Author's Note: The Calm Before the Storm...
That's what this chapter is! It's the penultimate chapter of Steven Universe 2! Enjoy!
Chapter 9 - Chille Tid
As Jasper trudged through the pine forest, the last thing she expected to see was a completely dried up stream. She raised an eyebrow, glancing down to the muddy chasm that seemed to split the forest apart. From a glance, it had seemed like it could have been dug manually. However, she recognized the algae and moist rocks: staples of this planets flowing waterways. She knew this stream, too. Her built in survival instincts told her that it flowed out from a larger river she had camped by, farther north.
Which meant something had dried it up.
Her attention peaked, the hulking orange gem jumped down into the bed of the streamway, and began to walk along it. She hoped that, eventually, it would lead her to whatever was the cause of this. Luckily for Jasper, she was right. The muddy path eventually gave way to a massive basin, what was probably once a lake. The actual water had, like the river, seemingly vanished with no trace. However, as she scanned the horizon line, Jasper suddenly realized where it had all gone.
Looming in the distance, at the center of the lake, was a rippling tower of water.
After he sweatily dealt with Dr. Maheswaren, Greg had handed the phone back to Connie, who gave one final "yes mother" followed by "see you soon" before closing the flip phone with an exasperated sigh.
"I don't know how many more times I can do that," she and Greg had said at the same time.
"Do you need to go home?" Pearl asked.
Connie had shook her head.
"I want to help. My mom thinks the lesson's running late… Well then, let's let it run late."
"Good," Garnet had said, admiring the fire in her eyes. "Just remember that if it gets dangerous, you and Greg need to get in the van and leave."
"Wait why'd you say my name?"
Garnet had turned to Greg with a slight smile.
"You're the driver."
It was decided that, because of Lapis' flight pattern, it would be easier to simply follow her aura in the van, like stormchasers, rather than hop from warp to warp and risk losing track of her altogether. The gems decided that one of them would need to stay behind and guard Peridot, and Amethyst drew the short straw. She was still weak from being poofed at the fountain. With grim acceptance, she wished them luck and went inside.
So, the rest of them piled into Greg's van. He was driving, and Garnet sat in the back, with both of the kids. That left one spot open. Pearl paused at the side of the van, and then glanced once to Garnet, who seemed to be unaware. The kids, however, saw the ghost of a smile on her face. With a sigh, Pearl got into the passenger seat, and strapped herself in without a word. A Greg awkwardly turned on the engine, and adjusted the mirrors, Steven and Connie swapped glances.
Then, they began to drive.
For the first few miles, it was completely silent.
Greg focused on the road. Pearl leaned her head against the window, silently watching the raindrops fall on the glass. Garnet seemed almost in meditation, her eyes hidden behind her reflective lenses. Steven and Connie sat across from each other. He glanced at her, as she was staring out the back window of the van. She had an eerie aura of confidence about her. It was clear that she was growing stronger, as much as he was, just in different ways.
Connie turned to notice Steven ogling her.
"What?" She asked.
As Steven opened his mouth to respond, the stereo suddenly crackled to life. The van was suddenly filled with static as Greg fiddled with the dial. He switched between various stations, a few of which were playing the exact same pop song. Both he and Pearl groaned at the same time when he flipped the channel only to find a lower quality version of the same tune. Greg glanced at her with a chuckle.
"Ya know what, I'll just put in a tape," he said, switching the stereo's channel.
Before he could insert a track, however, a song began to play. It was a low, strumming guitar riff. Greg's eye's immediately lit up when he heard it, and Pearl seemed to take not as well. Garnet shifted slightly into a more comfortable position.
"Is this-?" Pearl started to say.
"Some," Greg sang along to the track, cutting her off, "say I have no direction."
"It is," Pearl snorted.
"That I'm a lightspeed distraction. Well that's a knee jerk reaction," Greg continued to sing.
In the back seat, Connie and Steven were jamming out. Steven knew this song. It was one of his dad's old jams, and one of Steven's favorites. It filled his heart to see Connie enjoyed the music as well, and even Garnet nodded her head slightly to the beat.
"Still… This is the final frontier. Everything is so clear. To my destiny I steer," Greg tried to coax Pearl into joining him, glancing over at her as he sang. She kept her head stationary against window. "This life in the stars is all I've ever known… Stars and stardust and infinit-"
The stereo suddenly switched off, and the tape ejected onto the floor. Garnet stopped bopping her head. Greg's singing quickly died out, as he glanced over to Pearl. She had, deftly and apathetically, ejected the tape, without ever looking at Greg. Steven gulped. Greg just shook his head incredulously, and then turned to keep his eyes on the road, his knuckles turning white on the steering wheel. For a moment he tried to keep his words down, but eventually they exploded out of him. He slammed on the breaks, skidding the van to a stop.
"What? What, Pearl? I don't get it," he said. "I'm trying to lighten the mood. I- I'm driving you after some magical gem storm! I let you take my kid on secret missions, just trying to earn a little trust. And what do I get? Nothing! The cold shoulder."
