Steven listened in awe to the wail that bounced through the walls of the chamber. It swung up in high crests before sliding down into smooth troughs. It sounded sorrowful and bitter, yet at the same time, as ethereal as a dream. The walls gave it an echo, so it sounded like one voice crying out to its own sound. Steven couldn't even look straight at its source—he felt weighed down by it.
But then it stopped and left nothing but a faint ring in the air. Steven let out the gust of breath he didn't know he was holding, and finally raised his eye.
"Wow. You actually can sing Pechal'ny Paren's 'Six-Hour Symphony of a Sorrowed Soul'from memory."
Opal grinned with pride. Twirling one of her pigtails around her finger, she replied, "Of course I can. If I've heard it, I can sing it. You may be amazed."
Steven hummed. "Can you sing 'Bloodshed and Dinner' by the band Fifteen Angry Vikings?"
Opal cleared her throat behind her fist. She licked her lips, took in a deep breath. Steven leaned forward in anticipation.
"SCREEEEE—!"
Ruby poked her head around the corner. "You stop that."
Opal pursed her lips with a sheepish purple blush across her face. Ruby disappeared from sight once again, her footsteps echoing down the stairs. Above Opal and Steven, Sapphire walked up…or down?...another flight of steps. Opal and Steven remained on their little platform. Opal had her legs spread out in a 'V' shape, while Steven sat on her right thigh.
All around them—vertical, horizontal, sideways, upside-down, dead-ends—were countless marble stairs. Steven couldn't tell what was right side up anymore, or even what was left or right. Watching Sapphire, she disappeared into an archway and remerged three flights over, walking sideways from Steven's perspective. Everything was white and lined in thick black—the whole place was like a real-life Escher painting. Opal had explained that it dated from the war days. From the outside, it looked like other Gem-built structures, a grand glass spire placed in the bumpy green hills of a mountain range. Once Crystal Gems stepped inside, they were met with this defiance of logic.
Opal said that there had to be some kind of exit, in case Homeworld Gems got inside and had to get back out. The trouble was finding it. For once, Opal was sitting out of the action. She could remember things quite well once she was with it for a long time, but the sporadic paths of the labyrinth were too much for her. Steven was just kind of keeping her company.
Above him and upside-down, Ruby reappeared through another archway. She stopped halfway down the flight of stairs with a finger on her chin.
"I think if I go left here," she called out, "I'll be onto something."
Opal called back, "Our left or your left?"
Ruby didn't reply. Instead, she sat down and hugged her knees. Sapphire passed her on the other side of the staircase.
Watching Opal, Steven saw her lips purse and her eyebrows furrow. She looked like she wanted to go up there and join them, but also doubted whether she should. It wasn't often that Opal's forgetfulness was a true problem, but when it was, it was the only time that Opal seemed to start worrying about it. Not that Sapphire or Ruby ever gave her a hard time about it, but Opal was the leader of the Crystal Gems, and she currently could not lead.
Steven cleared his throat. He succeeded in bringing Opal's eyes back to him, so he asked, "So, what else do you remember?"
She puffed her cheeks and pooched her lips at him. She twirled a finger in his curls. "Wha' choo' mean?"
"You've been around for a really long time. That means you've learned a lot, right?"
She grinned and nodded. "Yup." She started to tick off her fingers. "Songs, poems…I know how to play the dulcimer…I know some human languages. ¿Cómo estás hoy, Steven?"
Steven perked up, recalling something he'd read from the internet a while back. He grinned proudly at Opal and recited, "Mis pantalones están hechos de queso."
"…Síííííííí."
Steven shifted on Opal's leg. Below them, Ruby and Sapphire finally ran into one another. Sapphire let out a small sigh, while Ruby threw her arms into the air and screamed, "HOW?!" Opal sent them another worried glance.
Drawing his knees to his chest, Steven asked with caution, "What about…you know, the old days?"
Opal gave him a sad, but knowing smile. "You mean the war days?"
Steven nodded. He wasn't looking at her, until she gave a light chuckle. Opal leaned back on two of her arms, the other two in her lap.
"Yeah, I remember. I was the first Gem enlisted. I was there for all of it, right from the beginning and even before that."
Steven's eyebrows went to his hairline. His awestruck stare went unnoticed by Opal. Her eyes were focused on nothing, glazed over in nostalgia. It took him sitting up from her thigh for her to look at him again.
"Whoa. You and Mom went way back!"
Opal barked a laugh. She leaned forward to Steven, arms folding, eyes bright and grin wide. Steven stepped closer like she was going to share a deep secret.
"When Rose Quartz decided to start the rebellion against Homeworld, I was tech—" She paused, and gave an awkward cough. "—I was the first Gem she went to."
Opal winked at Steven and crossed her fingers together. "She and I were like two peas in a carrot."
Steven's hands went to his heart. As he gave a light sigh, a tear shining in his eye, he said, "That is so sweet, even though that doesn't make sense. So why did Mom go to you, first?"
"Because she trusted me. You know…"
She looked over her shoulders, up and down, and leaned in close. Steven did too, perhaps too much, because their cheeks ended up smooshed together.
Opal whispered, "Rose Quartz trusted me more than anyone."
He gasped. "ANYONE?"
"Shhh! I didn't whisper just for effect." Steven slapped a hand over his mouth. "But yes."
Somewhere, Sapphire called out, "We found the way out!"
Opal pushed herself to her toes and followed Steven to the edge of their platform. Below them, Ruby and Sapphire stood side-by-side in front of another archway. Both pairs—Opal and Steven, Ruby and Sapphire—were looking 'down' at each other.
Ruby pointed into the archway. "Sapphire says if we keep going through here, we should get out!"
Sapphire shrugged.
"You guys stay there and we'll trace our steps back—"
Opal lifted Steven up by his armpits and tucked him to her side like a football. In one graceful second, she leapt up and descended down onto the other side of Ruby and Sapphire's staircase. One long step was all it took for the four of them to be on the same side. Steven didn't know how, but he didn't feel nauseous for a second.
