Alright! Final chapter before the end of book 2, and before my one week break from writing! Also, probably, no promises, but about the half-way point in the story overall! Please enjoy!
Sapphire was about to start running down the hallway, but Shard quickly reached out and grabbed her hand, holding her back. "Let me." he said, after which he took off at speeds far beyond anything Sapphire could reach, getting back to the end of the hallway within seconds. "Now listen, this is very important. I didn't want to say anything to the others because they might freak out, but it is necessary for you to know. When I showed you the Earth, all burnt and dead, I showed you a memory I have yet to have obtained. Don't bother asking how. Just know this: that future is un-avoidable, and it is going to occur in about two weeks. I'll give you a crystal linked to a warp pad I built on a small, out of the way planet the Gems would never go after. Once you become Garnet, you need to get every sentient being on the entire Earth off the planet and to that one. I don't know what will become of you and them, but the planet can at least temporarily support life, and it's better than burning. I know it's a lot to take in all at once, but you have to go now. Goodbye."
As he said goodbye, he let go of her hand and gave her a gentle shove towards the blank wall at the end of the hallway. She fell through, out of Shard's mind and back into her own. It didn't so much feel good to be back as it much as it just felt... right.
Meanwhile, Orange Shard was walking down a long, darkened corridor, alone. The homeworld Gems no longer classified him as a threat, and while orange he wasn't. But as he walked, his orange suddenly disappeared, and the real Shard was once more in control. Still walking, he lifted his shirt and opened the door into his chest. Reaching in, he pulled out Sapphire's gem and a small warp gem. Once Sapphire's gem was removed from the stasis field he had kept it in, she began to reform almost instantly. He continued to walk.
Soon after she had returned to her gem, Sapphire felt a change. She realized that she had been unable to regrow for many weeks, but now felt as if whatever had been limiting her had been removed. So she began to take on her normal appearance. She found that she was being walked rapidly down a nearly pitch-black tunnel next to Shard, except his chest was still open. She could see his Anti-Matter gem in its core slot, and off in the side Lapis', Amethyst's, and Pearl's gems, along with an empty place which she supposed had been her place for the last two months.
Shard handed her the warp gem in his hand. It was the only thing now standing between humanity and death. Nearing the end of the tunnel, Shard quickly directed Sapphire to place the hand containing her gem onto a mini warp-pad just in front of his core. As she did, she saw the Anti-Matter crystal glow brightly for a second, sending power down into it. Then everything was a blur...
Sapphire had left. Shard was glad, at least a part of his plan had worked. Continuing down the passage, he closed his chest and put his shirt back down, before allowing his Orange imposter control again. He wouldn't even know he hadn't been in control. But for just a little while longer, he must be in control again, until Shard's endgame move came into play...
Back on Earth, Ruby felt a strangely familiar presence, but could see no one other than Connie, who was in front of her. Just then, a huge white beam of light shined down onto the galaxy warp pad, and her hand seemed to be stuck to it. She saw a faint blue tint far up in the beam, but before it could get very close, her body began to glow and turn back into energy. The blue blur did the same, and before she knew what had happened, the light was gone, and she was standing on the pad as Garnet once again.
After a brief moment of confusion, she looked down at her hands and saw that she was indeed whole again. Connie just stood watching her, a look of awe and extreme surprise on her face. She was about to jump up and celebrate, but inside, something told her not to. So she stood for a few seconds more, getting the brief story of what had happened from the Sapphire part of her mind. It looked like things were about to get a whole lot more complicated...
Steven could barely believe it himself, but here he was doing it. The training he was under was surely not quite the strongest, but his latest challenge had been a twenty-four straight hour fight against three opponents. True, since this particular part of his training was more for endurance than raw power, tactics, agility, or anything else, they were only fighting him at a small portion of their capabilities, but the extreme fatigue from fighting the last twenty hours was really taking its toll on him. He wasn't sure if he could stay up much longer though...
Suddenly, the whole planet rumbled. Just a tiny bit, but they other Gems definitely felt it. Even Steven just barely detected it. It was only a few seconds later that he was told to go back to his room, and that training for the rest of the day was cancelled. He was glad, but also confused. What could have made such a disturbance? As he sank back down onto his 'bed', he wondered how Shard and the others were doing.
Many large and armed guards came running in to help contain the possible problem the Gem scientists had just sent out a message about. Orange Shard had just exited the corridor that came from the chamber he had been working in until just a few minutes ago. Only a half minute before he had come out of the corridor, a large shockwave had blasted out from him, and at the same time the scientists had detected a huge power spike from him. Then he had appeared at the end of the room, looking relatively normal, but slightly pale.
After having been ordered to report, Orange Shard scanned his databanks and found that some minor core malfunction had occurred. No wonder he felt a bit weak. After scanning him for themselves, the scientists determined that he seemed to be telling the truth, which meant he was still properly under their control. But things were about to change...
Well, that's it for the last chapter of the second book! I hope you really liked it! The next chapter is due out on next Thursday, but if I get a whole bunch of reviews on this chapter, I may just get it out on Wednesday instead. See you soon, bye!
