"Ca-Carocol?"
Garnet had removed her goggles, so that all three of her eyes regarded Carocol with an expression Carocol had never seen.
"How...long have you known?" Carocol asked in as steady a voice as he could manage.
"The moment I met you," she answered. "I understand this makes you upset, but I...I couldn't not tell you."
Carocol was something far beyond upset, but his mind couldn't decide what this feeling was. The vision he had seen repeated in his mind over and over again, his mind spiralling into a whirlwind of different emotions, buffeting his heart and his bones. Sadness, knowing he would never see his father again. Betrayal, that his father had likely intended that from the beginning, though he would be the one still alive, not his son.
It was anger, however, that seemed to be winning this war. The disregard Gilgamesh had for his neighbors, his people, his father...even as the other emotions and painful images of Garnet's vision continued to play over and over again, the sounds of Gilgamesh's laughter, his horrible smile, lurked in the darkest corner of his mind. He could not believe that only a single cycle of the sun before, he had willingly allowed Gilgamesh to assail him, without any desire to fight back.
Carocol wasn't aware that he had reached for his blade, until Garnet jumped back in alarm. He thought of when his father had given him the blade, for protection, a laughable thought now. Now, the very steel stung his skin like the point of an icicle, and he felt the urge to chuck it into the ocean.
He opened his mouth to say something, to let Garnet know he had no intention of harming her, but nothing came out. Garnet recognized Carocol had no ill intentions through his body language (or lack thereof), putting a hand on his shoulder cautiously after another minute of allowing Carocol to compose himself.
Carocol realized his skin was glowing pink, pulsing every time a particularly painful thought stabbed at his heart. He and Garnet stood like this for a time, measuring the minutes in time with the soft hiss of the ocean waves.
Their period of reflection was interrupted when a skin-curdling moaning sound emanated behind them. A village resident stood hunched over, as if his legs could barely support him. His mouth was agape, though not so much as his eyes, which were an unsettling mix of bloodshot red and jaundiced yellow.
"Can we...help you?" Garnet said. The man only lifted a trembling arm in response. It looked as though he was merely waving at them, until he began to extend his gnarled fingers, and even in the limited light of the moon, the sharpness of them put Garnet on guard.
Before Garnet could even repeat herself, the man was charging at them, uttering a guttural roar impossible for a human to produce.
But Garnet, who possessed both the precognitive abilities of a Sapphire and the martial instinct of a Ruby, would not be swayed. In one motion, she summoned her gauntlet and uppercutted the man with the might of ten rubies. To her horror, the blow decapitated the man, his head soaring into the night sky and out of sight.
"Oh no…" she muttered to herself, looking down at her gauntlets as if they had somehow disobeyed her. Three of the man's blackened teeth were stuck between her fingers. How was she going to explain this to Rose?
But there was no time to think, the man's arms had wrapped around her throat without a brain to direct them. Though it took considerable strength, she managed to pull the torso off of her, and watched as the torso's legs carried it away into the night.
"More…?" Garnet muttered, for where empty streets had been before were now overrun with the villagers, moaning and growling as the first man had. One of the approaching woman's arms fell off, but it did not deter the creature; if anything, it seemed to be approaching faster than the others, as if the weight of their limbs was holding them back. She retreated back from the approaching horror, until the cold ocean was lapping at her feet.
"I underestimated their hunger."
At the sound of the voice, which sounded eerily familiar to Garnet, the approaching horrors suddenly froze. The shadow of a hunched over woman was following the path Carocol had taken when he came across Garnet; she immediately recognized the crone who had greeted them earlier.
"Controlling the undead is not as easy as it seems," she breathed. Her voice had lost that grandmotherly sweetness from earlier. "I suppose, however, now is as good a time as any."
"Time for what? What's going on?"
The old woman cackled. Garnet looked back and forth between the crone and the horrors surrounding her, waiting for them to maul her, but they stood stiff and rigid like statues.
"Time to eliminate you, of course, as his Lordship requested."
