What's that? A chapter? It IS!
Couldn't work up the motivation to write for a few weeks, but I was reinvigorated by the return of SU. The fandom has had life breathed into it once more, and so…
Not much else to say, except I feed on feedback. Don't be shy. Seriously. If you like what you read, or don't like it. Tell me why. I'm dying for feedback here.
Chapter 37: It all makes sense.
S&DS&DS&DS&D
The sun was slipping beneath the horizon, but the full light of the moon held the dark at bay with its gentle glow.
Moonstone didn't notice, her thoughts swirling around far to quickly for her to even begin to register what was going on around her. She had already memorized how to reach the barn,
She had left the house in daze, wandering back in the direction of the barn.
Rose Quartz had shattered Pink Diamond.
Moonstone could believe that Rose Quartz would attempt such a thing,thing; she started a war, after all. But actually succeeding?
It was like part of the sky had had fallen; and in a certain sense, it had. The Diamonds were the four central pillars of Gem society. The thought that one had died—no, been killed—was… unthinkable.
But it explained much. The dark turn in her colleague's research… it was likely guided by Yellow Diamond's hand, but the others had no doubt supported it as well. By the stars, what must have that been like for the Diamonds? toTo lose one of their number who had stood as their equal since time immemorial? The weight of their sorrow? theirTheir outrage?
Moonstone paused midstride, her brow furrowing at a sudden thought.
Why did the earth still exist?
Why didn't all three of the remaining Diamonds descend on the planet with all of their forces to crush the rebellion under their combined might? The planet itself would have been reduced to dust, let alone the rebels. It would have been a vicious struggle, but it wouldn't have been a very long one.
Well… perhaps the answer lay in the remaining data files, the research could tell her their more of their intentions. She summoned her visor and began to skim through the data, driven by a fervent curiosity. Around her, sandy beaches and wooden boardwalks gave way to grassy hills that slowly flattened to fields.
Then something caught her by the ankle and sent her sprawling forward, hitting the ground with a wet splat. Moonstone blinked as a cold wetness began to seep into her coat; she'd fallen into that pit of mud from those corrupted gems, she'd completely forgotten about it.
The mud had dried some, but was still soft and difficult to stand on, and she'd only just managed to find her footing when an excited squeaking split the air and a blur of silvery pink came rocketing out of the barn.
"Toad, wait-" she didn't get any farther before the mushroom launched itself at her, clearing the pit of mud entirely and slamming into her. The fungal missile proved too much for her tenuous balance and she went tumbling back with a second splat.
The toadstool bounced up and down on top of her, despite its lack of distinct facial features, it somehow managed to convey a sense of complete unrepentance.
"Ah, so that's what he was so excited about," said Peridot, poking her head out of the barn. "Need some help there, roomie?"
"Assistance would be appreciated, yes," Moonstone sighed, sitting up and holding Toad above the mud. Very little of her wasn't covered in mud by this point, but it was better to keep it off his bodym as much as possible. She doubted he'd be very cooperative with an attempt to clean him.
"Hey Lapis, get out here!" Peridot called. "You're needed."
"Oh boy." Lapis joined them and stared impassively at Moonstone's predicament. "Oh hey, you're still alive. That's nice." She gestured with her hand and a pool of water lifted Moonstone out of the mud and deposited her between the Homeworld gems, then the water streamed around her, scrubbing off the mud.
"Er… thank you." Moonstone coughed, setting down the squirming toadstool.
"Sure," with that, Lapis went back into the barn. Leaving Moonstone feeling rather awkward.
"Meh, don't worry about her," said Peridot, "that's just what she's like. she'llShe'll warm up eventually."
"Really?"
"I mean, I assume." Peridot shrugged. "She's stopped trying to get rid of me, anyway. That's progress."
"I see," Moonstone looked back at the pit of mud behind her. "I thought the two of you were planning on doing something about that?"
"We were, but Lapis couldn't agree on an acceptable solution," said Peridot. "In the end, we decided to just ignore it until it went away. We did put a fence around it, though, to keep people from falling in." Moonstone blinked, now that she took a second look, she could see a section of crisscrossing wires encircling the pit, rising only about a foot off the ground.
She looked back at Peridot.
"We, uh, didn't have a lot of material for the fence." Peridot said awkwardly. "It was more for symbolism than function really. We didn't actually think anyone would fall in."
"Do not concern yourself," Moonstone sighed, "I have only myself to blame, my attention was focused elsewhere."
"By what?"
As they entered the barn, Moonstone sat down on a crate with Toad in her lap as she gave Peridot an abridged version of what had transpired.