While Opal set Steven down to his feet, she asked, "Why didn't you guys do that to begin with?"
Ruby huffed. "We don't all have gravitas."
"I don't believe you know what that word means," said Sapphire.
"I don't care!" Ruby threw her hands into the air again, and kept them like that as she went through the archway. The others were already following, but she still exclaimed, "Can't we just leave already? This place is giving me fissures."
Beyond the archway, the laws of physics finally seemed to return to normal. A long hallway stretched before them. It cut off in a dead end, but either side was lined with identical marble doors. As with the labyrinth, everything looked like a sketch from a book, a perspective photo. Not helping the oddity was that the archway was not attached to a wall, so how on earth this worked was beyond Steven's comprehension.
"Alright, Saph." Steven tapped on her shoulder. "Which one?"
"Doesn't matter. It'll only open once the other ones are."
Ruby sighed. Her gauntlets almost nonchalantly appeared on her hands. "Which means that there's probably booby traps in all of them."
Opal and Steven both grinned from ear-to-ear, and together, they sung, "Don't you mean—?"
"I. Meant. 'Booby.'"
Opal rolled her shoulders back. "But, you're right. Let's all be careful, alright?"
Sapphire was already walking away, and Ruby followed, stepping backwards. With a proud smirk, she kept her eyes on Opal and declared, "We're all trained in the art of combat, Opal. I think we can handle a few baby tricks."
Ruby pushed on the door closest to her. She was instantly caught in a hot red inferno that consumed her entire body. Opal and Steven stepped back from the heat.
Once the flames died down, Ruby was still standing, albeit with thick smoke rising off of her body. She just closed the door. "Not that one."
Steven stepped over to the door closest to him. No one stopped him, but he hesitated. He wasn't fire-resistant or poof-able like the Gems. He doubted he'd be able to summon a shield, either.
Opal passed him, and he called after her, "Is it okay if I open this?"
Opal nodded, and went to the next door by herself. She summoned her longbow into her hands and pulled back the string until she had a simple white arrow loaded into it. While she reached for her door, she turned back to Steven. "But stand back."
Steven nodded, put a hand on the door, and pulled it open while he hid behind the door.
In a mere second, all air in the hallway was sucking out like a vacuum. Even with the door shielding him, Steven felt the force tugging at him, rustling his hair and clothes. Opal gasped and let her arrow dissipate so she could anchor herself down. Ruby and Sapphire both grabbed onto door handles. Steven couldn't even see what the door was sucking the air into; it was like a black hole in a room.
"Close it," Opal cried over the whistling wind. "Close it!"
Steven gave a weak push, and that was all it took. The door snapped back into place, and everything went still. Everyone relaxed with shuddering breaths.
"Okay." Opal stood straight and gave Steven a shaky smile. Her hair was mussed from the wind, and she tucked a flyaway back into her ponytail. "Let's stick together, eh?"
Steven still had his hands on the doors. "Eh."
From the other end of the hallway, Sapphire called, "Don't bother spending too long."
She pulled open another door. Steven couldn't see what was behind it, but whatever it was, it made Sapphire exclaim a startled "Whoa, mama!"
Steven walked past Opal to stand on the other side of the next door. Opal summoned a stronger, brighter arrow and used another hand to grab the handle.
She and Steven nodded at one another, and Steven pulled the door open.
Nothing burst, sucked, or even really moved. Slowly, cautiously, Opal and Steven inched closer to the door, just enough to look inside. They held their breaths.
There was nothing inside the small, blank room except a pane of glass standing in its middle. A mirror, Steven realized. It was in an ornate white frame, upright without any stand. The open door was reflected on its surface.
Opal, baffled, stepped forward. She tipped her arrow to the floor. Steven could not see the full reflection from where he stood, but he could see a sliver of Opal's form in the mirror. It still remained as still as ever.
Steven hummed. "It's just a mirror."
"Looks like it." Opal paused. A hand went to the back of her neck. "Unless it's another…"
"Lapuzo Lazulo?"
She coughed. "You said it, not me."
Opal's eyes narrowed at her mirror, or maybe her reflection. Her lower pair of arms crossed over her belly. "You know…I kind of…"
She didn't finish. Steven pressed, "What?"
"I…I—"
She didn't get to go on any further. Something pushed between them, making them both gasp and lurch aside. Steven caught himself on the door.
Sapphire charged straight at the mirror, bashing it with her shoulder. The second it hit the floor, its face shattered. Pieces and shards of glass bounced into the air. Sapphire didn't stop there—she hopped onto the shards, lifting up the skirts of her dress, and stomped on them as hard as she could. Shards were split into smaller shards, every step going crunch-chick-crunch.
Sapphire finally stopped and looked down at her handiwork. For one last good measure, she flipped the empty frame over.
For a long minute, the three of them stared down at the mess.
Steven clicked his tongue. "Well, that happened."
Sapphire turned to them. "What did you see?"
Opal stared down at her, baffled and wide-eyed. "Our…reflections?"
"What else?"
"Nothing…? What's wrong, Sapphire?"
"This mirror—" Sapphire stepped away from the shattered remains and let her skirts fall back down. "—is a dangerous weapon. I've seen others like it drive Gems mad. It takes a hold over them, keeps them to it. If either of you had stared at it too long, you would be so entranced by it that you wouldn't let anything or anyone stand between you and it. It was sick to leave it in here for anyone to stumble on. I don't care if no one ever finds it, I want it gone."
Steven glanced down at the shards on the tiled floor. "'Tis gone, Sapphire. 'Tis gone forever."
"Not yet."
Sapphire sighed and stooped down to the pieces. She lifted a hand, and a few shards were coupled together into a Bubble. She summoned another one, too, but then sighed as she looked around. There were a good many shards left to take care of.
"Sapphire, Sapphire, let me."
Opal stepped over to her fellow Crystal Gem, and Sapphire let her pop the Bubbles. Opal spread her arms out over the spread of shards, took a deep breath, and gathered them together in a pale purple dome. With a grunt, she pulled it tighter, until it was a Bubble like any other. The shards inside were packed tight.
