"No one deserves to be left to a fate like…"
"I DID! I don't deserve a second chance to hurt anyone! I definitely deserved to be left alone, corrupted and trapped in the kindergarten!" She begins clutching her self, putting her knees up to her head and wrapping her arms around them.
"Howlite," she doesn't look at me, "HOWLITE!"
That seems to get her attention, "What?"
"Howlite, I don't care that you killed all of those humans that was literally centuries ago. Should you punish yourself no; should you lament and repent for it, yes of course. Don't put yourself down for what you were forced to do."
Howlite once again goes into that stupor of hers and after a while she comes out of it. "But… how can you forgive me? You are a Crystal Gem, a protector of humanity."
I look at her and laugh, "No, I'm not a Crystal Gem. Though I may be on their side, I am sage, and I am the one and only Topaz Sage. As the only of my kind, I shall protect all memories, life, and any fragments of happiness anywhere in any form." As I look behind me I see Dad step up and put his hand on my shoulder.
"Good speech Topy." He says with a proud smile on his face.
I smile and look back at Howlite whom is smirking. Even if it isn't a smile, at least it is something, "Howlite, please join us on my behalf. It would make everyone happier to know an enemy can join our ranks peacefully."
Howlite thinks for a second and smiles a big grin, "Ok, I will." I smile and shake her hand.
"Howlite, welcome to the Crystal Gems."