Another kind of short chapter, but a necessary one.

Chapter 25: The War's Over

S&DS&DS&DS&D

Steven grinned to himself. Everything had been going well.

Sure, when Moonstone had first woken up it had been a little bit of a rocky start. After she realized what was going on, she'd looked so scared. She'd even thought that Pearl might actually shatter her! Talk about a misunderstanding.

He knew Pearl would never actually do something so awful… well, she had during the war, obviously, but that was during the war, which had been over for a long time and the Crystal Gems didn't have to do anything like that anymore.

But Steven had experience with this kind of situation by now, he could still picture that pillar of water rising up into the sky—Lapis had been upset too. When Pearl had suggested that he show Moonstone around Beach City, he'd been all for it. It would give him the chance to show her how great the earth was; that there was nothing to be afraid or upset about.

Considering she'd neither tried to drown anybody nor locked herself in the bathroom, he'd say he was off to a pretty great start.

After they'd finished up at the Big Donut, he'd taken Moonstone all around Beach City. Once the tour had really gotten underway, her attention had turned away from him and towards everything else; constantly asking him questions about the people, what they were doing, how things worked. Any question he hadn't been able to answer, he had been able to neatly direct to Connie. She'd soaked up their answers like a sponge.

It hadn't all gone perfectly, there had been a near miss when Steven had spotted Onion wandering around the commercial part of the boardwalk with a sack and a crowbar over his shoulder. But he had been able to neatly steer the group away from that particular encounter.

He could introduce Moonstone to Onion later… much later—once she'd really gotten used to earth.

Then they'd gone to other places. Fish stew pizza, the fry shop, and Funland, although they didn't have the time to go on any of the rides. They'd gotten sidetracked on the beach by Moonstone's relentless curiosity; there had been a pair of seagulls wheeling through the air and she had asked an exhausting number of questions about how organic creatures attained flight. Steven had no idea, he was pretty sure it had something to do with wings and flapping them really hard, beyond that he had nothing.

It was too bad; he'd wanted to introduce her to dad. But it was starting to get late; Connie had suggested that they go back to the house. Reluctantly, Steven agreed. It wouldn't do to make Pearl worry about them, plus Garnet might be back by now. Besides there was always tomorrow.

Moonstone had finally stopped asking questions, instead preferring to examine everything around them in silence, her visor glowing with numbers and figures in the dim light of dusk.

"Tomorrow, I'll introduce you to my dad." He said, chattering on as the group returned to the temple. "I'm sure he'd be happy to tell you all about how I was made." Steven wasn't one hundred percent sure on that, but it couldn't hurt to ask. "And I'll have to introduce you to Lapis and Peridot, they can tell you all about what adapting to earth is like."

"I look forward to it." Moonstone answered absentmindedly. She wasn't looking at him, instead keeping her eyes locked dead ahead.

Steven frowned. This couldn't be right, that tense look from this morning was starting to creep back across Moonstone. Her pace was starting to slow down and her visor disappearing, as her eyes remained on the dilapidated figure of the temple's statue. She looked like she thought they were walking her into a lion den…okay, to be fair, Lion lived there, so technically it was, but that wasn't the point.

Steven matched her pace, allowing Connie and Amethyst to pull ahead of them. "You alright there, Moony?" he asked, tapping her on the arm and smiling.

She jumped slightly and glanced down at him. "As well as can be expected," She said neutrally. "This venture was quite informative."

"That's good. That's good," said Steven. "It's just, you seem kind of nervous all of the sudden…" he trailed off meaningfully. Whatever's bothering you, you can tell me. I'm a great listener!

"Do I? I suppose that would make sense."

…Okay, not exactly the opening up he'd been hoping for, but he could work with it. "You aren't still scared, are you?" he smiled softly, to let her know he wasn't trying to make fun of her.

"Yes, I am," said Moonstone, as though she was commenting on the weather.

The immediate response wiped the smile off his face and brought him to a stop. "What do you mean?" he asked incredulously.

Moonstone stopped as well. "I mean that I am frightened," She said slowly. "Does this surprise you?"

"Well, yeah!"

He couldn't help the feeling that something was going awry all of the sudden. The whole point had been to teach her that there was nothing to fear. But if she was still scared, then it was like everything they'd done today hadn't happened!

Steven took a deep breath to calm down. It was fine; he could fix this. After all, it had taken a while to get Peridot and Lapis to adapt to the earth. It was unreasonable of him to assume it wouldn't take Moonstone some time to adjust. He was just being impatient.

"Look," he said, "I know it's a lot to take in. But the earth's really not a scary place. Just give it some time; the people are nice and there's a lot more for you to see."