Opal lifted a hand to send it away, but Sapphire hummed discontentedly. Opal rolled her eyes, but grinned. "I'll double-bubble to ease your troubles."
She did that, wrapping another Bubble around the first, and sent it away.
"I want it burned," said Sapphire.
"It will be burned," Opal assured.
"Yo!"
Steven looked back into the hall. Ruby was standing in front of one of the many doors, beyond which Steven could see the pale blue sky of the outside world. Steven didn't know what else was in the other doors, just that there were fumes whisking the floor and the stench of acid in the air. One door was trembling.
Ruby jabbed a finger outside. "Are you guys done? I've been waiting for, like, ten minutes!"
The three Gems joined the fourth at the door. They were at the very top of the spire, the door leading to a straight drop to the rocky ground below. Steven still didn't get it. They'd been through all of that, and they were just fifteen feet above ground? That was it? And it seemed that the sun had barely dipped during their whole misadventure.
Ruby landed hard on both feet, Opal landed delicately on one toe, and Sapphire and Steven came down in one gentle drift. With the soft wind tickling at his skin, Steven looked back to the spire. He hadn't realized how thin it was, either. It seemed more like a barn silo the more he looked at it.
"I am losing all hope in logic." Steven looked up at Opal. "How are we going to make sure that people stay away from this?"
Ruby held her hand to Opal without looking at her. Opal brought a hand to the Gem in her forehead, and as it glowed a twinkling white, she reached inside. When she pulled her hand back out, she was holding a roll of bright yellow police tape.
She handed it to Ruby, who snapped it straight like a whip. She grinned at Steven. "Human-repellant wire is amazing, isn't it?"
Once they had returned to Steven's Room via the Warp Pad, the four Gems created a line before the Temple Door. Ruby held her Gem up to its place on the star, the other hand stretching behind her head. She disappeared into her room, and as soon as the cracked door shut behind her, Sapphire stepped forward.
"Hey, Opal?"
Opal turned down at Steven, who was tugging on her leggings. Smiling, she said, "Yes?"
Sapphire's door reappeared behind her. While Opal's two Gems glowed bright, Steven said, "Can I ask you about something personal?"
The smile on Opal's face fell as the door opened to her room. She gestured for Steven to follow her inside, and as he did, she said, "Okay, but…You should know, I don't know anything about the human body or—"
"Stop. Stop."
"Sorry."
"It's something else."
He and Opal kept walking, winding through the piles upon piles of collections between the wet stalagmites. Here was a tower of knit sweaters, here a grand array of painted birdhouses. Steven passed by a jewelry box filled with enough gold and silver to hold a family for generations. Opal glanced at them all as they walked. Every now and then, she'd stop to set something straight or rub something off.
"Fire away," Opal said.
Steven took a deep breath.
"What was Mom like?"
Opal slowed in her steps, and for a minute, the two of them walked in silence. Eventually, she clasped a pair of hands behind her back and took a deep breath. Instead of looking back at Steven, her eyes drifted upwards. She was once again in glaze-eyed daydreams, lost in her own little world of memories. Steven followed close behind her.
"Rose Quartz was…" She paused. "She was…everything you could ever want to be."
Steven said nothing. He waited for her to continue.
"She was kind, she was fearless, she knew how to lead, she knew exactly what to say to make you feel better…She was the most understanding person I'd ever met. She was almost too good to be true."
Steven nodded. He'd heard it all before—how kind Rose Quartz was, how great of a leader she was—but he'd rarely heard it from Opal's perspective and hers alone. She usually brought Rose up when the others did, and didn't speak of her otherwise. But now that he knew that Opal was the first true Crystal Gem, he wondered how different things were from Opal's eyes.
"Rose opened my eyes to things I didn't know, things about myself that I didn't know. I didn't know what I was supposed to be, but Rose helped me figure it out."
"So…You and Mom knew each other longer than Ruby or Sapphire did?"
Opal nodded with pride. She and Steven came to the edge of a small pond amongst the rocks. The water inside shimmered and wavered with each drop that fell on its surface. Steven remained at the shore, but Opal kept walking, her toes moving across the water as if it were no different than the floor. Once she was at the center, Opal turned back to Steven.
"Rose Quartz and I went farther back than you'd ever believe. I was practically her right-hand Gem. If Rose ever told anyone anything, she told me."
Opal stuck out a long leg, her toe pointed down into the water, and span in a single, smooth circle. As the water rippled beneath her, weapons rose from beneath the surface. They were all swords, Steven realized. Longswords, broadswords, claymores, rapiers, sabers…They rose up and suspended themselves in the air like strings. Steven watched from the shore, amazed.
"What are those?" asked Steven.
"Weapons from the war," Opal replied with a grin. "See, I wasn't always skilled in combat, and I wasn't always handy with my bow, either. But, Rose helped me. I wasn't that good at first, but she kept with me. I finally got good enough to go out into battle unafraid."
Opal reached out and plucked a sword from the air. It was simple, long, thin, not very garnished, but visibly worn. Opal did not swing or slash it, but she held it in her hands with nostalgia.
Steven hummed. "Mom sounds amazing."
Opal nodded. "She was."
"Hm." He kicked a pebble into the water. "Wish I could have met her."
Opal finally looked at him, but only after he'd turned away. He was staring down at his feet now.
Opal put the sword back in its suspended place without taking her eyes off of him. She paused, fingers curling into her palm, and finally grinned. She cleared her throat and called, "Hey, Steven!"
Steven—who had spent the last few seconds trying to flip a rock with his toe—looked up at her.
"Do you want to see something special?"
Steven paused. Opal kept grinning at him like she just had the most important secret in the world.
Slowly, he squished his cheeks with his hands. "Special?"
"Spe-e-e-e-ecial."
"Show me."