"I don't understand…"
"My Lordship never forgets," the old woman said with a giggle. "Many seasons have we waited for healthy flesh to consume…and he has provided."
Garnet's gauntlets hummed to life once more.
"I'll hold them off. Carocol, you need to warn Alm and Rose…Carocol?"
But Carocol, who had not moved from the spot where Garnet had shown him the vision, did not even flinch, even as the old woman stumbled towards him. There was a vacancy in his expression, so that he was impossible to tell apart from the zombies under the old hag's employ.
"Carocol, I can't do this alone!" Garnet said through gritted teeth.
"He has accepted death," the old woman said, as she knelt down to look in his eyes. She wrapped her bony fingers around his cheek and shook it aggressively, but even this did not stir him to move. "Perhaps in time, so shall you."
She wrapped the young man's body in her arms, and turned to face Garnet, holding his limp body in front of her as is to shield herself from Garnet.
"Mmm, your flesh will be a perfect appetizer for the main course."
"No!" Garnet yelled, for the woman had sank her teeth into Carocol's shoulder. She closed her eyes, expecting to hear the tearing of flesh from its vessel, but instead there was a ghastly scream. Carocol's entire body was glowing pink, and even at a distance, Garnet could feel the heat radiating from him. The old woman was writing in pain on the ground, clutching her jaw, her screeching muffled.
Garnet raised her gauntlets, preparing for a vengeful attack from the revenants on account of their fallen commander, but as the old woman composed herself, she directed their attention to Garnet instead.
"Perhaps...you will have to suffice…" she mumbled, still clutching her jaw.
"The only thing you're going to taste is my fist," Garnet said, pounding them together.
"If you will not surrender, you shall be consumed where you stand, slowly if need be," the woman said, licking her chapped lips. "Begin!"
But just as the revenants roared to life, staggering towards Garnet with staggering speed, there was a loud crash. Garnet gasped as a bolt of orange energy suddenly appeared. It mowed down a row of the revenants with ease, leaving a trail of dismembered arms and legs that continued to squirm on their own accord.
The bolt of energy paused, and Garnet saw that it was not a bolt after all but something akin to a wheel. Orange energy emanated from it like the sun, and though the heat was welcome in the cold, Garnet had the feeling she had seen this energy somewhere else before.
"What is this?!" the old woman spat, as another legion of her undead warriors was consumed by this unexpected participant.
The energized orb came to a rest in the midst of the undead army, the revenants covering their eyes as the orb uncurled itself and emitted a bright light that forced even Carocol in his daze to shield his eyes. When it subsided, Garnet looked up to see her suspicions were confirmed, for a quartz gem was now towering over the old crone.
She was easily as tall as Rose, but the scars on her limbs and torso made her far more intimidating. Her hair was as long as Rose's, but far more wild and unkempt, reaching all the way down her back. Her skin was a bright orange with amber and brown lines, so that she resembled a bipedal tiger.
"How dare you interrupt our feast! Explain yourself!" the old woman screeched. The giant gem didn't seem to hear her, choosing instead to scan the mass of undead bodies. Who this giant gem would recognize in this morbid crowd, Garnet knew not.
"Where is Rose?" she asked in a low voice, sending chills down Garnet's spine.
"I do not know, and I care not! My children and I were promised a feast, and we will have one. Kill h-"
Jasper wrapped a massive fist around the old woman's head and lifted her off the ground with ease.
"I don't care about you humans like Pink used to. I have no problem pounding you into this rotten soil. I was told Rose was going to be here, so stay out of my-"
But as Jasper's gaze happened upon the beachhead, she finally caught Garnet's eye and went silent. The two studied each other silently, unsure what the other would do in response to seeing another gem. Garnet could feel Ruby encouraging her to throw the first punch, but only Sapphire's caution held her back.
"And what in the stars are you supposed to be?" Jasper said with a smirk, letting the old woman squirm free.
"My name doesn't matter. Rose isn't here, so leave!"
"On the contrary, an embarrassment like you being here must mean Rose is nearby. And what's this?"
