Note: Wow, I just reread the last chapter and wanted to yell. I can't believe I left so many mistakes. I should just find a way to get Microsoft Word and stop typing this on Google Drive. I'll try to spell check this chapter a lot more carefully this time.
Onyx
A week later…
This was basically the worst day of my life…
"I'm sorry, Lapis…" I whispered, as I quietly sobbed. "Peridot… Amethyst… This is all my fault… I... I'm sorry…"
A few hours earlier...
So here I was… Another quiet night in Steven's bedroom… Uncertainty still lingering about Sapphire's safety and whereabouts. Steven had tried to keep a brave face, but there were nights where he'd cry himself to sleep. Poor kid… Then again, I've cried too… It was those moments when I'd wonder how different Gems really are from humans…
Still no sign of Sapphire… Emerald… Carnelian… or Jasper… They were probably on the move. I thought it would be easier now they didn't have a ship. Though I will admit that taking the one who could see the future was a good strategy. Pearl, Ruby and Amethyst had went out to clean up the ship debris in the Great North.
I hadn't really talked to Amethyst since this all happened. It sucked… I… missed it.
Jasper collecting monsters… I wonder what she wanted them for? Could Emerald and Jasper have found each other? They were probably in the same area.
At times I wondered why Pearl told me about Emerald? Why not Steven? Or Amethyst? Or even Ruby? I thought it was because I was her student, but… honestly, I think she was just in the moment and needed someone to talk to and… well, Garnet isn't here. This information does make me think if Emerald has a chance to be dealt with on peaceful terms… But, like Jasper, he saw Steven as Rose in disguise. Neither of them had been explained to the fact that Steven was Rose's son.
You know, Emerald may be the mastermind, but what about Carnelian? I've only seen her twice, but she just seems to just obediently follow Emerald's orders. True loyalty, I guess. They're nowhere to be found, so I guess until we see them again, we're never gonna know.
Every day started feeling the same. I'd go out, look for Sapphire, find nothing, and come home. Steven would occasionally offer me to do something with him, but I'd say no. He meant well, but I had to find Sapphire. Everyone kept saying it wasn't my fault, but I felt that finding her first was the only way to get Ruby to stop giving me the silent treatment.
So, here I was, sitting by Steven's bed, after a night of searching. Then I saw the TV where we'd play video games. The box Amethyst and I swore never to touch again was next to the TV. Steven asked about it at times, but Amethyst and I would usually come up with something to take his mind off it. Maybe I should tell Garnet about it when she gets back.
It wasn't until I sat by there that I realized that all this searching for Sapphire was distancing myself from the others. For once, I allowed myself to fall asleep and when I woke up, it was morning, and Pearl and Amethyst were standing near me.
"Oh, Onyx," said Pearl. "You're up. We're about to head out to search for Jasper, Emerald and Carnelian… Do you want to come?"
"Uh… no…" I said, looking around. "I… I think I'm gonna take a break for a bit…"
"Well, alright then…" said Pearl.
"Yeah, Onyx!" Amethyst said, putting her arm around me. "Looks like you get to chill with me today!"
"Okay," Pearl said, as she headed to the warp pad with Ruby. "We won't be gone for long."
"But-" said Steven.
"Amethyst, watch over things while we're gone," said Pearl.
"Aye aye, temp-captain," Amethyst said, with lazy salute gesture. "No surprises while I'm on duty."
Suddenly, Connie came through the door with Lion and holding Rose's sword.
"Surprise!" she exclaimed. "I'm early!"
"I was trying to tell you Connie has sword training today," said Steven.
"Ah! I completely forget!" said Pearl. "I'm so sorry, Connie!"
"Very irresponsible, Pearl," Amethyst said with a smirk.
Pearl glared.
"Is this because of Jasper?" said Connie. "Are you headed back north?"
"We can't have her just out there, attacking random monsters for no reason," said Pearl. "Plus we need to pick up the last of the remnants of Emerald's ship."
"They may be our only clue to finding Sapphire," said Ruby.
"Of course!" said Connie. "Be safe."
"That's my line," said Pearl. "Amethyst!"
"I got it," said Amethyst.
"We'll try again next week, if and when all of… this… blows over…" Pearl said, trying to sound the least blunt in front of Ruby.