Opal knelt down, suddenly stone-faced. Her fingers just barely met the water's surface, but ripples went rolling across the pond regardless. As Opal lifted her hand, something followed it, rising up from the water's depths. Steven could not tell what it was at first, just that it was long, thin, and a familiar rosy pink. Even when the whole thing was in Opal's hands, he couldn't place a name to it. He noticed a rose symbol on its side.
Opal held it out for Steven to see. "Do you know what this is?"
"A sock."
"No. What?"
"Ask a question, get an answer."
Opal just shook her head and finally tiptoed back to the water's shore. Once she was again standing before Steven, she knelt down and held it to his chest. He could see some of its finer details up close. The thing was tipped on either side by fine silver, and the rose symbol was made of a sort of bright opalescent material. One side of it ended in a narrow arrow, but the other one had a thin opening—it was a sort of hollow sleeve, he guessed.
"This," said Opal, "is a scabbard."
"Ew."
"The one that held your mother's sword."
"Oh!"
Opal nodded. "I found it the last time we went to the Strawberry Battlefield. I thought it was gone forever; I never thought I'd find it there. But I did!"
Steven stared down at the scabbard. He thought it was in pristine shape at first glance, but now, he noticed some signs of wear on it. The silver was clouded in some places, and the more he looked for them, the more he saw tiny nicks and cuts in its face.
This was the scabbard his mother carried at her hip, he realized. She'd gone into battle with this, had it at the same time she held her sword and shield. He wondered how old it was.
"And now it's yours."
It took him a second to realize Opal had spoken. "What?"
Opal pressed it to his chest with a light nudge. Steven wrapped his fingers around it, holding it carefully, as if it were to shatter.
But Opal just smiled. "You're Rose's son. If anyone should have it, it should be you. I was just…um…" Opal's eyes flickered away, her smile wavering. "Holding onto it for you…?"
Steven closed his fingers tighter. Opal was entrusting him with this—trusting that he'd take care of this, this lasting physical touch of his mother. He might as well have been holding a ten thousand karat diamond.
A grin split his face from ear to ear. His eyes sparkled like stars up at Opal. "Thanks, Opal!"
Opal leaned forward just quick enough to peck her nose on his forehead. "Boop."
He hugged the scabbard closer to his chest. "Hey, can you tell me other things about Mom?"
"Later." Opal stood to her toes, folding her arms behind her back and across her belly. "I have a few things I need to do right now. You should go back to your Room."
"Oh. Okay. Thanks anyway!"
He turned on his heel and was just about to dart into the collection labyrinth when Opal called out, "Wait! Do you know how to summon the door out?"
Steven sent her a thumbs-up and disappeared from sight. His footsteps faded away, paused, came back, paused. Opal could almost follow him with her eyes, could tell where he paused and where he backtracked.
He eventually reappeared where he was before. "Nevermind. I'm lost."
Later that night, the scabbard was above Steven's headboard. He had it held on two hanging pegs like a proud plaque. It was the one place that he knew for sure wouldn't get the scabbard damaged.
Steven kept glancing at it as he pushed his umbrella into his cheeseburger backpack. He was almost afraid that it would drop at any moment. Even when his backpack was stuffed and he had it on his back, his steps were slow to the stairs just so his eyes could linger on it for a few moments longer.
"Steven! Skedaddle!"
He jumped. "Skedaddling!"
He ran down the stairs and to the Warp Pad, where Ruby and Sapphire were already waiting. Ruby was tapping her foot impatiently, arms crossed and lips pursed. Sapphire was looking over her shoulder at the Temple Door. The other Crystal Gem was nowhere to be seen, much to Steven's confusion. Opal was almost always the first one on the Warp Pad.
He stepped onto it as Ruby groaned. "Where is she?"
"We may have to go without her," said Sapphire.
Steven felt his eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. "Go without Opal?"
"Well!" Ruby threw her arms into the air. "If she can't get here in the next three hundred years, then yes!"
Steven hummed. He, too, turned to the Temple Door. The purple and white gemstones were dull.
"What's taking her so long?"
Ruby made an angry "I don't know!" whine. Sapphire clasped her hands together.
"We should go," she said.
"But—"
"Buts are for sitting," snapped Ruby. As the lights rippled around the edges of the Warp Pad, she raised her voice and cried, "WE'RE LEAVING WITHOUT YOU, OPAL. DON'T BE MAD."
Steven kept his eyes on the screen door as its image wavered with the Warp Pad's energy. He was expecting Opal to burst in and apologize for being late, or maybe emerge from the Temple Door and hop on with them. Opal never missed a mission—never.
She didn't appear, and the three of them were whisked away.
It was a long time before they returned to the Room. There still wasn't anybody around, and Steven was thankful. They didn't exactly look ready for Sunday services. Sapphire was sprinkled in a mountain of glitter with a pair of sunglasses over her bangs. Ruby's arms were held out in a frozen T-shape, stiff as tree limbs. Steven himself was still purple—at least, the pigment was fading from his skin quickly. He was the color of an eggplant a minute ago; now he was lavender.
"That was crazy," Steven gasped out. "What an interesting series of misadventures we just encountered!"
"Agreed," said Ruby. She walked off of the Warp Pad, her arms still unmoving. "If only someone could document our encounters in detail so their fascinating aspects could be captured in a sort of short plot."
Sapphire hummed. "It would take too long. There are other things to focus on."
Steven looked to the screen door again. Not that he would be able to tell, of course, but it seemed that it hadn't budged an inch. The Temple Door's gemstones were as dull as they'd been when they left.
He groaned and shrugged his backpack off. "Where is Opal?"
"She may have gotten lost again," Ruby sighed. "Hopefully she'll be back in under three weeks this time."
Steven frowned. "Ruby…"
"Alright, alright. That was mean. But I meant it."
Steven puffed his cheeks out. Pouting, he insisted, "Opal's memory isn't that bad!"
Ruby probably would have held up her hands if she could. "I didn't say it was!"
Sapphire had already disappeared into her Room. The door was still glowing white as Ruby walked up to it. She could still use her Gem, thankfully, and the Door split in half. She turned back to Steven as the image of her Room appeared behind her.