"So the gems have given you a pass, huh?" Peridot commented. "Well, that's what they do."
"If you say so," Moonstone replied. "While I believe Garnet's promise of clemency was genuine, Pearl quite understandably offered no such thing," Moonstone frowned. "Not to mention Amethyst wasn't there. Despite Steven's hopes for a more amicable relation between us, I think it would be best if I avoid all of them as much as possible."
"Meh, you worry too much." Peridot waved her concerns away. "Amethyst is, to use the earth expression: 'chill'. I doubt she cares about what you did in the past. As for the others," she shrugged. "Both Lapis and myself were their enemies in the past, and they've gotten over that."
"Really?" Moonstone raised an eyebrow. "The two of you were their enemies?"
"Sure. Lapis, I dunno, nearly drowned the earth or something? But the gems got over it, and now they just ignore each other's existence as much as they can. As for me…" Peridot put her hands behind her head and leaned back smugly. "I was by far the most deadly and challenging enemy they've ever faced."
Moonstone stared at the tiny gem, then up at Lapis in her hammock. She looked back at the diminutive technician, mentally comparing what she knew of the two's capabilities. Namely, Lapis' hydromancy and Peridot's… wrench.
"Is that so?" she asked politely.
Peridot deflated slightly. "Okay, maybe not the most deadly," She admitted with a huff. "butBut I was certainly most elusive!" she rallied. "It took them, like, five tries to capture me, even though it was three against one, four if you count Steven. No matter how much of my stuff they broke, I always got away. They were no match for my superior mind and technology!"
"And why were they chasing you?"
"Oh they thought I was a threat to earth or something, when really I was just trying to get off this rock before it blew up."
"…Blew up?"
"Yeah, cause of the Cluster. The Crystal Gems didn't know squat about it, but I did. After they caught me, Steven let me out. Good thing too, Ifif he hadn't, there'd be a giant cloud of space dust where this planet used to be."
Moonstone frowned, "The Cluster… I've seen the term in several of the files on my journey back here, but none of them elaborated. Can you tell me about it?"
"Of course I can. Checking on the cloddy thing was the reason I was sent to earth. Basically it was an ancient super geoweapon the Diamonds left incubating in the earth's surface. Just a million or so gemshards fused together, if it had formed; boom! No more earth. But I stopped it." Peridot finished, puffing out her chest. She paused, "uh, Moony? You alright there? youYou look like you just swallowed a rock."
Moonstone didn't answer, her mind too busy trying to absorb this new information. She'd spent all day with Steven, trying to find out more about the war and the boy hadn't thought to mention this? A million gem shards? fusedFused together in such a way that were still conscious enough to take form? Such a thing was a monstrousitymonstrosity, an abomination. There was no way the Diamonds would have ever approved of something so horrific…
Unless…
She felt sick, as though cold clammy hands were tugging at her insides as ana thought started to crystalizecrystallize.
Unless something had happened that pushed the Diamonds beyond reason.
Like Rose Quartz shattering Pink Diamond.
The pieces began to fall into place with an awful clarity.
The dark turn the PF-01-2 research had taken, how long the war had dragged on, the widespread corruption of all the gem's on the planet, and finally, the earth's continued existence… everything.
The Diamonds' sorrow and rage at the death of one of their own had created a plan. They must have abandoned the idea of colonizing the planet, instead devoting all their efforts to the creation of this cluster. The makeup of the Earth's crust would have been ideal for such a thing. But even so, the incubation period would have been enormous.
They could hardly have left such a thing unattended for so long with Rose Quartz on the planet. She would have found it eventually and put a stop to it one way or another. So they had needed to get rid of her, but she was too skilled an enemy, the amount of military force it would have taken to defeat her would have likely have rendered the planet unusable anyway.
Hence the research into Gem corruption; why bother fighting the enemy if you can reduce them to mindless beasts? Sure, they'd still be all over the planet, but they would hardly be in a condition to sniff out a slumbering superweapon.
To craft a weapon to corrupt the minds of gems on a global scale though… it would have taken centuries. But the Diamonds had the resources to draw out the war that long, and besides, more shattered gems just meant that there was more raw material for the cluster.
The war must have 'ended' when the cluster and corruption weapon were ready. All Homeworld had to do was retreat from the planet, then set off the corruption while the rebels celebrated their victory.
And just like that: the rebels would be broken, the planet would be on the way to its doom, and the Diamonds would eventually have a weapon so overwhelmingly strong, it could have ended any future rebellion of other gems through complete annihilation.
