Act 3: The Final Ending
Chapter 59: In Too Deep
Edit Finished On 2/25/20
Published On 3/21/20
Author Note: And the long awaited Chapter 59 is finally here!
First of all, I've been watching the new Steven Universe Future episodes, and boy... they're intense.
Also, amidst the whole COVID-19 epidemic that's going on, everyone please wash your hands constantly, and don't hoard dozens of rolls of toilet paper, and please do not panic buy if you've already bought a good amount of stuff, other people may still need to buy stuff too.
With that out of the way, please enjoy the Chapter! As a bonus, I'll post Chapter 60 either on Friday or Saturday, depending on if I remember in time!
Review Response
Wishmaker1028: Thank you for the encouragement!
Steven had to stop for a moment and take a few deep breaths so he wouldn't collapse. The warp they took was much, much farther than they anticipated from the barn. He stood back up and wiped some sweat off his forehead and was about to continue running until the ground violently shook under him, forcing him to stand still for a few seconds.
"Uh oh, the tremors are starting!" Peridot yelled. "Ugh, how much further away can the barn be?"
"I see a building in the distance, is that it?" Mike asked.
Peridot squinted to try to get a better look. "Yeah, I… think it is! Come on, no time to waste!" She grabbed Mike by the hand and practically dragged him along as she continued to run.
"Guys, wait for me!" Steven yelled as he resumed running.
"Are we even sure that… whoever these 'minions' are, they finished the drill?" Mike asked. "Because of that whole 'turning everyone on Earth into metal slaves' thing, would they have sti-"
"It's fine!" Peridot yelled. "I gave them exact instructions on how to build the drill, so that it'd be exactly the other two that we built before!"
"Peridot, I think he means that they might've… not followed those instructions because of what the Destructionator did to the Earth." Steven explained.
"Like I said, it's fine." Peridot gritted her teeth. "They had one simple job to do, and no matter what happened to the Earth and anything else, they are supposed to-"
"We're here."
Peridot stopped at Mike's statement, not realizing that they'd gotten there so soon. The three of them looked around. So many of Bowser's minions were here, doing some sort of job. Some were working on the new drill, others were fixing the barn after what happened to it few days ago, and a few were on break after working so hard. The drill itself was covered with a tarp, as well as the barn.
"Whoa…" Steven said, stars in his eyes. "This looks so amazing! It's hard to believe it's only been a few days since I was last here!"
"Yeah yeah, we can focus on reminiscing after we stop Earth's untimely demise." Peridot said. "But yes, with everything that's happened, it is hard to believe."
"Out of everything that I've seen the past few days, this has to be one of the weirdest." Mike said. "Well, it isn't the weirdest I've ever seen." Beat. "Okay, who's in charge here?" He walked forward, looking around for an authority figure. There were various Goombas, Shy Guys, Koopas, and many others… he shuddered when he saw a sleeping Koopatrol and forced himself to look away.
"I'm in charge, mister." Mike spun around when a Koopa wearing a red flag on his head walked up to him.
"Hey, you're not the only one in charge!" A Boo wearing a similar flag floated to the Koopa, looking annoyed. "This is a group effort!"
"Don't forget me!" A Goomba wearing yet another similar flag said. "And there's also Captain Shy Guy!" Captain Goomba looked over to where Captain Shy Guy was, and he was just standing there quietly, minding his own business. "Uh… he doesn't feel like talking right now."
"That's great and all, but we need to drill right now." Peridot said as she and Steven walked up. "So we can just skip all the little formalities and get right to the part where we stop the Cluster, right Steven?" No answer. "Steven?"
Right next to her, Steven was distracted, thanks to Lion walking up to him, followed by the pink animal practically demanding affection from him by rubbing his head against Steven's.
"Lion!" Peridot yelled. Lion stopped and looked at her as she walked over to him. "I know you haven't seen him in a little while, but now is not the appropriate time to be cute!" She glared at Lion, hoping he'd walk off. Instead, he licked her in the face, leading Steven to laugh.
"Aw, he likes you!" Steven said as Peridot tried to wipe her face off.
"Well, I did have some bonding time with him a couple days ago." Peridot said.
"And I suppose 'bonding' with him includes using him to chase after me?" Mike said, remembering that incident all too well.
"That's… semantics." Peridot waved him off before refocusing her attention back on the captains ahead of her. "Anyway, we have to drill right now!"
"Oh, uh…" Captain Koopa got out a clipboard, looking at it carefully. "We've actually gotten the drill finished around half an hour ago, but we were going to try and fix things up a bit, like make sure that the drills on the bottom are tightened, and-"
"Okay you've got it finished, great, now we can use it to drill!" Peridot said, trying to hurry up. She ran to the tarp and was about to rip it off until Captain Koopa came over and stopped her.