"But…" she said. "If she didn't forget, then she just decided not to come."
She walked into her Room without another word.
Alone in the Room, Steven was left to stare after her. Ruby's words were harsh and clipped, but…they were right. Opal would never willingly skip out on a mission…right? Or perhaps she got caught up in something elsewhere. She might not have even been in the Temple, maybe not in Beach City. Not that Opal could not handle herself, but Steven couldn't help but worry for her.
He glanced to the scabbard again.
At the same time, the Warp Pad rippled beneath him. He jumped off before he got caught in its stream, and watched the light thicken and waver. A vague shape formed, liquid like sun glitter. And sure enough, when the lights fell, it was exactly who Steven expected.
Opal rolled her shoulders back with a sigh. She did not notice Steven at first—her eyes were unfocused but thoughtful—but when she did, she jumped. Steven did, too, before he could help himself.
Opal let out a shaky laugh. "Don't scare me like that!"
"I was just standing here."
"And you scared me."
"I apologize."
Opal stepped off the Warp Pad. She gave a long yawn, her lower arms stretching out straight. Still graceful, her movements were slugged down by exhaustion.
"I'm going to hit the bedbugs bite."
Steven clicked his tongue. "That is incorrect."
"To-may-toe, to-mah-toe."
Her Gems flashed with their stones on the Temple Door. Steven stared at Opal as she smacked her lips. When the Door opened to her Room, the water inside trickling musically, she was just about to step in when Steven called out to her.
"Where were you?"
She turned, eyebrows raised. "Hm?"
"We had a mission, Opal. We had to go without you."
She winced and sucked air through her teeth. Her eyes turned away from him. Embarrassment dusted over her cheeks. "Riiiiight. Forgot."
Steven huffed. So Ruby had been right.
"Well, where were you, anyway?"
"The Strawberry Battlefield," replied Opal. "I was going to see if I could find anything else worth grabbing."
"Oh."
That was good, he supposed. A decent excuse, since it was at least something productive.
"Did you find anything?"
"Nope. Nothing but strawberries."
Steven didn't realize she had one in her hand before—she ate it, smacking her lips in punctuation.
"Welp." Opal span on her toe. Her ponytail swished around her. "If that's it, I'm going to retire for the evenin'."
"Wait."
Steven hesitated as he walked to her. It may have been a trick of the light, but it seemed that Opal's shoulders had just drooped when he said that. He could have sworn he heard an audible sigh from her, too.
But when she turned to him, she just looked expectant. Not smiling, just expectant.
"I was wondering if we could talk about Mom some more?" he asked.
Opal blinked a few times, then gave him a half-smile. Reaching down, she ruffled his curls and pressed her palm to his forehead. "Come on, now, Steven." Her fingers trailed down and gently ran over his eyelids until they closed. "You need to head off to bed for tonight."
He huffed and pouted. He looked up at her through her fingers, his lips mushing against her palm. "Tomorrow?"
"Sure." She winked at him. "I'll make tea!"
He didn't say anything.
Opal deadpanned. "You can have soda."
He nodded, satisfied. As Opal dropped her hand, Steven bit back a yawn. He hadn't realized how late it was until now—the silver moonlight was bright through the windows. Opal really took her time going through the Battlefield, he guessed.
"Goodnight, Opal. Don't let the bedbugs bite."
He turned and sprinted for the stairs. Opal, meanwhile, just gave a realizing "Oh."
Around noon the next day, Steven was on the patio of his Room. He had a chair pulled up to the small table—Opal, as usual, would just have to sit on the boards, which wouldn't be an issue—with a cold can of soda beside him. Opal was going to be home any second now, and she and Steven would talk about Rose Quartz. She was gone at the moment, having already left for a mission that morning. He had considered brewing some tea for her, but the last time he tried, he confused potpourri for a teabag, so he wasn't risking it again.
He crossed his legs and leaned back. It was a bit cloudy that day, and the weather report said that there would be a light wave of rain coming in later. But that was hours from then, so there would be plenty of time for him and Opal to talk outside.
He wondered what he was going to ask her about. Maybe he should have planned the questions beforehand, but he was more invested in the idea of talking about Rose than the actual talking. He could ask about stories between the two of them, he guessed. He'd never heard many of those. He could ask about what it was like when they all lived in the Temple.
The door swung open, and Sapphire stepped out of the house, the wind whipping at her hair and skirts. Her head turned left and right across the beach in one slow, lighthouse-esque move.
She turned to him, but didn't say anything. Ominously. Steven didn't, either. Confusedly.
Eventually, she just walked to the edge of the deck and floated straight off.
Steven stared after her for a moment, but eventually just shook it off. Just Sapphire being Sapphire. He guessed…
Thirty minutes passed without Opal. No one else emerged from the house.
An hour. His drink staled to lukewarm. The clouds grew thicker.
Two hours. It started to drizzle.
Three hours. No drink. Full rain. Cold.
Eventually, when the table umbrella became useless against the fat drops, Steven just sighed and grabbed his empty soda can. He ducked into the door of his Room just as thunder clapped behind him. The water clung to his curls, and he shook it out like a dog. He would have to change his drenched shirt, too.
To his surprise, the Warp Pad activated just then. Not-so-much to his surprise, it was Opal.
The second she materialized, she turned for the Temple Door—not burnt, not frazzled, not short of breath. She did not respond to Steven in the slightest. She had her gemstones flashed in two seconds flat. She would have ducked straight into her Room if Steven hadn't raised his voice.
"Opal!"
She turned to him. The way she spoke, it was like they had just gotten out of a conversation not one second ago. "Yes?"
"What do you mean 'yes'?"
"'No'?"
Steven glared at her. She shrugged. She genuinely didn't get what was wrong, Steven realized.
"Opal, we were supposed to talk today. I've been waiting for hours!"
And just like she'd done the day before, Opal flinched and sucked air through her teeth—almost in the exact same way. One eye closed, she murmured, "I forgot."