Rose Quartz would lose everything: her rebels, her mind, and, ultimately, the planet she had fought so hard to protect.
An analytic part of Moonstone had to admire the wicked elegance of the plan. The Diamonds' victory would have been absolute.
Except it hadn't.
Rose Quartz had survived the corruption with a handful of her followers. Even so, it wouldn't of have mattered. With only four, five if you counted Garnet twice, gems, there was no way that they would have found the cluster's hiding spot if it was well hidden. The cluster would have emerged as planned and destroyed her anyway.
But it hadn't.
Because of Peridot.
"Ugh, Moonstone?" the green gem asked. "You alright there, Roomie? You look kind of pale. I mean, you're from the White Court, so obviously you always look pale. But you look, like, noticeable degree paler than normal. What's up?"
Moonstone opened her mouth to explain her newfound insights, but paused. The tiny, loud, and overly excitable gem before her was practically single-handedly responsible for thwarting the Diamond's plan of vengeance for their shattered comrade.
…Maybe she was better off not knowing.
"It is nothing," Peridot didn't look convinced, Moonstone didn't blame her. "I was just… thinking about how frightening such a creature would be. I'm interested to know how you ever managed to stop such a thing. It must have been very difficult."
"Oh." Peridot blinked. "Well, yes. For and ordinary gem, I suppose it would have been. But for me, however…" Moonstone listened with polite attentiveness as Peridot dove into a story of the daring, brilliance, and exquisite leadership of a single gem, plus a few extras who she had to help along the way.
Moonstone wasn't quite sure what to make of this new information. Her theory warranted investigation, it was possible that she was far from the truth. So much of it was guesswork, without an eyewitness account to anything. Hmm…perhaps she should discuss it with Lapis? The blue courtesan had been around during the war, after all. Maybe she had been witness how the war had played out.
Moonstone glanced up at the gem in question, she was hardly the most approachable gem. But considering the only other options were the Crystal Gems…
Moonstone would take her chances.
"… I, of course, had the solution immediately. We needed to acquire a drill head from the kindergarten…"
But that could wait, she'd learned more than enough for one day. Moonstone settled herself down, and allowed Peridot's words to settle over her like a screechy blanket.
Steven yawned as the sun, poked through the windows. He glanced at his Cookie-cat clock and saw it was well on its way to being noon. He should probably get up... but his bed was just so comfortable. Springy mattresses and fluffy blankets were way better than staying up all night with nothing but unhappy thoughts and the remnants of an ancient battlefield for company.
Yeah… the day could wait. Steven snuggled back down into his cocoon of sheets. But then, his sleepy mind registered something else. Something… tantalizing. A scent was infiltrating his fortress of comfort. A scent of sugar, of butter, of cream and togetherness.
His belly rumbled.
No. He needed more sleep.
But… but food! his tummy rumbled in protest.
"Shoosh belly." Steven murmured, patting his stomach in an attempt to placate it. "It is sleepy times."
His belly growled louder, voicing its dissatisfaction with that plan.
"Nope. Sleepyville for Steven." he settled more firmly into his pillow. Then he heard something, the pop-pop-pop of popcorn and the kshshshshsh of a whip cream can.
His stomach tensed so violently, that Steven's body curled up. He opened his eyes. "Well… I guess I have been sleeping for hours now,"
Uh huh, squeaked his belly, softer now, more encouragingly.
"And I didn't eat, like, anything yesterday…"
Too true, too true.
"Okay," Steven sighed, pushing his way out of the blanketed nirvana. "I guess, it is food time after all."
His belly gurgled happily as he half stumbled, half fell out of bed and down the stairs.
"Morning Steven?" said Connie, She was standing in the kitchen area and was clearly the source of his awakening. She was just placing a plate on the table, and on the table was…
"Is that a Together Breakfast?" Steven was pretty sure he was drooling.
"Yep. I was just about to put the strawberry on. You wanna do it?" she held up the berry.
"No, you can do it. If I get that close, it'll all end up in my mouth on the spot." He pulled up a stool and sat at the counter, forcing himself to sit still.
Lunge across the table and shove it in your mouth.
"Are the gems around, its not together breakfast if everyone's not together." Steven asked, maybe polite conversation would drown out the dark whispering of his stomach.
I bet you could eat all of it in three bites. Two if you really tried.
"Amethyst isn't here, I think she's visiting Vidalia again." Connie answered, holding the strawberry above the cream with appropriate, yet agonizingly slow amount of care.
You can shapeshift your mouth bigger. One bit. Go for the gold!