"Hey, you don't have to rush!" Captain Koopa said. "I'm sure there's still a bit of time that we could use to make sure everything runs smoothly." Just as he said that, the ground shook again, causing him and a few other minions to fall to the ground. "…Yeah, I see your point."
At that, Peridot ripped off the tarp as Steven and Mike ran over. When the tarp was taken off, it revealed the drill. The drill itself looked nearly identical to the old model, except for a few small changes, such that it was little bit bigger, and the outside was painted red with Bowser's insignia in black on both sides. It was also held off the ground by three metal prongs that were bendable.
"Okay, it looks fine." Peridot said, checking over the drill just once before turning to her two companions. "Steven, Mike," She narrowed her eyes as she began to talk to them. "Are you ready to drill down into the planet to depths never before reached by your species to stop the Cluster before it forms and save your world?"
"I-I don't know!" Steven answered.
"How do you expect me to answer that?" Mike questioned.
"No, don't say that!" Peridot shook her head. "Say, 'we'll do it together and it's gonna be great!'"
Steven took a deep breath. "Okay. We're gonna do it together and it's gonna be great!"
"…Right." Mike added, glancing at one of Koopatrols again for a split second because he thought it was staring at him. "We'll do it together and it'll be great."
"Liars!" Peridot yelled. The ground shook once more, forcing them to use the nearby ladder to hurry up and climb into the open drill. There was just barely enough room for the three of them to squeeze in there, all of them sitting down. Mike sat on the right, Steven sat in the middle, and Peridot sat on the left, gripping the controls. When the three were in, the drill's front window closed.
"Bye Lion!" Steven said, waving to Lion. "I love you! I'll see you when we get back from saving the Earth!" Lion gave him a look before lying down on the grass.
"Ready or not, we have a mission." Peridot said, getting back on track. She pressed a few buttons, and the drill began to spin rapidly. It lowered a little into the ground, easily piercing through the dirt. "Increasing speed!" Peridot tilted the controls forward a bit, and the three occupants hit their heads on the drill as it suddenly shot downward, drilling straight through the dirt.
Within a second, the drill was now rapidly heading downward into the Earth, being invisible within seconds to anyone on the surface that decided to look down into the hole it had. The three occupants soon adjusted themselves, getting used to the drill's swift speed.
"Alright. Bracing for impact." Steven said, fists clenched.
"We still have a few hours before we get to the Cluster." Peridot corrected, gesturing to a progress bar next to a screen that showed a bird's-eye view of what was below her.
"Sitting here for a few hours. Just how I wanted to spend my time." Mike groaned. He got a small water bottle out of his pocket. "At least I have this if I get thirsty."
"Where'd you get that?" Steven asked, his curiosity piqued.
"I snagged it from a mini-fridge they had up there." Mike answered. "They only had Nestle which I'd prefer not to get, but eh, you take what you can."
A brief bout of silence washed over three, which only grew more awkward and uncomfortable as it continued. Steven stared ahead at the front window, watching the dirt go upward relative to him.
"It's pretty quiet in here, isn't it?" Steven asked. "I wish I had enough time to get a few tunes." Just then, Peridot pressed a button on the controls, and soft music began to play. "Thanks."
Time crawled unbelievably slow inside the drill. There was pretty much nothing they could do in there, except… wait. And they still had plenty of that to go.
"I never thought I'd be seeing the inside of Earth so up close and personal." Mike said. "It just feels, I don't know… more… natural, than some other stuff I've experienced."
"Well, I'm sure the majority of humans don't go digging into the Earth like this on a death-defying mission." Peridot said.
"Of course, most of them just live their own average, everyday lives." Mike replied. "They wake up, go to their job, go home, rinse and repeat. They just all have monotonous lives where hardly anything unexpected happens or goes wrong, and they're happy living that life until the day they die."
"Uh, is your life… different than that?" Steven asked. Mike turned to look at him for a moment, but looked away again, as if he was wanting to say something.
"Well…" Mike hesitated. Everything shook around them for a moment. Mike tried to stretch his arm out, but it quickly hit against a wall. "Ow! Okay, did they really have to make this so small? I can't even stretch out!"
"Hey, they made this based on my drill design!" Peridot said, feeling a bit insulted.
"Then how'd you think you were gonna get the Gems in here with this kinda design anyway?" Steven asked.
"I don't know, they'd… shrink or something." Peridot shrugged. "We didn't have a lot of time to plan, especially considering everything else that happened…"
"So tell me, what exactly is 'the plan'?" Mike questioned.
"We have a drill. We're going to drill." Peridot narrowed her eyes.
"Okay, but what about when we actually get to the Cluster?" Mike asked.
Peridot audibly groaned. "Do you always have to keep-" She abruptly stopped, letting out a loud scream. Steven and Mike screamed too, upon realizing that, somehow, they'd completely stopped drilling through dirt and went into an underground passage.