Steven sighed. Dumping his empty soda can into the garbage, he asked, "Is something wrong? You've been more forgetful than usual. You're acting weird—"
"Hold that thought. I'll be just a second."
Opal darted into her Room. As she said, it was literally a second before she reemerged. Steven couldn't tell what she'd done—she wasn't holding anything.
She hopped right back onto the Warp Pad. "What is it?"
Instead of answering, Steven exclaimed, "Where are you going now?"
"I'm not finished with my mission. Steven, I'm really sorry, but there's a giant mantis creature wreaking havoc in the grasslands. I have to go."
"Well…Okay, but—"
"Bye!"
She was whisked away by the lights without another word.
Steven stared as if she were still before him, baffled, confused, and somewhat appalled. The way she just zipped in and out of the place…Like she genuinely just did not care that she'd forgotten about their arrangement. Which was so, absolutely unlike her that he couldn't wrap his head around it. And why on earth would she have to come back from fighting a giant mantis in the grasslands, then go back and continue the job? Without telling anyone?
Surely…Opal wasn't trying to avoid him?
No. No, no, not Opal.
She was just in a hurry. She wouldn't avoid him. She wouldn't.
He didn't hear the door open, but he felt something cold against his arm.
Sapphire nudged him with the soda can again. It was the exact same one he'd just finished. The cold water rubbed onto his skin. "Got you another one."
When Opal returned, the moon was once again high in the stars. Steven had already climbed into bed, teeth brushed and pajamas on, and was teetering on the brink of slumber when lights shocked through his eyelids. He blinked at them, and his eyes finally realized the dark blob in the middle of the Room. He was so tired, he had to understand everything piece-by-piece.
Opal went to the kitchen sink and reached into the cabinet beneath it. Steven heard bottles and cans clinking and 'bonk'-ing together. Occasionally, she paused—perhaps reading a label—then sigedh and put the thing back. She eventually picked up something and stood to her toes. The moonlight glinted off of it with such intensity, so Steven concluded that it was the metal polish. Opal lifted it up to her Gem, and as it rippled with white light, swallowed the can into it.
Opal hopped right back to the Warp Pad. She didn't even make a sound.
"Opal."
She flinched. Light or not, Steven knew she flinched.
However, she came closer to him. Gliding across the floor until she could reach up and pull herself into his loft with one hand. Steven could see her moonlit-blue hair and her almost stark-white eyes, looking down at him. She was like a ghost.
"Hey," she whispered. She knew how sound-sensitive Steven was when he was tired. "What is it?"
"Where were you?"
"I told you, Steven, it was a mission. I know it took a few hours, but—"
"Three days."
She blinked. "What?"
"You were gone for three days. Ruby's been angry for three days. Sapphire's been quiet for three days. I haven't been able to reach the top cabinets for three days."
Flinch. Hiss. One-eyed frown. "Sorry. I—"
"Opal, please tell me what's going on."
She gave him wide eyes, like she was surprised, but it was unconvincing. So, very, unconvincing. "Nothing's going on."
"Yes, there is." He sighed and sat a little straighter. He leaned his back against his pillows. "Look, I know it's hard to talk about things sometimes, but I'm worried about you."
"I'm sorry. But I'm not trying to keep anything from you. There's nothing to keep."
"You're spending a lot of time away and whenever I ask about it you just dodge the question. You never spend so much time on missions. Especially not without telling us. Seems pretty keep-y."
"Steven, it's not like that."
"Yes, it is."
"No—"
"Stop lying to me!"
"I'm not lying!"
Her voice snapped so sharply that Steven flinched. In the pale moonlight, Steven could see her curled lip and narrowed eyes. It was not the fiery glare she'd given him when he accidentally slapped her during the episode with Peridot. It was not a look that said 'You're in trouble' or 'How could you?'
No, this one was inarguably ten times worse—she wasn't angry, she was annoyed. She wasn't upset that Steven had hurt her, she just…wanted him to stop talking. It stung worse than bee stings. He felt it go straight into his head, prickling behind his eyes and making his nose burn.
Opal shrunk in on herself, as if a headache had consumed her. She hid her eyes behind her hand, but not as if she was going to cry. When she dropped it, she stared up at the ceiling with half-lidded eyes.
"I…" Opal tucked a flyaway hair back into her ponytail. Two of her hands curled and uncurled. "Nothing is going on."
She met his eyes, and the look intensified because of it. Steven couldn't be angry anymore. She caught the concern and borderline pity in his eyes, and whatever fire had consumed her, it only kindled it. She stood back to her toes.
"Go back to sleep, Steven."
She hopped back to the first floor, and Steven heard her gasp. Down below, there was a hulking shape in the room, hunched on all fours with a great mane of hair.
Lion blinked at Opal, his tail swishing back and forth. As emotionless as he was, there was something dark in his eyes, like he knew that the tall Gem had done something wrong to Steven.
Opal gave him a short but sharp look and walked away. She tried to ignore how the animal's eyes followed her.
She didn't face Steven as the lights whisked her away once again.
Steven was left in the silence. He was wide awake yet so confused; he was almost dizzy. Just last week, Opal was telling him all about Rose Quartz, what she was like, all without him asking, and now she was acting as if he were gum she'd found on her shoe. Actually, no, it was worse than that, because Opal was the person he spent lazy-days with, who helped him calm down from nightmares, who used to sing him lullabies when he was a little child and didn't understand that the thunderstorms outside weren't going to hurt him. He couldn't feel any guilt because what was he supposed to be guilty about?
Something told him to go follow her, but as late as it was, and the attitude she had…Well, Steven didn't even know where she went.
He laid back down and pulled his covers back up. His restless eyes stared up at the ceiling for a long time. Eventually, Lion crawled up to the loft and sat over his feet. Opal's eyes wouldn't leave Steven's mind. He wondered when he would see her again, in the morning, next week, next month…He didn't know what he was supposed to say to her.