"Hopefully…" Ruby said, trying not to sound sad.
I started having second thoughts, and almost went to the warp pad. Ruby, however, then held out her hand for me to stop. She just gave me a nod and then she left with Pearl.
"...Ruby…" was all I could say.
"Lucky break for you guys," said Amethyst. "You get the training day off. So, what do you want to do?"
Amethyst was right. Without Pearl, we could pretty much do whatever we wanted. Steven and Connie, on the other hand, wanted to train, regardless.
So we went out by the beach and Connie fought Steven with Rose's sword. Steven did his best against Connie with his shield.
Amethyst was watching them… Well, she was supposed to. I was behind a fallen hand from the statue of the temple. Sitting down, I merely listened to the weapons hitting each other. Amethyst was on top of the fallen hand. Then she leaned back like she was falling asleep upside down.
"Hey…" Amethyst said, poking me by stretching out her hand.
"Hey, watch it!" I said.
"Just trying to cheer ya up," said Amethyst.
"How can you be so calm when Sapphire's missing?!" I said. "No one's knows what's happening or what could be happening to her! She could currently be under interrogation, or worse… shattered!"
Amethyst landed on the ground and sat next to me.
"Alright, Onyx," said Amethyst. "I'm gonna tell you something Garnet once told me a long time ago."
"Um… okay?" I said.
"Sometimes… things happen…" said Amethyst, "but the outcome is always in your favor if you… think? I think that's what she said. I dunno! The point is, ya should have to worry all that much. Garnet wouldn't have taken the risk, if she knew there was no good outcome at the end."
"Wait… so… she knew this would happen?" I said.
"Uhhh… I guess?" said Amethyst.
"So… Sapphire knows how this is gonna end!" I said. "Sapphire knew what could happen, when, and how to deal with it. So… whatever will happen… will happen in our favor?"
"Yeah…" said Amethyst. "Something like that. We have Sapphire on our side, and even in the hands of a jerk like Emerald, she'll find her way out."
My worries weren't gone… but I somehow felt a lot better.
"Thanks, Amethyst," I said.
"Now, wait here while I get the kids to go get food with me," said Amethyst.
"Okay," I said, finally smiling.
"Onyx! Amethyst!" said Steven. "Did you see that?"
Amethyst stepped out from behind the rock and shapeshift to look like Pearl.
"Excellent!" she joked. "Amazing! Pearl-fect!" She then tried to laugh like Pearl. I couldn't stop myself from laughing a little bit.
"Not really…" said Connie. "My stance is all wrong and my grip is a little soft."
Amethyst turned back to herself.
"Why are you worried about little stuff like that?" said Amethyst. "It's not gonna matter in a real fight."
"It does, though," said Connie. "I blew it on my first real magical mission! I was face-to-face with a monster… and I froze… Maybe if I trained a little harder… I could've handled it…"
"Sounds to me that you're too in your own head," said Amethyst. "In a fight, you never know what's gonna happen. You just gotta go with it. How can you get ready, if you don't know what you're getting ready for? Yeah, ya can't be ready! What ya gotta be is loose."
Oh my goodness, that's the second time Amethyst's been helpful today…
"I wanna be loose!" said Steven.
"Then you gotta go with the flow!" said Amethyst. "Fighting's all about that feeling deep in your guts. What do your guts feel like?!"
"...Hungry!" said Steven.
"Me too!" said Amethyst. "Snack break! Snack break! Snack break!"
"Well, we do need energy to train," said Connie.
So we all went down to the Big Donut, where Amethyst tried to sneak away a few donuts by disguising herself as that Lars guy. Luckily, Connie and Steven paid off Sadie before we left. We even got sodas. Then we didn't even go back to training afterward. We ran around scaring away seagulls and riding the ferris wheel at Funland. Before we left, we even got a few glow bracelets.
It had been so long since I'd seen a sunset at Beach City. Guess I'd been so caught up on searching for Sapphire.
Steven raced into the water. Amethyst got out a surfboard.
"Wanna try surfing?" said Amethyst.
"What's that?" I said.
"It's easy!" Amethyst said, handing me a board. "Come on!"