The drill started leaning to one side as it went into the passage, and crashed into the ground, the drill itself quickly slowing down. It appeared to still be functional, thankfully, indicated by the light inside the drill still on. The drill's window opened and Peridot ran out as fast as she could to survey the damage.
"Oh no no no no no no no!" Peridot freaked out, quickly checking every inch of the drill. "What the heck happened? Why are we suddenly in…" She turned on the flashlight on her Gem so she could see a lot more clearly. "This… this really old cave?"
Steven got out, also turning on his Gem light. "How old is this cave?"
"Hmm…" Peridot took a moment to inspect it. "Wow. It appears to be so incredibly old, but… it was clearly manmade, this didn't just naturally happen."
"Of course it didn't 'naturally' happen, there's obvious dug-out areas." Mike said, walking up to them. "Do you know exactly how old this is?"
Peridot took another good look at the cave wall, putting her hand against it. "No. It's so old I can't give any sort of date except for before the Kindergartens were made."
"You sure know a lot about this stuff, Peridot." Steven complimented.
"Well, it's because I was made for knowing stuff like this." Peridot answered. She turned to look at the drill again. "I'll need some help getting the drill upright."
Steven then helped her set up the drill, while Mike idly sat by, quickly gulping down the contents of his small water bottle. "And that was gone quicker than I expected." He commented, tossing the bottle aside.
After about a minute, Peridot and Steven managed to finally get the drill upright, standing on its three metal prongs. There were a few indents around the top of the drill, along with a few scuffs in the paint, but it was nothing to sneeze at.
"Alright, now back to drilling to the Cluster." Steven said as he was about to get back in the drill. He turned around to make sure that the other two were coming, but grew confused when he saw Peridot glaring at Mike, her arms crossed. The man was already getting up, so he too was confused at what Peridot was doing.
"What?" Mike asked, as if he was talking to a small child.
"What do you mean, 'what'?" Peridot questioned. "You know, every time we have to do something important like train with Turbo Thunder or stop the Cluster from destroying this entire planet, I've only seen you just sitting around on your lazy butt like some clod!"
"So what do you want me to do then, huh?" Mike asked, his tone getting sarcastic.
"I want you to act like part of the team and actually help out! We saved you from becoming a mindless robot and took you with us, so you should show at least a little bit of gratefulness!" Peridot ranted. She took a few deep breaths as Mike stared at her for several seconds.
"Okay. If that's what you want so badly, then I will help you." Mike walked over to the drill, inspecting it closely. He examined the drill itself, the cockpit, and any other part of it he could, until… "Hang on, there's a major issue here."
"Huh?" Peridot walked over, trying to see what he was talking about.
"You see this?" Mike pointed to the spot in between the drill and the small space where they would sit. "This… doesn't look all the way secured. If we don't secure it now, then while we're drill down, it could break off, and that obviously would be disastrous."
"Wow, I wouldn't have seen that!" Steven commented.
Peridot audibly groaned. "Just great! That means that the minions that were supposed to perfectly replicate this drill did a poor job of it! Maybe Bowser should hire better minions."
"Well, we were kinda rushing them when we got there…" Steven pointed out.
"Whatever!" Peridot snapped, before turning her attention back to Mike. "So, how should we fix this?"
"If we had more time and resources, we could get some small but powerful magnets to attach to the drill so that we can ensure the two parts stay together." Mike explained. "But for now, we'll have to find a substitute."
"I found some superglue!" Steven said, having gone into the drill to search for something useful.
"That'll work." Mike took the glue from Steven and lifted up the top part of the drill just a little bit so he could apply a little bit of the superglue. He set it back down, waited a moment, and then tested the glue, attempting to lift up the drill more than he did before. It didn't move.
He clapped his hands together. "Okay, it's safe to drill now." Mike climbed into the drill after Steven did, leaving behind a bemused Peridot.
"Wow… thanks." Peridot smiled, finally getting back into the drill. She took a deep breath. "Okay. Time to continue our mission."
"You know, I wonder what this cave was used for." Steven said, getting one last look at the cave as the window in front of him closed.
"Don't know, don't care." Peridot commented before leaning the controls forward, causing the drill to resume drilling downward, as it once was.
A little bit of time passed, and the environment around them began to change. The rock slowly turned red as the progress bar slowly but surely dipped down.
"Get ready, we're about to penetrate the asthenosphere!" Peridot called out. The red rock around them suddenly shifted to a boiling red liquid. If they were to open the window right now…
"Whoa, it's all lava!" Steven said, sinking as deep into his seat as he could, even if there was already no way the deadly liquid could get to him right now.
"Good thing that this isn't melting right now." Mike said, trying to lighten the mood a little. "Imagine. Dying inside the Earth all because of some lava."