"I think Garnet and Pearl are the temple, though." She continued, placing the strawberry. "To tell the truth, I kinda wanted to share this just between us. But we can go fetch them if you want."
No. That plan is dumb. Waiting is dumb. Eat food now.
"Why? What's the occasion?" Steven asked, his hands clenching from the effort of holding still while Connie pulled out a knife to cut him his portion.
"Well, it is my last day sleeping over. My mom's coming to pick me up this evening."
"What?" Steven blinked, belly momentarily forgotten. Having Connie around all the time had felt so natural, the thought of her leaving had totally slipped his mind. "Oh no. We'll have to do something really special today!"
"Nah, don't worry about it." Connie waved him off. "It's not like I'm leaving forever, I just won't be sleeping over."
"No really." Steven insisted, "You haven't gotten to do any magic stuff all week! I know how much you love that stuff. I bet Pearl can give us a mission, or… or," Connie shoved a forkful of together breakfast into his open mouth and Steven's mind went blank.
He was floating. Soaring above the clouds upon wings of bliss and syrup.
"No, seriously, It's fine." Connie repeated, grinning at his silly expression. "I don't know if you've looked in a mirror lately, but you don't look too great." She took a bite of her own food. "No offense, but you look exhausted. After yesterday, you need more sleep."
"But… but…" it was hard to make good arguments when so much of his attention was focused on food, but he tried.
"Can you honestly tell me that once you're done eating, you don't wanna go back to bed?"
Steven opened his mouth, then closed it. She had a point. "I guess you're right. Sorry about the whole running off thing. Must have sort of ruined the sleepover."
"Of course it didn't," Connie smiled. "A week of Steven Universe without any crying? The world would end."
"…fair enough." Steven admitted. "So what do you want to do today instead?"
"I'm glad you asked." Connie reached behind the counter and pulled up a bag. "I visited the library before you woke up and…" she pulled out a rectangular box, "Can you say movie day?
"Dogcopter 3: The Return of Doggo!" Steven's eyes bugged out, he hadn't known the library had that!
"I've also got the sequel."
"Pupper's Revenge?" Steven gasped. "Connie, you are the best!"
"I know," Connie glanced down. "Wow, you demolished your plate." Steven blinked; she was right. He could have sworn he still had half his portion left a second ago… "Well, that's fine. You can have the rest of mine." she pushed her half-eaten plate over to him and headed for the stairs. "I'll go set up the TV."
"Connie, I love you."
"Hmmm? What?" Connie glanced back.
"Ugh… Nuffing." Steven said, shoving a bite of waffle into his mouth. He turned away, focusing on savoring every bite of his breakfast. The more he thought about it, the more grateful he was for what Connie had done. He really needed, a nice drama-free day.
Nothing but him, his jam bud, and all the robots a flying dog could explode.
Today was gonna be great!
Jasper stomped her way out of the ocean. Finally! It had taken all night, but she'd made it to the mainland. It had been… not difficult, exactly, but it had been unsettling. The ocean, all that water, the feeling of frigid, endless depths… it reminded Jasper of her. She'd been able to keep a tight lid on those strange feelings on the way out there. But on the way back… Jasper glanced at the dark pink crystal, resting in her hand like a loaded gun.
She might need it. But she couldn't wait to be rid of it. The stone was downright creepy. All throughout those long hours of endless swimming, whenever the soldier's thoughts had strayed to her, the stone seemed to resonate, gorging itself on Jasper's feelings; inflaming them and feeding even faster.
Jasper shook her head, forcing her unease out of her mind. She would use the stone, and then she'd get rid of it; never have to see the wretched thing again.
Jasper marched to the warp pad that had brought her to this lonely coast, and vanished. The world spun by in a stream of light, and landed her on a distant hillside, overlooking a different coastline. One she'd only ever been to once.
The sight of it, of that battered old temple overlooking the sea, ancient and falling apart, filled her with a deep frustrated rage. It was just asking to be put out of its misery.
And Jasper happy to oblige, but first thing first.
Jasper turned away from the temple, her gaze landing on the tiny town of wooden buildings and humans that ran along the beach.
Jasper smirked.
"I'm hope you're ready, Rose, because I'm coming to tear your universe apart."
S&DS&DS&DS&D
Uh oh...
PS: Since I can pretty safely assume that anyone this story likes cartoons. I have to ask, does anyone here watch Star Vs. the Forces of Evil? I do. I only bring it up because the recent episodes pushed me to write a oneshot for it, it's posted on this site if any of you are interested…