Amethyst led me out to the ocean. We went towards a wave and then at the right moment, we jumped into a stance and rode the wave back. Though, I lost my balance from nerves and fell into the water. Luckily, Amethyst grabbed my hand and pulled me back from underwater.
"That was fun!" I said, laughing.
"You'll get the hang of it!" said Amethyst. "That was a good first attempt."
"C'mon, Connie!" said Steven. "Come join us!"
"I didn't bring a swimsuit!" Connie said, giggling.
"There's an outfit for going in the water?" I said.
"In the heat of battle, you're not gonna have a swimsuit, Connie!" said Amethyst.
"By Jove! I guess you're right!" said Connie.
Connie ran into the water and had a splash fight with Steven.
"Go, Amethyst!" I yelled as she rode fast on her surfboard.
"You're the best!" Connie said, splashing Steven.
"No, you're the best!" Steven said, splashing her back.
Then there was a huge rumbling and one of the giant Gem monsters from the Great North came out from the ocean, scaring away some guy who was relaxing in a chair.
"Uh… I remember you, too, buddy," Steven said, forming his bubble around himself and Connie.
I swam back to shore. The monster jumped into the air, but Amethyst grabbed it with her whip and then used Steven's bubble as a ramp to jump off with her surfboard and land on the monster, knocking it back.
Amethyst could barely hang on with it leaning back. As soon as I got to shore, I jumped into the air and finished it with my sword. The two of us fell onto the ground.
"That was amazing!" Connie said, as she ran out of the water with Steven.
"Are you guys okay?" said Steven.
"Yeah, we're fine!" I said.
"Well, it's not a pretty win," said Amethyst. "But I'll take it."
"That was the monster we saw in the Great North!" I said, while Steven bubbled the gem.
"But weren't there two of them?" said Steven.
"Two of them?" said Amethyst.
Suddenly, the other Gem monster came out of the ocean. It came to shore… and Jasper was riding on top of it.
"Rose!" said Jasper.
"Jasper!" said Steven.
I was scared, but Amethyst was right. I just had to go with it.
"Stay back!" I yelled. "Didn't you learn your lesson after last time?!"
"I"m not here for Lapis!" said Jasper. "Emerald and I have decided to build our own army…" She then looked at me with an evil smile. "And he wanted me to come get you!"
Everyone's gazes fell onto me.
"Wh… What?!" I said. "I-I… I would never…"
Jasper started laughing.
"Where's the rest of your army?!" she said.
"They're not here right now!" said Steven.
"Shhh!" Amethyst chimed in.
"That doesn't matter!" I yelled. "I would never ever side with you!"
"You seriously don't recall anything, do you?!" said Jasper.
"I…" I said, before going quiet.
Then Lion came over and stood in front of me.
"Onyx, don't listen to her!" said Steven. "If you want him, you'll have to go through me!"
"Gladly, Rose…" said Jasper.
"No!" said Amethyst. "I'm gonna whip her butt ALL by myself!"
Amethyst whipped near the monster and it knocked Jasper off. Then it ran off past us.
"Stay where you are, Onyx," said Amethyst. "I've got Jasper! Steven, Connie, go after that thing!"
"Okay," Connie said, holding Rose's sword. "We get a second chance at this."
"Just stay together!" said Steven.
"I thought I was gonna fight Rose!" said Jasper. "Not some runt!"
"You think you can just keep showing up and picking fights with us?!" said Amethyst. "Why don't you GET A LIFE?!"
"Fighting IS my life!" Jasper yelled with a smile. "It's what I was made for! It's what he was made for! It's you were made for too, runt!"
"So?" said Amethyst. "I've got other stuff going on. I can fight JUST FINE!"
Amethyst threw a whip attack at Jasper. She then caught it with one hand.
"Well then…" said Jasper. "Let's SEE IT!"
Using Amethyst's whip, Jasper yanked Amethyst near her and kicked her away. Before Amethyst could try anything, Jasper did that rolling attack and ran Amethyst over multiple times.
Amethyst struggled to get back up. Jasper walked up to her as she did.
"Heh… You're not even trying!" said Jasper. "Is it because you know you're already a failure?! You're a Quartz soldier, just like me… But you're not like me… are you?!"
"Stop!" I yelled.
"Onyx, don't worry!" Amethyst said, standing up.