"No, you two, this isn't lava." Peridot corrected before the misconception would spread. "Lava is what comes out of volcanoes. This is super-heated peridotite."
"Wait, that sounds similar to your name." Mike pointed out. "So does that mean…"
"Yes." Peridot nodded, assuming he'd caught on. "It's made out of the same stuff as Peridots."
"You were made on Homeworld, right?" Steven asked. Peridot nodded in response. "What was it like?" Steven asked another question.
"I didn't exist. Then I did." Peridot put it bluntly. "I don't have memories of it, I just have…" She hesitated for a moment. "Feelings. I… I know I can never go back to Homeworld. But… it's hard… not to have some feelings for where you came from."
She looked back at Steven and Mike, who were both staring at her intently. A tear welled up in her eye, and she looked away while brushing it off, a small blush appearing on her face. "But it's fine! I have something different now."
"What's that?" Mike asked.
"You know!" Peridot answered, growing a bit flustered. "You… guys." She glanced at them for a moment before looking away again.
"Aww…" Steven said, happy for Peridot. The happy moment only lasted for a few moments until he heard a banging sound from the top of the drill. "What's that sound?" The banging continued for several seconds until a red hand slapped itself against the glass, causing Steven and Mike to scream.
"What the living hell is that?" Mike questioned as more banging sounds could be heard.
"I-It's a Gem mutant!" Steven quickly answered.
"They must've buried some prototypes with the Cluster!" Peridot realized. The banging intensified, threatening to try and break through the drill any second, or at least damage it in some capacity.
"Well, we need to do something to stop them!" Mike yelled. "They're going to wreck the drill, and I don't think anyone wants another faulty drill when we're in lava-I mean peridotite!"
Peridot looked around the control panel, the constant banging above drowning out the music she put on earlier. "I really hope they re-added the… ah, here it is." She pressed a button, and on top of the drill, there was a small whirring sound as a compartment opened, and a small blast cannon popped out.
"Pearl didn't think it was necessary, but I never leave home with a blast cannon." Peridot reached down, hoping that what she needed was there. And it was; she was relieved as she took out a video game controller.
Mike took the controller, and the screen ahead of him switched to a view of what the blast cannon outside saw. He quickly got used to the controls; the joystick would turn the cannon, while the A button was used to shoot. Thank goodness the controls were simple; this was a life or death.
"Using a controller like this, it makes me think about…" Mike began to talk out loud, voicing his feelings. "The good times I had… with my daughter. I remember when she was young, and I would play games with her, and I'd let her win most of the time…" He almost got distracted from what he was doing, and shook his head before refocusing.
"You have a daughter?" Steven asked.
Mike shot away one of the mutants getting dangerously close. "Had a daughter." His tone turned sour.
A pause. Peridot looked at him sympathetically. "What happened?"
"She isn't around anymore." Mike answered, not taking his eyes off the screen. "That's it. She's gone."
"W-Well, if she's gone, then maybe we could… find her?" Peridot asked. "You know, just as a little… thanks for you helping us."
"There is no finding her." Mike sighed. He shot away a purple leg. "If I haven't been able to find her after what happened over a year ago, what makes you think I'll find her now?" His tone became unintentionally hostile, and he realized too late. "Sorry."
Mike continued to shoot the Gem mutants, Peridot continued holding onto the controls, and Steven watched the screen ahead of him, seeing the mutants get blasted away one after another.
"Peridot… something doesn't feel right about this." Steven frowned. When each mutant got blasted away, they disappeared back into the peridotite, never to be seen again.
"When it's your turn, you can try with the d-pad." Peridot responded.
"No, I mean…" Steven extended his arm out to the screen ahead of him. "These… things… We can't just leave their Gems out there. They're going to form again later. If I could just bubble them, then… they'd be safe!"
"Think about the situation that those… mutants are in." Mike said as he saw on the screen what looked like an arm with a hand at both ends before it let go of the drill and fell back into the peridotite. "They're all in the highly dangerous peridotite, so it's pretty much impossible for us to go out there."
"No, there's a way!" Steven argued. "We just have to go out there and help them!"
"Mike's right, Steven." Peridot said. "There is no helping them." She looked down without moving her head. "They're too broken. The beings who used to be in those shards are so shattered, they don't know who they are, or what's happening around them." She looked at the screen, seeing a red hand with a foot attached to it reach for the camera. "They just seek out other Gems, looking for the missing pieces of themselves, trying to make themselves whole."
"…That's pretty messed up." Mike commented as he shot away the mutant reaching for the camera.
"Oh, it definitely is." Peridot agreed. "These early experiments only combined two or three shards. The Cluster will be a billion times bigger. An inseparable fusion capable of destroying worlds, starting with this one."