Now Moonstone was frowning back at him. "I believe you have misunderstood me; I am not concerned by this planet's native fauna, human or otherwise. Nothing you have shown me today has frightened me."

"But," Steven furrowed his brow. "Then what are you afraid of?"

Moonstone stared at him as though it should be obvious, "the Crystal Gems. "

…What?

"But… we already went over this," he spluttered. "None of us mean you any harm!"

Moonstone tilted her head to the side, her silver eyes boring into his. Steven shifted nervously. It was weird, but somehow it felt like her bare gaze was analyzing him far more deeply than she had with her visor on.

"Yes…" she said at last. "You did. And for what it is worth, Steven, I believe that you truly believe that."

"But… but it's true! We aren't going to hurt you. Garnet told you so and she's the leader. Remember?"

"No," Moonstone shook her head. "She said the war was over. Those are not the same thing."

That didn't make any sense. The war was over, there was no reason for gems to fight or hurt each other anymore.

"But you're safe here!"

"Steven, I am a prisoner of war," she said matter-of-factly. "My safety is hardly guaranteed."

"No you're not," said Steven incredulously. "The war's over."

Moonstone hesitated. "True." she admitted, nodding to him. "Based on what I have seen today, I am willing to believe the Rose Rebellion has ended. Perhaps prisoner of war was a touch dramatic," she shrugged. "Just a regular prisoner then. The distinction matters little."

"But… we aren't keeping you prisoner!" Steven waved his hand back towards the lights of Beach City, glowing in the night like fireflies. "We just spent half a day wandering around, what part of that makes you a captive?"

"I believe the quartz soldier escort does."

Steven blinked. "What, you mean Amethyst?" he shook his head. "She didn't come with us to keep you from escaping or anything like that."

"Did she not?" Moonstone raised an eyebrow.

Steven opened his mouth to deny it, but now that he thought about it, the way Pearl had insisted that Amethyst accompany them had been kind of weird… He closed his mouth and shook his head. It didn't matter.

"Look." He said seriously, choosing to change the subject. "We saved you, remember? If we wanted to hurt you or something, we could have just left you where we found you. But we didn't. So we don't mean you any harm." He finished triumphantly.

There. No way Moonstone could talk her way around that one.

"Yes. You did save me." Moonstone nodded. "And for that, I am very grateful. But I seem to remember Garnet saying that there were former Crystal Gems buried alongside me, correct?"

"Well, yeah. But-"

"I have concluded that those were the gems she and the pearl wished to rescue." she sighed, raising her eyes from his and looking over his shoulder at nothing. "I imagine they must have been quite disappointed to only save me."

"But we still saved you." Steven repeated desperately.

"You all had absolutely no idea who I was." Moonstone shrugged. "My point is that my rescue is not a promise of safety."

Steven just stared at her blank, slightly puzzled expression, as though she could not understand what he was getting so upset about. It was like they were speaking different languages. He'd say something, then her response would completely ignore what he was trying to say.

He just didn't understand.

He'd thought that Moonstone had been starting to understand that everything was okay. It had certainly seemed like it. She was talking with them, asking them questions, and generally loosening up. Everything had been going great!

Now it felt like he was back at square one. He'd been trying to show her what the Crystal Gems were all about. So why was Moonstone having so much trouble wrapping her head around the fact that they were the Good Guys? It wasn't a difficult concept!

"But… didn't you have a great time today?" Steven tried. "You really have nothing to be scared of."

Now Moonstone looked perplexed. "Yes, much of what I saw was fascinating. But how does any of that affect my relationship with the Crystal Gems?" she crossed her arms and stared at him. "I served Homeworld in the war. Had I met Pearl or Garnet back then, they likely would have attacked me on the spot." She held up a hand, interrupting his denial. "As you said: the war is over. So the situation is different." She leaned forward and Steven felt a chill at the look in her eyes.

They were like someone standing in the path of an approaching avalanche. They'd seen the danger coming a long way off, but knew that nothing they could do could escape it so they had no choice but to sit still and hope for the best. Not exactly hopeless, but very close.

"The war is over," said Moonstone flatly. "Which means that I am no longer an enemy, merely a loose end." She shrugged once more. "I shall just have to wait and see if they decide to leave it or remove it. I can't imagine that there is much I can do about it either way."

He wanted to argue. He wanted to tell her she was wrong. But she just seemed so completely certain. Steven couldn't understand why Moonstone was so convinced the gems might want to hurt her. But whatever her reason was, he couldn't figure out a way to make her see she was wrong.

