Chapter 24
Sitting on the living area's couch, Zircon was looking at the palm of his right hand as well as the yellow gem fragment that him and Garnet were able to find back in Venice. The flashback he saw from this fragment still lingered in his mind. What was it exactly that Bloodstone was doing to the owner of this fragment? Whatever it was, it didn't seem to have stopped whatever it was she was trying to undo. "Zircon?"
"Ah!" Zircon leaped up slightly onto the couch only to see Steven in front of him, "Oooh, Steven don't sneak up on me when I'm in deep thought like that." Zircon sighed out.
"Sorry, I just wanted to see if you were doing better since the dugout incident." Steven smiled lightly, but it quickly turned into a frown, "I still don't know why you kept the whole Nega-Dust thing from me though…"
"Steven, I didn't want you to worry. You already have so much you're thinking about what with this new school you're attending over in Towns-whatever the heck it's called. I just wanted you to be able to think about a normal life for once and not this...well, you know." Zircon soon felt Steven giving him a big hug. Smiling, in response, Zircon rubbed Steven's head while Steven eyed at Zircon's wound. "I wonder." Steven spoke. "Zircon, could you should me your wound?"
"Huh? Um, sure, but I don't think you're gonna like what you see." Zircon took off his hoodie and shirt, showing Steven his wraps, which seemed to have still be bleeding from the gash that was underneath it.
Taking his own right hand, Steven licked it and was about to place it on Zircon's arm, before he pulled it away, "What the heck are you doing Steven?!" Zircon looked at Steven with widened eyes.
"No trust me! I know what I'm doing!" Steven then began to chase Zircon around the room.
"No way! You were going to put spit on me!"
"Well if you stand still, you'll see why!"
"There's no way I'm going to let you put spit on my wound!"
"Gotcha!" Steven tackled down Zircon, sitting on his chest, "Now just hold still!" Steven rubbed his spit covered hand over Zircon's wound, making Zircon get goosebumps and shivers. Soon, the wound began to sparkle and glow pink as it began to heal with the blood retreating back into the wound. "What?" Zircon looked at the now stainless wrap on his arm and quickly took it off, seeing that the wound from Grub's knife was gone. "Steven, h-how did you do that?"
"Oh! I have healing spit!"
"Healing…spit?" Zircon's head tilted, a little crank sound being heard as he did.
"Yes! You see my mother had healing abilities back when she was alive and when she made me, I got those powers too."
Zircon thought about what Steven said for a moment before looking at his hand. Immediately it was as if a light bulb went off in Zircon's mind, "Steven, that's it!"
"What's it?" Steven looked up a little surprised as to why Zircon was getting so excited.
"The flashback I saw of my mother!" Zircon took Steven by the shoulders and shook him some from the excitement he was getting, "What she was doing makes sense now! Eh, Steven, where do you guys keep all of the Corrupted Gems you found?!"
"Oh! Um, follow me." Steven led Zircon through the magic door in the back that led to all of the sub rooms inside of the Crystal Temple.
The two eventually arrived in a half-spherical, dome room where many variants of colors of gems were floating through the room all bubbled up. "Whoa…" Zircon looked up, "You guys were busy even before I first came here."
"Of course silly hehe. So, what exactly was it you were talking about back there?"
"When I first took hold of this fragment in Venice, I saw another flashback of my mother, only this time it seemed as if she was trying to prevent something from happening to the owner of this here fragment." Zircon held the yellow fragment in front of Steven.
"What exactly was it that she was trying to prevent?" Steven asked, looking at the gem fragment.
"Steven…this fragment right here belonged to a corrupted Gem."
"What?!" Steven jumped away slightly, now looking at the Gem with widened eyes. "Really, it all makes sense once I saw your healing…spit." Zircon hesitated saying that before pacing around the room. "In my memories, it seemed as if my mother was trying to cure this gem, but for some reason she was unable to and the corruption wasn't prevented in the owner of this fragment."
"Soooo," Steven continued to reel for an understanding.
"Soooo Steven…I think my mom had some kind of healing ability for these corrupted Gems and I came to believe that she may have passed it on to me."
"W-Wait, if your mother had the ability to heal the corruption in Gems, then why didn't it work on this fella here?" Steven pointed at the fragment that Zircon was holding.
"Well, that's why we're here…to figure it out." Zircon looked up at all of the bubbled up, corrupted Gems, "But which one should we try on first?" Something bright seemed to have shown in Steven's eyes, "I know just the one."
It wasn't long until Steven returned back to Zircon holding onto a bubble that contained some green, spherical kind of Gem inside it. "What the heck? This thing looks like a pokeba-" Steven interrupted Zircon's comment by unbubbling it and allowing the Gem to take shape into the little corrupted Gem, Centipeetle. "Centi!" Steven called out happily. Centipeetle looked up at Steven and jumped into his arms, nuzzling him. "Eh, wow, I must say I'm impressed Steven. Didn't think you could befriend a corrupted Gem." When Zircon spoke, Centipeetle hissed and growled at him, making the half-gem step back some. "Whoa, easy there Centi! This is Zircon. He's a friend." Centipeetle seemed to have eyed at Zircon for some time before jumping into Zircon's own arms and nuzzling him too. "Haha! She likes you Zircon!"
"Eh…y-yeah. Listen, Steven, is there a way that…Centi here can be able to go back into her Gem state." From hearing this, Centipeetle actually started whimpering, making Zircon sweat slightly, "Eh, s-sorry." Steven walked over and held onto Centipeetle, "Centi don't worry. We think Zircon here has a way to turn you back to normal." Centipeetle seemed to have indeed grew happy from this news as she began to run around the bubble room, screeching out roars of cheer. "Buuuut." Steven scooped Centipeetle back into his arms, "You need to be in your Gem for a little. Ok?" Centipeetle nodded in understanding before it poofed, leaving just the Gem.
"Ok then…" Zircon gently took Centipeetle's Gem and held onto it. Closing his eyes, and enveloping the Corrupted Gem was a bright, green light coming from Zircon's hand. Steven's expression turned shocked as he looked at what was going on. When the green light subsided, Centipeetle's Gem seemed to have changed where it is now a shinier, green sphere with no black linings like it had before. "Zircon, y-…you did it! Whatever it was you did." Steven cheered.
"It was just as I thought." Zircon started, "My mom has the ability to counteract the Corruption."
Zircon's smile quickly faded as the black lines started to form again on Centipeetle's Gem. "Wh-What?! No!" Zircon held the Gem tightly in great disbelief. "I-I don't understand." Steven thought for a moment before his very own light bulb shined, "Zircon, I think I know someone who's smart in this kind of stuff. Come on." Steven held onto Zircon, still gripping onto Centipeetle's Gem, and led him out of the room and eventually out of the front door of the house to Reaper.