Steven stayed quiet, taking in what Peridot said. "Well… it's all going to turn out fine, isn't it? We're going to take care of the Cluster, and then Darkness, and the Void… and then everything will be okay!"
Peridot looked like she was about to say something, but hesitated. Everything around them shook again. "Right…" She glanced at Steven for a split second, looking nervous. "Yes. Everything will be okay."
"You don't sound so sure." Mike said, causing Peridot to freeze up for a moment.
"No, I'm… Well… It's…" Peridot stumbled over her words, at the moment unable to articulate exactly what she wanted to say. "You see, it's actually kind of… um…" She took a deep breath. "I lied to you. It's not going to turn out fine… probably. I don't know how much of an exact probability it is."
"What? Peridot, what are you talking about?" Steven asked, getting worried.
"There's no use hiding it from you, so I'll just tell you straight." Peridot said. "The Diamonds might be coming… to try and stop the Void and the Darkness." She saw Steven's look of shock. "If there's any major threat to Homeworld or the Diamonds, then they'll do anything to stop it, no matter how drastic. They… might try to force the Cluster to emerge so it can stop them." She paused. "Sorry for telling you all that so fast."
Steven stayed quiet, trying to process the information that Peridot just told him. A sense of unease began building up inside of him, slowly feeling like it was taking him over. He thought back to Garnet's story, and how ruthless Blue Diamond was. And then back to Peridot's call on the Blue Moon, and how… evil Yellow Diamond was.
If those two were to ever come to Earth… "It's okay." Steven said, accepting Peridot's apology. "I… We'll beat Darkness and the Void, and then the Diamonds won't even think about coming here." The already tense atmosphere seemed to intensify.
"…So, who exactly are the Diamonds?" Mike asked, breaking the silence.
Peridot was about to answer until she and the other two heard cracking under her. "We're hitting some denser rock!" She said, switching the screen back to the downward view of the drill while also turning off the low music. "This is it!"
Mike put away the controller, not needing it anymore. The drilling continued for several seconds until they got to an opening, this time to one that they expected. The three metal prongs on the drill extended themselves into the walls, allowing the drill to hang in the air.
It was incredibly dark, the light outside coming from one singular source down below. Peridot pressed a button, and a pair of binoculars attached to wires extended out from the drill, looking down. A pair of binoculars also appeared in the cockpit, and Peridot looked into them.
"Recovery depth achieved. Target found." Peridot said. She took her eyes out of the binoculars, a worried look on her face. Steven and Mike scooted closer to her, trying to see if they could see through the binoculars.
"What the…" Mike breathed, not believing what he was seeing.
"Is that…" Steven shook a little.
Peridot narrowed her eyes. "The Cluster."
Below them was the giant, ungodly fusion known as the Cluster. It almost looked like a sphere from the sheer amount of Gem shards that were forcibly attached together. And all these shards were just sitting here… there had to have been at least millions. Millions of Gems who'd been shattered, and then stuck together all just to be used as a geoweapon that would also destroy Earth if given the chance to emerge.
"So, what should-" Mike began to ask, but suddenly stopped when everything around them began shaking once more. It would usually stop after a few seconds, but this time it didn't. The three let out a few short screams as down below, a sort of semi-transparent white matter surrounded the Cluster. The matter slowly began to ripple, small bubbles forming on it.
"It's too late! It's taking form!" Peridot cried. She retracted the binoculars as parts of the white matter began moving erratically, slowly but surely moving upward. It moved up in chunks, small pieces of it climbing upward first before other parts would cling onto it, allowing the white matter to spread out to every inch it could.
"Steven, Mike…" Peridot tried to stop herself from bursting into tears. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you or the billions of other lifeforms who matter far, far less to me." She stared at the ceiling, unable to witness what was happening below her. "Do you have any last words?"
"…If this is how I die, then… I'm glad it's with people that actually… care about me." Mike said. He looked away for a moment, but forced himself to look back, readjusting his hat. "Thank you, Peridot… and Steven…"
"I… I love you, Peridot…" Steven said, pulling her tight in an embrace. "I'm so glad that you joined the Crystal Gems…"
"…Wow, thanks…" Several tears flowed from Peridot's eyes. The drill got knocked around a bit as the white matter forced itself up into the hole they drilled, and shot up through it within seconds. All three of them pulled together tight in a deep embrace, knowing that these would be their last moments… as well as the last moments for every unaware person on Earth. It didn't even matter that they'd gotten rid of the metal. This was the fate of the Earth, and now there was no way to stop it.
The white matter rushed up past them, and as it passed the window, they could see what looked like many hands rising up in the matter. A ghoulish wail echoed all around them, sounding like an uncountable number of screams all played together at once. The lights in the drill flickered on and off as it got pushed around.
