Hey everyone. Surprise. I thought i'd give you guys one last treat before I go, another chapter.
Steven wasn't quite sure what he'd expect while visiting the kindergarten. He'd had helped establish various kindergartens for homeworld. But none of them were destructive. They had mostly been planets full of life, but none so much as the breathing, intelligent kind. They were all new, so he'd never actually seen the end result of the kindergarten. He saw it as a beautiful thing. Seeing new gems born from the crust of the luscious planets, their new potential, the ability for almost anything to happen. He thought of the kindergarten as a great and full of blessings.
This, this was not what he imagined it. Upon arriving at the prime Kindergarten, Steven fell to his knees, and nearly threw up. Everything he saw, it was bland, gray, cold, and lifeless. This was the exact opposite of what a kindergarten promised to produce. This wasn't the colorful, hopeful picture that he always imagined it was, this, this was something out of a nightmare, something, something dark and, and almost, evil.
Carnelian picked up the little Quartz to his feet once he stopped gagging. "Are you okay Rhodonite?"
"Yeah, are you? Its not too late to turn back now. We can always just head back and come here some other time if you want." Amethyst insisted, also getting a little uneasy at return to her place of origin. She always felt teathered to this place, no matter how much good she accomplished, no matter how far she was from this place, it's dark, haunting presence always loomed over her. She knew, especially after Steven's affirmation, knew that she wasn't defined by what she was originally made for, but still, it made her a little self conscious to know that she came from such a place of darkness and bad intent.
All three of them walked down the isle, scornfully looking at the various holes of lifelessness in walls of the canyon. They felt as if they were about to suck them dry of any life they had, draining all the light, all the hope from their vary cores. Each of them shuddered as they went deeper and deeper into the former Homeworld project. The Quartz trio felt very queasy as looked around, hoping that this end as soon possible.
Carnelian looked at her little brother with worry. She saw as his face slowly became more and more gruesome and hopeless. All of Homeworld knew about what the kindergartens did, thought the paid little heed to it. They only cared about the grand structures, the beautiful spires, the wondrous shiny floors their feet walked upon. But Blue Diamond, she had made it very clear that Steven should never see a kindergarten once it was complete. She knew that once he saw it, his innocence, his idealistic nature that brought so much joy and works to homeworld, might be shattered. He might lose his drive, his hope, his faith in homeworld. Carnelian pondered the consequences about this. If Steven gets the answers he's looking for, what then? What would he do? Where would his allegiance and loyalties lay?
Would they, would they even stay the same again. Would they still be brother and sister?
"Why are we here anyway? I know this is more than looking at a piece of bad history." Amethyst questioned, trying to make since at the small madness that Steven seem to be diving into.
"I'm trying to find answers here, and the only way I can find them is through here." He sternly states, not even looking back at his older sisters, slightly making them wince back a little at his authoritative voice.
The two Quartz sisters decided not to talk for the rest of the walk as they neared their destination. They went up against a certain wall of the canyon. Steven pushed against it as the two quartzes watch in slight confusion. However, before they could question this, a latch in the ground opened up, sliding forward in a slant position as it carried off our three siblings down to whatever it was headed.
Amethyst was the first to find her voice. "What is this place? How'd you..'
"This is a Homeworld lab." Steven explained. "Sometime during the war, Homeworld wanted to find other uses for the earth, seeing as making a new colony was out of the question." They had finally reached the bottom, to a large green room with some sort of panel sticking out. Steven walked towards it as the screen lights up, putting up an image of the earth. "So, the diamonds, specifically yellow, decided up the "brilliant idea to use broken gem shards from the war, to make a giant super weapon." he said quite sarcastically as he searched for something specific on the computer.
Each of the Quartz sisters looked at him with dumbfound expressions, especially Carnelian, who likewise didn't know about the exact nature of the cluster.
"Wait, so, your telling me that underneath the earth is a giant monster made up of dead gems that'll crush the earth when it activates!?" Amethyst shrieked. "That was your mission!? And you didn't tell us that before!?" She stared accursedly at both the blue serving Gems.
"Hey, i'm just as shocked as you. Me and Rhodonite were only told that it was a weapon the size of the planet. I, I had no idea it was made from, from..." She tries to say, only to gag at the mere thought of it. "How do you even know about that anyway?"
"Let's just say I learned it from a helpful source. And for the record, maybe I would've felt like sharing if a certain group of Gems didn't immediately destroy my ship and attack my friends." He countered back, making Amethyst shrink a little in embarrassment.