His eyelids grew heavy despite the earthquake in his chest. Everything began to blur, the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling, the posters, his headboard—
His eyes shot wide open.
His scabbard.
Rose Quartz's scabbard—it was gone.
He sat up—jolting Lion awake, earning him a glare—and turned to look at the empty spot. He knew for a fact that it was right there when he went to sleep. He reached down behind his headboard to grab it.
Opal.
Her name popped into his head before he could help it. He thought back to just a minute ago, trying to recall every last detail he could. Opal sitting on her legs, fingers curling and uncurling…and one hand reaching upwards.
"She stole it," Steven whispered to himself. "Why would she steal it?"
Something shoved him.
Lion blinked at Steven, hunched over him on the bed. Steven could tell that he was suddenly alert—his limbs were straight and his tail was flicking at random. When Steven stared, Lion head-butted him again, his wet nose pushing into Steven's face.
"What?" Steven asked.
Lion head-butted him again. Sighing, Steven shoved him back.
"What?" he demanded again.
Lion stepped forward on the bed. Steven was pushed back down, his face muffled into Lion's mane. Lion sniffed at the place where the scabbard once rested. Steven could hear his nose puffing. Eventually, Lion chuffed and pulled back from Steven. He did not look amused.
"Wait…Do you know where she is?"
Lion headbutted him again.
"Would you st—! Can you please just take me to her?"
Lion blinked at him; puffed a breath in his face.
"I'll buy you a Lion Licker."
Steven—finally, it seemed—was thrown off of Lion's back when they touched down in their destination. The bright portal sealed shut behind them the moment that Steven hit the dirt. Mud smeared on his pajamas, he groaned and sat up, rubbing his head. He was probably bruised, but he'd had it worse.
The place that they were in was definitely not one that Steven had ever seen before. It looked to be on a flat cliff top, and for a moment, Steven marveled at the moonlit expanse of hills and valleys before him. They stretched so long that they faded into a haze in the distance. Gusts of dust tickled at his hair. He noted how crystal-clear the sky was here…it was like he could count every little silver eye in the blue. The moon was as big as his thumb.
Turning around, he saw what Lion had truly led him to. The face of the rock split into the mouth of a cave. Inside, the moonlight was swallowed into darkness, but Steven knew that it was deep. The ground sloped into it.
He took a step forward without thinking, but Lion cut him off. Lion circled around Steven, sniffing him all over. His bright eyes locked with Steven's.
Steven sighed. "Lion, I don't have a Lion Licker right now. Last time I carried one in my pocket, it melted, and it was really awkward for everyone—"
Lion knelt down before him. His back arched and his tail lowered; Lion tilted his head to Steven, pushing up his thick mane. He closed his eyes as if in respect…not that Steven understood why. At all.
Steven petted him.
Lion glared up at him.
Aaaand Steven promptly jumped out of his skin, because Lion's eyes were glowing as bright as suns.
"Holy guacamole, Lion, what's wrong with you?!"
Lion lifted his head. Then it wasn't just his eyes, his mane was glowing, too. It was weightless, shapeless, each strand turned to white heat, but Steven realized that that wasn't what Lion was showing him. Lion was trying to push up his forehead.
An orb of light grew from the fur, transparent like gossamer at first, then brightening and brightening—Steven flinched away from it.
There was a burst of light, and the orb transformed to something else.
For the second time that day, Steven had no idea what he was supposed to be looking at. It looked like a handle, at least. There was a cross guard, it seemed, and the handle was spiraled with thorny vines. There was a knob at the end, shaped like a rose. It was all pink and white and purple and Steven already knew what those colors meant, so he wrapped his fingers around the handle.
He pulled, and without struggle, slid the thing out. It led into a blade, he realized. It was smooth and pink and had soft petals where it met the cross guard. Steven pulled and pulled until it finally gave way into a sharp end.
The sword in his hand was surprisingly light, but not weightless. He wanted to say it felt familiar, but he knew it didn't. Lion's eyes and mane dimmed down to their normal states, and he stood back to his feet. The pinkness of the sword was not lost in the moonlight.
"Okay, Lion, I'm not angry…But explain yourself."
Lion blinked at him once, then turned away. He padded to the wall of rock, turned in a circle, and laid down to sleep.
"That is not an explanation."
Lion just lazily peeked up at him with one eye.
Steven turned back to the cave mouth and tightened his grip on the sword. Inside, he could hear the wind whistling through the rocks, could still hear the water dripping inside.
He took a deep breath and ventured in.
The cave went deeper than he anticipated, and he found himself leaning back to keep from sliding down. The rocks were slick and warped into soft angles, but with a clear pathway. Eventually, he found himself padding through ankle-high water that numbed his toes cold. He shivered—he really should have grabbed a coat—and looked up. It was not very dark in the cave despite its depth, like it was lit in a dull purple haze.
He ventured deeper, and the rocks spread out further and further until he found himself inside a grotto. The water was deeper, going up his calves and wetting his pajama pants, and the rocks rose up in a high ceiling dotted with soft teeth. It was a beautiful sight to see, but not the one that concerned him.
In the middle of the great lake of water was a platform not unlike the Galaxy Warp, minus the actual Warp Pads. There was a small set of steps leading up to it. The tip of the sword dragging in the water, Steven ascended them.
There were piles of clutter on it. A small collection of swords, stacked CDs, a pile of pennies…They were bunched together in neat piles, but Steven found little relation in them. They all looked fairly old, at least…
The floor beneath him went bright, making him jump. The light shrunk to the middle of the platform, to a small circle at the epicenter.
A familiar hand-shaped pedestal rose up from the floor. Unlike the one in the Kindergarten, however, this one had a spiral of thorns leading to a little pink gemstone in the palm.
Steven swapped his sword into his other hand. He lifted his hand, hesitated, then pressed it to the pedestal. A beam of light shot up from it, but otherwise, nothing happened.
He tried to twist his hand. It wouldn't budge. He tried again. His hand was pinned to the pedestal, like he had super-glued it in place. He propped the sword against the pedestal and tried to pull his own arm back, to no avail. He puffed his cheeks with air.