"You're small!" Jasper yelled.
Jasper uppercutted Amethyst into the air and and punched her repeatedly and then to the ground.
"Amethyst!" I yelled.
"Are you that desperate for troops, Rose, that you'd keep a defect like this?!" said Jasper.
"Rose said… I'm perfect… the way I am…" Amethyst said, struggling to stand up.
"Then she had low standards…" said Jasper.
Amethyst got mad and to use her rolling attack on Jasper.
"You could've been me!" Jasper yelled. And she kicked Amethyst into the air. "But what are you instead?" Jasper said, as she came down.
"Amethyst!" I yelled.
Amethyst landed onto the ground with a loud thud. I could take it anymore. I just… ran! Ran at Jasper as fast as I could.
"Just a joke!" said Jasper.
Jasper's headgear came down towards Amethyst, but at last second, I managed to actually catch Jasper headgear with my bare hands and push back against her.
"Take back... what you said!" I yelled.
I freed my right hand and pulled it back. My gem started glowing and I punched Jasper right in the chest and sent her flying back. She landed near the shore. I turned to Amethyst, lying on the ground, motionless.
"Amethyst!" I yelled, shaking her. "Are you okay?! Say something!"
"You would even protect a lowly runt like her?!" said Jasper.
"You know nothing about Amethyst!" I yelled back at her. "Amethyst is fun and she's always smiling in the face of danger! I thought you were a warrior, not a bully! Is this what you will do, Jasper?! Strike an opponent when they're down?!"
"O… Onyx…" Amethyst muttered, trying to get up. Then she fell again.
"Amethyst…" I said. Couldn't believe she heard that.
"You… They've told you nothing, have they?!" said Jasper, as she stood up. "Not Rose! Not her lackeys! Not even… Lazuli!"
"Stop!" I yelled. "I don't want to hear anything from you! I'll never side with you!" I pulled out my sword and pointed it at her. "I just want to live my life on this planet!"
Jasper glared.
"...I guess I have NO CHOICE!" she yelled.
Jasper ran at me and I covered Amethyst to try and protect her. Then Steven and Connie ran by, weapons ready, and there was a flash of light. Then I saw… them!
"Stevonnie?!" I said.
Stevonnie kicked Jasper away, stopping her assault.
"You fused?!" said Jasper.
"Whoa!" Stevonnie said, as they looked at themself. "I-I did!"
"You Crystal Gems would even fuse with a human?!" said Jasper.
"I don't wanna hear anything you say!" said Stevonnie. "Unless it's sorry!"
Jasper charged at Stevonnie, headfirst. Stevonnie got out their shield and stopped her, even forcing her back. Lion forced the monster back. It tried to run away, but Jasper grabbed it by it's hair and stopped it.
"Oh, no you don't!" said Jasper.
Stevonnie looked to me.
"Wait here," they said to me. "I'll protect you!" And they summoned their shield and mounted Lion.
Jasper got on top of the monster.
"Head-to-head!" said Jasper. "Just like I like it!"
"Ready when you are!" said Stevonnie.
Lion and the monster charged at each other. Once they were close enough, Stevonnie jumped into the air and threw their shield at Jasper, who caught it. Yelling out, Stevonnie slammed down onto Jasper's headgear. The hit was so hard, it caused the monster to retreat to its gem and Jasper fell to the ground.
I both shocked and relieved. Stevonnie… won!
"Fusion!" Jasper yelled. "Fusion! It's always fusion!"
"Are you ready to apologize?" said Stevonnie.
"This was just a warm up!" Jasper said, backing into the ocean with the monster's gem. "Get ready for next time, Rose! Jaspers don't give up! Jaspers keep going… until we get what we want…" And she disappeared into the ocean.
"Hmm… I guess she lives in the ocean, now…" said Stevonnie.
I sighed in relief.
"Onyx!" Stevonnie yelled.
Stevonnie unfused and Steven and Connie ran over to me. I looked over at Amethyst who was out cold.
"Are you guys okay?" said Connie.
"Y-Yeah…" I said, my hands shaking.
I formed a small smile at Amethyst.
"Don't worry," I said, lifting her up and carrying her on my back. "This time… I've got you…"
Back at the temple…
Amethyst was lying on the couch. I sat down and watched her, while Steven left to make sure Connie got home safely.