"We came here to check on the progress of the cluster, though I had my own agenda to try to convince them otherwise." He said, which made the two look at him with confusion. "What? This is were I was born. Like I would actually let this place blow up without trying to save it."
"But, but Rhodey, how are you going to do that?"
"Simple, i'm going to go to the Diamond's, and tell them that earth can't be destroyed." He stated. He looked back at them, with the same dumbfound faces on, so he explains further. "Look, I know I'm just repeating what I said yesterday, but I have a plan now. I, I spoke with Blue Diamond last night."
"Wait, what, how, how..." Carnelian stuttered.
"I'll explain later. Just know that I did, and it confirmed what I told you guys. Blue Diamond doesn't want the earth to be destroyed. She wants to keep it alive. She hated the cluster's approval, she hated the corruption wave, and she was devastated to learn that it effected even the most loyal of followers during the war." He points out. "Look, especially after what I saw, I can't deny some of the darker path's of homeworld. But I can't give up on them. I have to believe that I can change this."
Amethyst and Carnelian look at each other, not knowing whether or not this was incredibly brave, or unbelievably naïve. "Okay, but, what are we doing here? You could've told us about the cluster at home. What's the deal with going to this creepy place?" Amethyst questions.
"For two reasons. First to check up on the status on the cluster so that we know exactly how much time we have in order fix this mess." Steven face gets a little more blank as he begins to type something on it. "This next part, is a little more personal." He says as a bunch of dates show off on the screen. "This here's is all the times the project has made progress. A weapon as massive as the cluster is too big to form all at once, so it takes a awhile for it to finish its process. The cluster has made little progress over time, but each effective in its own way. More often than not, it probably only progressed as an earthquake, but sometimes, a "break through" come along." He said as he Looked for a specific date.
"Why are you looking for a date? Can't you do that later when this place feels a little less.." Amethyst stops in mid sentence. She freezes as she and Carnelian state at a bunch of dirt made logs at the very said of the wall. They see them glow. In that moment, all three siblings looked at the creature slowly forming before them. In the bright glow, multiple heads and bodies seem to come out as the try to pull away from each other. They fall, and all that results from the glow is a giant, abomination made up of hands and legs. The two giant creature come before them, crawling towards them reaching towards them.
Steven has a flash back to what he saw in his dream. "want to, need to, want to, need, to waaaaaaant...yoooooou" He reminisces on the horrible sound of his voice. He starts sweating cold sweat as he backs up, leaning against the panel.
Amethyst and Carnelian waste no time trying to fight them off, only to slightly push them back. "Steven, we really need to go now!" She shouts, getting even more creeped out by her place of origin.
"No!" He shouted, regaining composure as he gets back on the panel. "I'm not leaving until I find what i'm looking for!" He says as he begins to scroll through the dates even more. "Just hold them back a little more! I'm almost finished!"
Carnelian, seeing there was no use in arguing with her controlling younger brother, just pulls out her changed flails as she bats them in one of its bigger hands. Likewise, Amethyst pulls out her whip and tries to keep it in place, only for it to pull her forward and entangle her in its various arms. Now Amethyst was completely chilled to the bone. She had herself faced a ton of dangerous stuff, but this, this wasn't just dangerous, not it was scary, she was generally afraid of this, not only for herself, but for all those gems that just wanted to rest, being forced to fight her. Amethyst wasn't sure if she.
"Get off of her!" Steven yelled as he charges right into the creatures side, smashing it into the wall. But Steven wasn't done. Taking out his shield, Steven bashed it against the creature, bashed it heavily, and brutally. Steven showed no sighs of stopping as he attack more and more. Now the two sisters were even more scared. Why was Steven acting so angry? Why would he attack something so horribly, so mercilessly? "Never take them from me again!" He shout one last time before raising his fist, and punching it right into it physical form, poofing it intently. He slowly picks up the Gem, and sighed as he bubbles it and sends it off. "Bubble those before they reform. Lets go. He say as he begins to climb the slope of the opening. The two sisters comply as they due as they were told. Before Amethyst leaves however, she takes one last look at the screen. On it was a date that she would never forget. It was the date that changed their lives forever.
It was the date that Steven left them.
Next time, an attack by gems mutants forces the two sides of gems to work together, while Pearl begins to enact her plan to make things right.