The three of them closed their eyes, waiting for what would ultimately be their inevitable demise, but… that never happened. They opened their eyes and looked around in confusion as the sounds around them died down, caused by the fact that the white matter was retracting back down the hole, the ends of the white matter forming hands as it desperately tried to cling onto anything it could, but failed.
They released the embrace, half in shock and half in relief. Peridot was the first one to look through the screen ahead, seeing that the white matter was back to where it was before, with the added addition of what looked like hundreds of hands trying to reach out, but never getting anywhere.
"It's still struggling to take its form!" Peridot yelled. That made sense; it was a fusion of an impossibly high number of Gems after all. "This means we still might have time. There's still a chance!" She pressed some buttons on the side in a particular sequence. "Just gotta do a little repositioning."
Peridot pushed the controls forward, and the drill used its metal prongs to carefully climb down out of the hole. The echoy, almost distant screams below could be heard more clearly.
"So… we're just going to drill at it." Mike said, looking down at the many translucent hands reaching up at them. "If that's the only way, then so be it."
"No, wait…" Steven frowned, the loud screams from moments ago echoing in his head. "I don't think we should hurt the Cluster. I don't think it knows what it's doing."
"It doesn't matter if it knows what it's doing." Peridot replied, looking at him crossly. "It's still going to do it." She pressed two buttons on the controls, and the drill spun rapidly before launching downward onto its target.
The white matter, by now having many distinguishable hands, launched itself up toward the drill. Steven and Mike screamed as it engulfed the drill, attempting to push it back. Peridot only tilted the controls forward more, forcing the drill to push down further.
It quickly became a battle between the drill and the white matter. Peridot managed to push past the white matter for a little while, but as she got closer to the Cluster, the white matter fought back harder, trying desperately to keep her away.
After nearly a minute, the drill finally touched the Cluster, forcing the white matter away. An unintended side effect of this was the vibration from the drill intensified, making the sound nearly unbearable. Steven already had been covering his ears, but when the drill made contact with the Cluster, he gasped and pressed his hands against his face in pain. Mike had ears covered too, but didn't seemed to not be as troubled as Steven was right now.
Peridot heard Steven's groan of pain and looked over to the other two. "What? Is the increased vibrations causing damage to your head holes?" Peridot asked, worried.
"I don't know!" Steven yelled, the pain not letting up.
"They didn't bother to pack any earmuffs?" Mike questioned, covering his ears even harder.
"We're not even piercing the crust yet! I need to increase power!" Peridot yelled as she inputted a command that caused the singular drill to separate into three. "Are you two going to be okay?" The white matter tried to reach back toward the drill.
"Yeah, yeah…" Steven sat back up as he held his head, a small blush forming on his face. "I think it's just the noise… I think. Keep going."
"It definitely is, I can handle it." Mike answered before taking a few deep breaths. "Yeah. Keep at it. The Cluster needs to be destroyed."
"Affirmative." Peridot nodded. "Activating triple-tip penetration mode!" The white matter attempted to swarm the drill again, but was forced to retreat when the drill jumped up, the three drills falling and landing in a triangular formation, now attacking three spots at once.
The drills were only managing to barely chip away tiny pieces of the Cluster, despite Peridot already increasing the power a bunch. Mike held his ears, trying to block out the noise. Steven was doing the same, though he was in much more pain, evident by him grinding his teeth together and tightly shutting his eyes.
Steven opened his eyes as sweat poured down his face. He knew this wasn't right; the noise caused an earsplitting pain within him, and he also began feeling nauseous. He looked down at the floor to try to ease the feeling, only to see something that could not be forgotten.
There were flashes of ghastly faces flying upward, the drill disappearing each time they did. They flashed several times, the equally as horrifying noise intensifying each time they appeared. Steven gasped in shock, unable to process what he just saw.
At the same time, the back of the three drills detached from the machine, causing said drill to spiral off, now unable to be controlled.
"One of the drills is gone!" Mike yelled, watching as the drill spun out of sight. "At this rate, how are we ever going to drill through the entire Cluster?"
"I've just gotta…" Peridot adjusted the drills so that they were directly below her. "Keep balance!" This actually helped the two drills chip away at the Cluster, and she made a bit more progress, even if it was still absolutely minimal.
Steven took a deep breath before looking ahead, trying to calm himself down by staring through the window. His pained expression filled the window as more sweat poured down his face. Without warning, everything turned black as a white face sped at him, its mouth widening as it let out a low scream.
Everything turned back to normal, but not fast enough. Steven screamed as he pushed back into the seat as far as he could, inadvertedly crashing into Peridot. Another drill detached itself, spinning away. This caused the cockpit to spin around out of control, as Peridot couldn't keep it still.
"I don't think it's going to hold!" Peridot yelled. The white matter began inching up on the drill, ready to attack it again.