Jasper did a number on Amethyst… but she had come here for me… didn't she…? Why?!
Steven came back and closed the door quietly.
"I'm back," Steven said, gently.
"...She was here for me…" I said, bluntly. "And judging from what she said, Emerald sent her… Amethyst got hurt because of me… It's always because of me… Garnet… Sapphire… Amethyst…"
Steven looked to the floor. Then he looked at me again.
"Don't worry…" Steven said with a reassuring smile. "We'll protect you…"
I smiled. Then Pearl and Ruby came back.
"Ugh! We're never going to find them…" said Pearl.
"Pearl! Ruby!" Steven said, as he ran to them. "We found Jasper!"
"Huh?!" said Ruby.
"What?!" said Pearl.
"We beat her!" said Steven.
"Oh my gosh!" Pearl said, hugging Steven. "Are you alright?! What happened?!"
"She showed up with those big snow monsters so, we fought those," said Steven. "But then, things go really scary, so… Connie and I fused! Stevonnie got to ride Lion and we chased Jasper away!"
"All your training!" said Pearl. "You did so well!"
"We're proud of ya!" said Ruby.
"Wait…" said Pearl. "Where's Amethyst? And Onyx?"
"Um… hi," I said with a shy wave.
Pearl and Ruby ran over.
"Ah! Is she okay?!" said Pearl.
"Yeah…" I said. "She's just knocked out…"
"Oh… Are you okay?" said Pearl.
"Yeah…" I said. "I'm okay…"
Jasper's words repeated in my mind.
"They've told you nothing, have they?! Not Rose! Not her lackeys! Not even... Lazuli!"
I knew what I had to do.
"Um… C-Can you watch Amethyst for a bit?" I said.
"S-Sure," said Pearl. "But why?"
"...I… just need to talk to Lapis," I said.
I got up and went to the warp pad. Steven reached out his hand to say something, but I already warped to the barn… little did I know… things were about to turn to the worst.
I froze up as I approached the barn. Dark storm clouds had gathered and near the barn, Peridot was knocked out… and Emerald was closing in on her.
"Emerald!" I said, running near him.
Emerald stopped when he heard my voice.
"Ah, so we finally meet again…" he said.
"What's going on?!" I said. "Why are you doing this?!"
Emerald glared.
"I'm sure you know…" he said, "deep down in your darkest nightmares! ...We've met before… Don't you remember?"
"What?" I said.
"Right…" Emerald said, grimly. "Not a thing…"
Emerald pulled out his bow, and he split it into two smaller blades.
"Consider this… a reminder!" he said, pointing one at Peridot.
At that moment, I ran in and our blades clashed, as the rain started to fall.
"Leave her alone!" I said.
Emerald's cold eyes narrowed as he pushed me back.
"Where is Sapphire?!" I said.
"If you want her, you'll have to beat me!" said Emerald.
"Then I will!" I said, pointing my sword at him.
I charged up my sword and shot beams at him as I swung. Emerald jumped into the air and dodged them, by jumped on his glyphs. He fused his daggers into a bow again and started shooting at me while on top of one. One of the arrows' blast radius sent me flying near the barn. Emerald jumped off with his daggers and I ran out of the way. Then I ran at him and our blades clashed.
"So this is where you've been?" said Emerald. "On this planet with those Crystal Gems?!"
"Stop this, Emerald!" I said. "Pearl… wouldn't want this!"
"What do you know… about Pearl?!" Emerald yelled, as he pushed me back. I hit the wall of the barn and fell to the floor.
"She didn't want this…" I said, grabbing my sword. "She didn't want... to hurt you…"
Emerald eyes widened for a second… then they narrowed.
"I don't care anymore!" he then said, "because all I care about now, is you… Onyx."
I tried to fight, but then Emerald knocked the sword out of my hand and grabbed me by my sweater and lifted me into the air.
"I will use you to destroy everything the Crystal Gems stood for…" Emerald said, sternly.
"N… No!" I said.
"Peridot!" said a voice.
I looked over Emerald's shoulder and saw Lapis near Peridot. Emerald saw too.
"Lapis!" I yelled.