Pearl crossed her arms.
"Do you blame me? Is that it?" Greg continued. "Is it? Because I'm sorry, but I loved Rose, OK? How could I have known she was going to-"
"Of course you couldn't have known!" Pearl snapped. "You're a human! Don't you get it? Humans and Gems don't-"
"Pearl," Garnet interrupted.
"No, no!" Greg said. "Go on. Don't what, Pearl? Don't belong together? Say what you were gonna say!"
At this point Pearl just shut off even more, turning herself away from Greg and falling silent once more. Greg just stared at her, as if he couldn't believe it. The kids were looking on strenuously. A tense silence hung, as rain fell heavily on the roof of the van. The windshield wipers went back and forth. Greg finally let out a sigh, and leaned back in his seat.
"Fine," he said. "There's more important things at hand. I get it."
With that, he put the car back in drive, and there was silence once more.
As she approached the churning, impossible display, Jasper squinted up. She could see a figure at the top. It was humanoid, but certainly no human. A gem? Maybe. She circled the base of the water spire, but found it liquid on all sides. Nothing to climb on. With a sigh of temporary resignation, she stepped back, and called up to the figure standing atop the suspended lake.
"Hey," she called, "who are you? What are you doing?"
The figure didn't even turn to look at her, but a fist made of animate water suddenly came flying out of the side of the pillar, landing a punch square on Jasper's jaw, causing her to stumble back. She squinted.
"Oh, OK," she growled, "you want to fight, huh?"
This time, the figure turned slightly to look down at her. She had strange, glassy eyes. Jasper grimaced.
"Just… Go… AWAY!" The strange gem said, her voice layered and hollow. The water fist lunged forward again, but Jasper easily sidestepped it, and now turned her confused squint up towards the gem.
She had spoken. That was, at least, a reassuring sign, never mind the word she said. Batting away the persistent aquatic hand, Jasper called up to her again.
"You're from Homeworld right? Who did that to you?" She said, gesturing to the cracked gemstone she had gotten full view of, with the gem's back turned to her.
The blue gem (a Lapis Lazuli, Jasper had recalled) turned away again. Now, the arm gave rise to a full body, formed in a mirror of Jasper's own. Seeing the water clone, she grinned, and cracked her knuckles. Then, they both threw heavy punches, their fists connecting causing a resounding vibration to wobble up the entire water grinned wider, and with a few well placed strikes, broke through the feeble clone's guard and smashed it into droplets. She never broke a sweat.
"Let me take a guess," she continued, as if never interrupted. "Those rebels. The fusion, the Pearl, the other one… The human boy."
Lapis seemed to stop, then, and Jasper's smug sense of satisfaction was soon swept away by the swift and sudden splash of the spire collapsing. Lapis simply let the tower fall back into a lake, washing away Jasper in the process. Then, with no regard for her pride, Jasper was spat out onto a rapidly emerging platform of hard water, where Lapis loomed over her. Jasper pulled herself to a kneel, and looked up at her expectantly.
"I was right, wasn't I?" She said. The Lapis was silent. "I know what they're like… They hurt gems. I can't stop them alone."
She held out a hand to the injured Lapis, who regarded it for a long, drawn out moment.
Greg gave a yawn as he pulled into the truck stop. Pearl looked a bit miffed as they slowed to a halt, and when they did stop, Garnet seemed to suddenly snap back to the present.
"What happened?" She asked. "Did we find her?"
"No, but it's time for a break," Greg said, rubbing his weary face. "I can't drive anymore... "
"The storm stopped a few kilometers away," Pearl added, "looks like she's stopped moving."
Garnet looked over to Steven and Connie, both of whom had fallen asleep at this point, leaning against her legs. With a solemn nod, she confirmed that they would indeed be resting for the night. Pearl got out of the car, and walked over to a secluded tree by the roadside. As she left, Greg sighed. Garnet, without turning to look at him, spoke in his direction.
"She's not as forgetful as the rest of us," she said. "For her, the wound still feels fresh. She can see her face in her mind."
"Yeah, so can I," grumbled Greg, his forehead against the steering wheel. He sighed. "Oh, Rose… If only I could talk to her. She'd know how to get Pearl to open up."
Garnet laughed even harder, and had to calm herself down as she gently jostled the children laying in her lap. Greg laughed too, though he didn't quite get it.
"Oh, Greg," she said. "Yes she would… Pearl knows its more complicated than just how she feels. Its just easier for her to blame somebody."
"I know. I just hate that it's me," Greg said. Garnet leaned her head back slightly, still smiling.
"Good. That means you still want to make things better," she said. "If you didn't feel bad about it… that'd be the end of it, right?"
There was silence, as the crickets chirped into the night, and then Greg shifted around and looked back at Garnet, shaking his head.
"You're uncanny, you know that, Garnet?" He said. "Like, seriously. Nobody does the alien-wisdom thing like you."
"I know," the large gem said.
"Goodnight, Garnet."
"Goodnight, Greg."