Mike steadied himself, trying to see if there was some way to stop the drill from spinning so fast. He nearly froze, though, when he saw Steven's condition. He held one hand to his head, and another to his chest. His eyes were clenched shut, and more sweat from before poured down his body.
"Steven, are you alright?" Mike asked, shaking the young teen's shoulder to try to get him to snap out of it. It didn't work, only causing Steven to cough several times.
"I don't…" Steven said before he coughed again. "Understand…" Another cough. "What's happening…" He groaned in pain, clutching his chest even harder.
"What's wrong?" Peridot asked, alarmed at Steven's state.
"I don't know!" Steven yelled. His Gem began to glow a bright pink, and his eyes snapped open. He brought his fists to his chest, clenching them tightly as he tried to cope with the intense pain. His breathing became short, his eyes snapping back shut.
Despite how the drill was still spinning, Peridot let go of the controls, turning to face Steven. A moment later, Mike was there too. Both of them yelled his name, but their voices soon became indistinguishable from each other.
"Steven! Come on! Tell me what's wrong!"
"He isn't responding! Something's seriously wrong with him!"
Steven managed to open his eyes and slow down his breathing a bit. He felt… incredibly hot, there was so much sweat pouring down his body.
"Do you know if he's been afflicted with any human ailments?"
"Let me check his forehead… shit, he's got a fever! Why didn't he tell us about this?"
Steven looked up, seeing many distressed white faces fly up above him. Their anguished, desperate cries started to drown out any other noise. He couldn't help but stare at them… it was almost like they were calling out to him, or someone, desperately begging for any sort of help.
"This is hopeless! The Cluster is attacking the drill, Steven's sick, and…"
The voice stopped, but he didn't know why.
"Um… that glow… it isn't supposed to turn black, is it?"
The cries grew louder and louder. Everything around him began to disappear except for the seat he sat him, leaving him alone. "Peridot? Mike?" He looked down, seeing that the glow coming from his Gem… it was a murky purpleish black, trying to force itself to stay active. "Why…"
He looked around, trying to find a way out of this. The glow turned back to pink as it grew larger, calming him down a bit. Blackness soon overtook the glow, as it continued to grow, blocking out his vision. The seat disappeared, and he was left to float aimlessly, the black glow overtaking his vision as he shut his eyes.
"Must…"
He kept his eyes shut tightly, only barely aware that his arms were around his waist. He… could hear… something. It almost sounded like music, but… it was too random, too disjointed. The sound itself was soft, almost melodic.
"Have to… Want to…"
Steven slowly opened his eyes, waiting for them to adjust to his surroundings. Everything around him… it all looked like tiny little stars, each one briefly lighting up before dimming again. All of it provided just barely enough light for him to see.
"Need to… Have to…"
He slowly became more aware of what the noises were. They were… low, hushed voices, saying… something. He didn't know what. He looked around, and the stars that he saw weren't actually stars at all. …Gem shards. There were so many floating around, almost like an asteroid belt would.
There was a small, orange shard floating past him. It was slightly lit, the light expanding and retracting in a slow rhythm. "Want to… Want to…"
"You… want to?" Steven asked, trying to keep the shard in his sight. "Want to what?"
The voices picked up rapidly, as well as the light. It began shining brightly in specific circles, before the entire area around him shone brightly.
"FORM!"
Steven screamed at the deafening yell, trying to cover his ears to escape the noise. "Please! Stop!" The noise died down, as well as the light, leaving only the multicolored glows of the Gem shards… Gem shards. Click.
"It's the Cluster…" Steven breathed. Click. "I'm talking to the Cluster?" He could see so many balls of light around him, some big and some small. "But… how did I get inside your brain? Brains?"
"Have to… Want to…" Whenever the shards would talk, their small lights would light up just a little more. "Need to… Must…"
Steven quickly gasped, remembering the severity of the situation. "Wait!" He rapidly waved his arms around, trying to get the Cluster's attention. "Please! Don't take form!"
The light returned, shining harsher than ever. "Form! Form! Want form! FORM!" The Cluster didn't let up with its chant, only sounding more demanding the more it yelled. The light became erratic, certain circles shining brighter than other.
Steven cringed at seeing this display. It was just so… horrifying. That's the only he could put it. His hands were pressed against his ears, waiting for the echoing voices to stop. Once again, they eventually did, and the light dimmed back down.
"Maybe instead of forming, you could… do something else?" Steven asked as he took his hands off his ears, wearing a nervous grin. He slammed his hands back against his ears when the chanting and light returned. "Boy, you sure got the one-trackiest mind I ever met." Steven laughed a little.
"Need form…" The lights began to dim. "To be whole…"
"Whole?" Steven asked. He saw the same orange shard from earlier moving past him. "…Oh. You're shards. You just want to find the rest of your Gems." Steven remembered Peridot's speech from earlier, about how the shattered Gems would never have any hope of recovery. Well maybe… "But forming won't help you find the rest of yourselves! You'll just destroy the Earth!"