She pointed at Carocol, who had sunk back into his vegetative state.
"It's obvious that Rose healed this human. Now tell me where she is."
"I won't."
"Ha!" Jasper exclaimed, a twinkle in her eye. "I'll have to beat it out of you then. Good! I've been looking to have a little fun."
Jasper curled into a ball, gyrating in place and building up orange energy. The force of this sent the crone and her "children" flying back.
But before Garnet could prepare for the blow, another voice sounded above the gathering energy and momentum.
"Garnet! Carocol!"
Rose landed between Garnet and Jasper, as if nothing were amiss, her typical jubilant self. She placed her hands on Garnet's shoulders, before embracing the fusion as if nobody else was around.
"There you are! I've been looking for you-Garnet?"
Garnet had dropped her arms to her sides, a shadow coming over her complexion.
"Rose Quartz!"
Rose gasped as she finally noticed Jasper. She was no longer in her ball-like state, although a palpable orange aura continued to surround her.
"A quartz soldier?" she muttered.
"You are the one who shattered Pink Diamond...There will be no trial for you, traitor."
There was a hum akin to the one Garnet's gauntlets made when they were activated, as an orange brace covered Jasper's forehead and eyes.
"I'm gonna shatter you myself!"
Garnet stood beside Rose, drawing her gauntlets up in front of her.
"It's three...er, two on one," Garnet shouted up at the quartz soldier. "We'll take you down together, right Rose? Rose?!"
But Rose had her arms crossed, hanging her head. Garnet couldn't believe it; was she the only one willing to fight?
"So you'll attack a Diamond from behind, but when you face someone superior to you, you cower and accept defeat?"
Jasper snickered, but when she spoke again, it was with a tone of pure hatred.
"You're nothing but a coward."
This time, both Ruby and Sapphire were spurred into action, and Garnet launched herself towards Jasper at full velocity. Jasper managed to duck her head at the last moment as Garnet swung with all of her might. Garnet swung again, concentrating more speed into her punch, but the sacrifice of power allowed Jasper to catch her wrist, lifting the fusion off the ground so their eyes met.
"Garnet, no!"
"Say hello to Tiger's Eye for me…" Jasper breathed in Garnet's face. But as she leaned her head back to deliver the final blow, the wind was forced out of her lungs as Rose's shield collided with her chest. Garnet escaped her grasp, kicking at her face as she did and sending her scraping along the cobblestone ground. Now she lay at the feet of the old crone and her minions, who had become somehow become forgotten in the skirmish.
"Erm...forget them! Spread out and find the prince!"
The crowd of undead disseminated, until they had all disappeared down the dark streets of the decrepit city.
"No you don't!" Rose called, jumping onto the street and preparing to pursue them, just as Jasper got to her feet. She ran into Rose's path, summoning her headgear again.
"You're not going anywhere…"
"I have no quarrel with you quartz soldier!" Rose said. Garnet caught up with her, the gravity of what Jasper had said catching up to her.
"It was you who shattered Tiger's Eye, wasn't it?"
Jasper threw her head back and laughed, in a manner reminiscent of Gilgamesh.
"Yes, and I'd do it again! You and your traitorous Crystal Gems, Rose...I will not stop until all of you are nothing but shards in the mud!"
"Enough…"
"What?" Jasper sneered.
"I said enough!" Rose shouted, her eyes a passionate pink color. "I had to do it. For the sake of this planet, and the humans that live here. I don't expect you to understand, Jasper, but you have to! Can't you see how valuable this planet is?"
She spread her arms, inviting Jasper to look around. If Rose was looking to prove how beautiful the Earth was, Garnet thought, this wasn't the best place to do it. As if on cue, there was a clanging of metal and snapping of wood as one of the vendors tents behind them collapsed.
"Enough words. This only ends one of two ways. You defeat me, or I shatter you and the rest of your Crystal Gems. And I have no intention of losing."
Rose summoned her shield, but kept her sword sheathed. Behind the fierce pink light in her eyes, Garnet could see a vacancy, the same kind in Carocol's eyes.