Lapis looked over. Emerald glared and slammed me into the ground. I yelled out, begging for help. Lapis gasped.
"Get away from him!" Lapis yelled, angrilly.
"L-Lapis…" I said. "D-Don't…"
Emerald pulled out his bow. His eyes started glowing and an arrow was pointed at me. Lapis yelled. She summoned a wave of water from the pool that went right towards Emerald… but it was a trap. Emerald fired… but at Lapis. The arrow went through the wave… and pierced through Lapis. All I could was watch as the water fell… and her gem… and my tears…
"Emerald!" yelled a voice.
Emerald turned towards the warp pad and froze. Standing there was Pearl, Steven and Ruby.
"P… Pearl?" said Emerald.
"Emerald…" said Pearl.
Suddenly, a metal can hit Emerald on the head.
"OW!" he yelled. "Son of a…"
Peridot ran out from behind him, holding Lapis's gem and she grabbed me by the arm.
"Let's go! Let's go!" she said, rapidly.
I immediately ran with Peridot. As soon as we were on the warp pad I hugged Pearl as tight as I could as Peridot warped us back to the beach house. Then I sank to my knee and started crying.
"Onyx!" said Steven. "Are you okay?!"
"Why did you do that?!" Ruby yelled at Peridot. "I have to go back there!"
"Are you crazy?!" Peridot yelled, looking at Ruby. "Emerald beat all three of us!"
"Wait… three?" said Steven. His gaze then fell on the gem in Peridot's hand. "Lapis!" he cried. He ran over and grabbed the gem.
"He knows where Sapphire is!" Ruby continued. "I have to find her!"
"And how do you think a Ruby is going to fare against Emerald?!" said Peridot.
"Ruby, that's enough!" said Pearl. "That goes for you, too, Peridot!" She then got down on her knees and tried to talk to me. "Onyx, are you okay?"
"H-He was gonna…" I tried to say before another onslaught of tears came down from my eyes.
"It's okay!" Steven said, patting me on the back. "You're not there anymore… You're here and you're safe."
"Emerald assaulted the barn!" said Peridot. "I would've been done for if Onyx hadn't been there!"
"S… Same…" I said, wiping away my tears.
Ruby looked at everyone. Then anger swept across her face.
"Let me go back!" said Ruby. "I need to find Sapphire!"
"Ruby, it's too dangerous!" said Pearl.
"She's all alone! I need to find her!" Ruby yelled, as tears started filling her eyes. "She needs me!"
"Ruby, listen to me!" said Pearl. "We need you here! Steven told me that Onyx was in danger and Amethyst is hurt. You can do this, Ruby! We just have to wait until everyone's okay."
"But what about Sapphire?!" said Ruby. "Emerald could-"
Pearl then grew a serious face.
"...He's not going to shatter her…" Pearl then said. And after that sentence, Ruby went silent and complied with her orders.
Pearl told Peridot that she should stay at the beach house until further notice. Steven soon went to bed and Pearl and Ruby went back into the temple. Peridot was really shaken up by the whole thing and she went back to the place where she could watch Lapis's gem and where she felt safe: the bathroom. I was too scared to sleep, so I just sat on the couch and watched over Amethyst.
I was hurting all over and my clothes were still wet from when that wave fell onto Emerald and myself. More tears came down from my eyes as my mind replayed the moment Emerald's arrow hit Lapis. She was trying to save me… Amethyst was trying to protect me… and they got hurt… when they were there for me…
This was basically the worst day of my life…
"I'm sorry, Lapis…" I whispered, as I quietly sobbed. "Peridot… Amethyst… This is all my fault… I... I'm sorry…"
The more we waited to stop Emerald… the more he would hurt the people I loved… It was me they wanted, for whatever reason… but it was the others who paying the price… As long as I stayed with them… they wouldn't stop hurting them.
There was only one thing I could do to save them…
I wrote a note, set it on the table… and prepared for the journey. I walked over to the box… the forbidden box… Emerald was able to beat me… but maybe he wouldn't be able to beat… her.
This was for them! I thought. For the Gems! For Lapis! For Steven! For Amethyst…
Sapphire knows how this was going to end… I can only hope this was the ending she intended…
Amethyst… I only wish you were awake to wish me luck...