The voices around him gasped. "No! No! No!" The Cluster was made up of just Crystal Gems, right? It made sense that they wanted the Earth to be safe… because they followed Rose Quartz. Steven shook his head, focusing back on what he needed to do.
"If you want to find other Gems, there's so many of you right here!" Steven explained, gesturing his arms out to them all. "Look!" He saw two shards near him, though they weren't close to each other. He carefully pushed one of them toward the other. "Shard, meet shard!"
"Have to…"
"Want to…"
The two shards stayed close to each other, their lights shining lowly, almost like… they were beginning to talk to each other.
"See? You already have so much to talk about!" Steven smiled. The voices seemed to have a realization as they rose up into a small commotion. It died down, and so many small bubbles of light appeared around him as the voices focused themselves on talking amidst each other.
Steven's eyes sparkled a little, his plan beginning to work. "This is great! You don't even need to form. You can just stay here!" There were so many different shards who were part of so many different Gems… the possibilities of different conversations they could have here were endless.
The bubbles of light began to link together, before they all mixed together, interlocking with each other at different intervals. "Want to stay…" A small feeling of happiness rose up in Steven. No violence had been needed after all. The Cluster wouldn't form, and everyone on Earth would be safe.
…But it would never be that easy.
The light suddenly disappeared, leaving Steven momentarily confused. It began shining brighter than ever. "Can't stop! Going to form! Can't stop! Going to form!" The voices cried out to Steven for help, visibly in so much distress. They sounded so panicked, so fearful… the light around him became so erratic he had to shield his eyes from where it was flashing.
No, he needed to think of something, he'd come so close and… He blinked. "It's okay! If I bubble you, you won't have to come out! It'll keep you safe!" Steven turned to the nearest shard and bubbled it. The distressed screaming continued. He needed to hurry.
"Here, look, like this!" Steven turned to the next shard and bubbled it. "I can bubble you! I can bubble you! I can bubble you!" He bubbled a few more of the shards around him before he had to take a break. "Well, that's five, out of…" He looked around, remembering just how many shards there were. "Oh geez."
The cries became more frantic, their words becoming more indistinguishable. The light was almost blinding, forcing Steven to shield his eyes. The voices called out to him, desperately pleading for him to do anything to help them.
"I'm sorry!" Steven yelled, trying to make himself heard over the screaming. "I can't do it alone!" With only one of him and millions of shards, it would be impossible to fix this by himself. If he just had some kind of help, any kind at all…
An unknown force pulled Steven downward; away from the light, away from the voices. He tried to swim back up, but the force only pulled him down harder. He could only reach up toward the light, hoping that maybe, just maybe…
Something roughly bumped into him from behind, pushing him forward. He let out a small groan before he slowly turned around, and…
Two pink eyes.
He blinked, and he was back in the drill. Peridot and Mike were right there in front of him. At some point, the drill stopped spinning, and he could tell because the cave walls weren't spinning.
"His temperature's starting to feel normal." Mike said to Peridot. Steven was barely aware of Mike taking his hand off his forehead. "And I think he's…"
"Is he awake?" Peridot asked. She grabbed onto Steven's shoulders. "Steven, wake up!"
Steven suddenly sat upright. "It doesn't want to form!" Was the first thing he could think of to say. Peridot and Mike gave him odd looks.
"What?" Mike questioned. "Steven, what are you talking about?"
"We gotta put it in a bubble! Now!" Steven explained as fast as he could.
"Bubble that?" Peridot gestured to where the Cluster was. "There's no way!"
The three heard a noise outside, and when they turned to see what was happening… they almost couldn't believe what they saw. Multiple small bubbles of different colors began slowly appearing on the white matter above the Cluster. At first, there were only a few, but as the seconds passed, the bubbles quickly increased in number, beginning to overtake the Cluster.
"What… are they doing?" Mike asked, a bit confused.
Steven gasped out loud. "They're bubbling each other!" The bubbles continued to increase in size and in number, but… that might not be enough. Steven bent down to one knee and lowered his hands against the floor as Peridot and Mike stepped back, and did the only thing he could think of.
"I've got this." A small, pink bubble appeared on the Cluster. "You've got this." Steven concentrated, closing his eyes. "We've all got… each other!" The pink bubble expanded, absorbing all the other bubbles, which only made it expand faster.
The quickly growing bubble grew at an alarming rate, and pushed against the drill. The bubble grew rapidly until it encased the entire Cluster, leaving the drill safely resting on the bubble. The three of them looked out the window, seeing the astounding sight ahead of them. It was just like that. The Cluster was stopped, and… the Earth would be safe.
For now.