"I will defend myself," she said, in as fierce a voice as she could manage.
"I expected nothing less...ha!"
Jasper pushed off her back foot, ramming her head into Rose's shield. The momentum went in Jasper's favor, as Rose was launched onto the beachhead, barely managing to stay on her feet. She raised her shield just in time as Jasper jumped in the air and rolled into a ball, coming down on Rose like a meteor. The resulting explosion scattered sand in all directions, forcing Garnet to stop and cough as the stuff tickled her throat and lungs.
When the sand cleared, they were standing apart as before. Rose's shield was still raised in one hand, but she was clutching her abdomen with the other.
"And I thought this would be a challenge," Jasper said. "I haven't even broke a sweat yet."
Rose finally drew her sword, pointing it at Jasper's head.
"If you think the sword that shattered Pink Diamond is gonna do the same to me, you're mistaken."
Rose opened her mouth to respond, but stopped. Garnet watched in awe as Rose sheathed her sword, and pulled Pearl's gem out. She studied it sadly, a single tear appearing in her eye.
"You win." Rose's shield disappeared, and she held her arms out so that she was completely vulnerable. "I won't put my friends in danger anymore."
Jasper narrowed her eyes, and her headgear disappeared as well. For a wild second, Garnet believed Jasper had surrendered, until she curled into a ball again, gathering energy for what would certainly be the finishing blow.
Finally, Jasper emerged with a wild look in her eye, and with a final, savage smile, exploded forth.
Rose had expected to feel pain, to be flattened by Jasper's power, and in fact she was launched into the heavy air. The force, however, was not so great that she could not adjust in midair and land on her feet, and upon landing safely, she realized the intended collision had not taken place. Jasper was kneeling where Rose had been standing before, heaving as if every breath hurt. A pair of familiar goggles lay in the sand before her, and just as Rose realized what had happened, she found Garnet lying facedown in the sand at least fifty feet away.
Not even Rose could imagine the physical pain Garnet was in, and how Ruby and Sapphire were fighting with all of their strength to keep both their individual gems and their fusion from destabilizing.
Just a little longer, c'mon Sapph…
I can't, I'm just not...as strong as you…
Yes you are, you just have to believe…
I...can't see us...staying together…
Yes you can...just look at me…
Rose put her hand on Garnet just as her form began to glow, extra limbs appearing in impossible places as her fusion grew increasingly unstable.
"Don't give in Garnet, keep it together," Rose whispered, trying to hide the urgency in her voice.
"You worthless rock…"
Rose could hear the soft sound of Jasper trudging through the sand towards her. A wave of water swept over her and Garnet, cold and unforgiving. But she couldn't give up on Garnet. There was so much about fusion she didn't know; would Garnet stay unfused forever if they came apart in this state?
"You rely on your friends to fight your battles for you."
There was the familiar hum of gem technology, and Rose knew Jasper had reactivated her headgear.
"Garnet, please," Rose said, and this time she could not stop the desperation from creeping in. Already, Sapphire's long, flowing hair was beginning to grow where Garnet's had been.
"Nobody will be able to save you now," Jasper said, her voice only a few feet behind Rose. But Jasper was wrong, for somebody was observing her from the streets of Goldstarch.
The sight of Garnet being nearly split in half from the impact had awoken Carocol from his trance, now observing the beachhead where Rose was kneeling over the fusion, who was slowly but surely coming undone. Rose would not turn and fend off Jasper, Carocol knew this to be true, but if she did not, she would die.
The image Garnet had shown him still haunted him, was still replaying in his mind, but the sight before him was now even more distressing. Suddenly, all of the emotion that had kept him rooted to the spot was beginning to change. Manifesting itself into something new, something powerful. The energy was concentrated in his mind and his heart, those two conflicting forces that drive one's life, but soon began to flow between one another through the many channels in his body.