A hole appeared in the platform, scattering the CDs. Up came an array of axes, battered and dull yet polished clean. Steven blinked at them. He couldn't come up with a single idea about what exactly he was looking at.
He stuck his tongue out in thought, and another opening appeared to replace the first. A pile of books went toppling over into the water. This opening spat out what looked almost like an iron maiden; except its arms were held out so several spiked balls could dangle from them on chains. Like the swords, it was polished but obviously aged.
He experimentally pinched his nostrils. Another opening, a triple-set of Laser Light Cannons. Some VCRS were tossed about.
He closed one eye. A small array of armored suits. A bowl of oyster pearls went spilling.
He blew a raspberry. One, giant copper penny. The other, smaller pennies tinkled-and-tacked against the floor.
Looking at all the piles, he paused. In a giant pile of T-shirts, something slim and pink and familiar was jutting out.
He jumped, and the pedestal finally released his hand. With a quiet hum, it shrunk back into the floor, unlit and inactive. The sword would have fallen over if Steven didn't catch it.
He dashed to the scabbard and pulled it from the pile. It was completely undamaged, not that he had been expecting it to be.
The thought occurred to sheath the sword into the scabbard, but something else caught his attention. He could recognize all of the other stuff in the piles, but there was something on the other side of him that looked unfamiliar. It was tall and rectangular, but it just looked like a wide plank of wood to him.
He inched closer, scabbard and sword in hand. He rounded around the thing and peeked at it—
He gasped and flinched away. He tried to cover his eyes without dropping the sword and scabbard.
This thing turned Gems crazy. It broke their minds and left them as hollow shells.
So why was it there, pieced back together, he wondered?
The small subconscious voice in his head told him to run away, or perhaps break it again, but another made him pause. He'd seen something in the mirror—he didn't see himself, he saw something else entirely.
He shouldn't look, he told himself. Don't look.
He did.
It was like looking at something with peripheral vision. It was indistinct and shifted every time he moved his eyes. Everything else was clear, though, the floor and the rocks and everything else behind him.
There was white, he decided. A lot of cloudy white, and a splash of a sort of rosy-tan. A spot of magenta was hovering over it.
Pink, too. A lot of pink.
It was easier to figure it out piece-by-piece. Curls of pink hair over wide but soft shoulders. Delicate white skirts, spotted by a rose-colored gemstone. Lips—frowning or smiling, he couldn't tell. The thing was tall, very tall, bigger than the mirror.
It was so big that its reflection cut off at its nose. Steven leaned forward to see more.
A hand covered his eyes.
"What are you doing here, Steven?"
He let out a shaky breath. The hand didn't move.
"Lion took me here."
"…The lion?"
"Yeah, I wanted to see where you…" He paused. "Opal, what is this place?"
She didn't answer. Instead, he felt two more hands wrap around his. They lifted up the sword and the scabbard—as if she wanted to hold them herself, but couldn't take them from him.
The fingers on the sword tightened. "Did Lion show you this, too?"
"He gave it to me. From his forehead."
"What?"
"I dunno."
She paused again. When he heard her voice again, it was more clipped than before. "So…She knew the Lion. I didn't know that."
There was something odd in her voice, something he'd never heard when she spoke of Rose Quartz.
Anger. Bitter, betrayed anger.
"I mean…" He swallowed. "I guess that's why he's pink?"
She paused. "That makes sense."
She sighed, her breath rustling his hair. Even though Steven couldn't see the mirror anymore, he could still almost feel it there. He felt like something was staring at him, and it wasn't Opal.
He opened his mouth to speak.
"This was our secret."
He closed his mouth. Opal continued.
"This place…She and I were the only ones who knew about it. She trusted me and me alone with it. She trusted me with everything."
Her fingers tightened on the sword.
"…I thought."
Steven licked his lips. His voice sounded weird to his own ears. "Maybe she didn't tell you about Lion for a reason? Everyone has a reason for keeping something to themselves."
The silence that followed felt icy.
"I kept this place from you," Opal replied. Steven could feel her chin on his head. "Because I was selfish. Rose wasn't selfish."
Steven didn't reply to that. He wouldn't know, anyway.
Instead, he asked, "Why is the mirror here?"
"Do you know why this mirror is evil, Steven? Why is drives Gems insane?"
"No."
"It shows you what you want back. It shows the most precious thing you've ever lost, and you're there with it, like it never left to begin with."
He could tell she was looking at the mirror.
"Oh."
He couldn't think of anything else to say, since he knew what she saw in her reflection.
"I thought," Opal went on, "it would be easier to pretend she was here. Just here, in our place, without anyone else."
"Easier?"
"Sometimes I wonder if she can see me through you. But that scares me."
"Well…I think she'd think you're pretty great."
The hands on his tightened. Moving together, Opal guided his hands apart, then together. Steven felt the sword slide into the scabbard, heard the soft shiiiik sound.
"Not always," sighed Opal.
"I do. Always."
With her arms around him, Steven felt a tremble. She took a breath, but it was shaky and uneven. Her one remaining arm slid across his belly and squeezed him tight. She still didn't take her hand off his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Steven. I'm sorry."
"It's okay."
He heard glass shatter.
He woke up later that night, or perhaps early in the morning. He did that sometimes, woke up for no reason before drifting back to sleep. His blankets were tangled around him, and he had his arms splayed out by his side.
In his sleep-drunk vision, he could see someone sitting on the floor beside his bed. She hadn't moved since they came back. For a second, Steven thought she was staring up at the portrait above the door. But her head was bent down—looking at two hands. Another was beside her, the other was on the bed, absentmindedly resting on the mattress.
Even though sleep made his movement sluggish, Steven reached down and put a hand over Opal's.
She twitched her fingers in reply. After a moment, she scooted forward, and then leaned back. With her shoulders against the bed, she tilted her head back. Her eyes were closed.
Steven drifted back to sleep. Opal was snoring before he was.