Moonstone straightened. "I can see my words have upset you. I apologize. I hope you understand that was not my intent. In truth, your efforts today have not been in vain, the things you have told me today have gone a long way towards assuaging my worry." She smiled. "Why, I now believe I might even have a chance of getting out of this situation without being harmed. One can hope." She began to move, following after Amethyst and Connie. "Come, let's go. We've been left behind and I'd rather return to your base on my own rather than have the Crystal Gems come look for me."

Steven stared after her. Not really sure what had just happened. Just trying to wrap his head around it made him feel the start of an oncoming headache. He set out after her, frowning and maybe a little frustrated. But he knew what he needed to do now.

He couldn't figure this out on his own. He'd need to talk to Connie about this, whatever this was, she'd be able to help him sort it out.

Garnet sat in her room alone.

Of course, countless gems surrounded her, floating above her head in silent slumber, but they hardly counted and she wasn't looking at them anyway. Her attention was focus on a single bubble floating just between her fingertips.

Despite all the new gems they'd sent here a few days ago, this one had been easy to locate. Its bubble was unique, a pale orange orb that stood out from the others, the only bubble of Sunstone's make.

The gem inside was less distinct. It was spherical and neatly faceted, although through the sheen of the orange bub made its hue a little hard to determine, although Garnet knew it was a dark pink.

Comparing it to her memories made her mistake clearer than ever. The gem that had been imbedded in the creature's forehead had been a bright golden yellow and shaped like a blunted diamond. It should have been impossible to miss. But she had been careless. Carried away by experience of Sunstone and euphoria of victory, these details had slipped beneath her notice.

Careless.

She couldn't even properly identify what kind of gem it was—not that it truly mattered, but the lack of knowledge irked her. Hopefully, Moonstone would be able to tell her what she wanted to know.

The fusion looked up at the sound of footsteps.

"Hello Pearl."

"Yes hello," said Pearl irritably. "You know, we really should all get together and decide on a single layout of the temple. It took me three tries to find this room. The route that I normally take now leads into a pitfall with a whirlpool at the bottom."

Garnet noticed that Pearl was looking decidedly soggy and was dripping water onto her floor. She chose not to mention it.

"I suspect it's Amethyst's fault." Pearl continued, gearing herself up for a full on rant. "Oh, certainly she makes no attempt to redesign the layout of my room, but I suspect she's constantly expanding or rearranging the dimensions of her own. It plays havoc on the pathways between the permanent rooms…"

Garnet waited patiently for Pearl to let it all out. She knew her friend didn't really want any input; she just wanted to vent some frustration. Pearl would get to the reason for her visit in good time… Besides, the fusion sometimes rearranged the side corridors in the temple when she was bored, so she felt like she owed it to Pearl to least listen to her complaints.

"…I swear, sometimes I suspect this place has a mind of its own. Do you know just the other day I found a giant trout living in my sword pool? I haven't the slightest clue how it got there…"

Oh. Right, that was probably from the fishing competition between her and Amethyst several years back. She'd won, of course, but she had wondered what Amethyst had done with her winning catch. Maybe the temple had kept it alive? That wasn't actually too farfetched. The temple had a lot of gem magic poured into it, sometimes this manifested in strange ways.

"…should really sort all of this out one day." Pearl huffed, shaking her head in disgust. "But another time. I just came to inform you that Steven and the others have returned, nothing's happened but I wanted to ask you how you wished to proceed with our venture."

Ah yes. They needed to find a way to separate Steven and their guest without arousing the boy's suspicion. Garnet looked at the gem in her hands, and then tilted her head back to gaze at the sea of gems above her.

"It won't be hard," said Garnet, standing up. "You wait here, I'll be back with out guest soon."

S&DS&DS&DS&D

Hmmm. I'm not sure about this chapter. I know what I was trying to do. The Moonstone I envision is level-headed and logical, she likes to think about things before acting. Her view of the Crystal Gems are those directly out of the war, which is to say that they are violent extremist rebels. Which from a gems point of view is exactly what they are.

It is like this, imagine that humans wanted to develop a forest, and a group of people said that this was wrong because a bunch of unique species lived there and the protesters started murdering the developers to get them to stop. That's the Crystal Gems. They are basically eco-terrorists.

Steven has trouble with this. Because to him, the Crystal Gems are the Good Guys. The noble protectors of the earth. Any evidence he sees to the contrary, Rose shattering pink Diamond for example, he sort of ignores. Steven's not the best critical thinker, so he has trouble wrapping his head around the nuances of a situation.

In Moonstone's place, I'd be very worried about my own safety. She wasn't a rebel, she worked with Homeworld. She knows, the Crystal Gems know this, and it worries her. But at the same time, she's not prone to panic so she's scared but dealing with it.

I'm not sure if I pulled any of that off very well. Does it feel forced?