With the two connected, Carocol found the strength to stand, the instinct to grab his blade, and the strength to charge at Jasper, who only turned just in time for Carocol's sword to plunge through her chest. She only managed a short gasp of air, before her form exploded, showering Carocol in dust and other gem matter. All that remained of her was a single orange teardrop, her gem, which hit the sand with a short piff.
"Garnet, it's okay now…" Rose cooed. "Garnet...Garnet!"
Carocol turned just in time to catch Rose shaking Garnet like a sack of flour, which only seemed to distort her figure even more.
"Rose, stop!" Carocol shouted, prying Rose off of Garnet. She fell on top of Carocol in the sand, looking back at him at first in awe. Soon, however, her desperation kicked in, and Carocol had to grab her shoulders to hold her back.
"I can't lose Garnet, I just can't!"
"You're going to make it worse, just let her go…"
"NO!"
Something hit Carocol's forehead with such force that his eyes began to water, his strength wavering just long enough for Rose to squirm free. When Carocol felt it safe to open his eyes, however, Rose was looking down on him, a hand over her mouth.
"Oh Carocol, I...I didn't mean to…"
Carocol rubbed the space of forehead over his left eye, which felt swollen to the touch, and slowly got to his feet. Garnet, meanwhile, was in dire straits, and it was at once the most bizarre and horrifying thing he had ever seen. What had once been Garnet was now a glowing, amorphous mass of limbs and shapes, and even with her features obscured, her mouth was agape in pain. He could hear Ruby and Sapphire's hurried whispers slowly growing louder, Ruby pleading with Sapphire to keep the fusion together.
"Thank you Garnet," Carocol said, putting a hand on one of the sprouting legs. As he did so, the process of unfusing stopped. "I'm not mad at you for showing me the truth. Thanks to you, I have something greater than beliefs or a mission. I have you, and Rose, and Alm too."
Rose watched in awe, as every word Carocol spoke seemed to reverse the unfusing process a bit more.
"I understand why you fuse. Sometimes, you have to compromise what you know, what you believe, to become something greater. To be a part of something. We both have something to fight for, as do Rose and Alm. Before, I would have let you go, but now, we need you Garnet."
Garnet's form was almost back to normal, and the white silhouette around her was beginning to dissolve.
"I need you Garnet."
With those final words, Garnet was finally reunited. A few seconds later, she lifted her head off the sand, wrapping her arms around her shoulders, almost as if she were hugging herself.
After a few moments of allowing Garnet to get reacquainted with herself, Rose came over and embraced her gently.
"Garnet, I...I don't know what to say."
"It's not your fault, Rose. Jasper would've destroyed you."
"It's not just that, it's...I didn't know what to do when I saw you unfusing. I need to be better than that, I…"
She felt a hand on her shoulder, and was surprised to see Carocol standing over her.
"Happens to the best of us."
Rose immediately embraced Carocol instead, which allowed Garnet to get to her feet.
"Did you mean what you said?"
Carocol nodded.
"Why...the sudden change of heart?"
Carocol and Garnet exchanged meaningful glances.
"Past vision," they said simultaneously. None of them were sure what was so funny, but they began to laugh anyway, a wonderful sensation Carocol had scarcely felt in his life.
"What about Jasper?"
They stared down at the orange gemstone, which was breaking the flow of water ever so slightly. Garnet went over to it knelt down.
"Don't."
Garnet looked back at Rose with a quizzical expression.
"They're coming for us anyway. It would be a waste of a bubble."
With that, Garnet stepped back. The tide washed up stronger than it had all evening at that point, and the trio watched as the sea took Jasper's gem with it.
Just when they though the night's events were over, however, Rose gasped in Carocol's ear.
"Alm! He's in danger!"
All three exchanged brief glances, staring in the direction of downtown Goldstarch.
"Is he still at the inn?"
"I don't know, I...I was in such a hurry to find you I don't know if he followed. We have to hurry and help him!"
"You won't make it."
All three pairs of eyes widened, as they turned to face the source of the familiar voice. There, in his full armor, accompanied by a legion of cavaliers that towered over them on the backs of their mares, was Fernand, wearing a smile only a noble could.