AN: Please Review if you enjoy the chapter.
Act 2
Chapter 4: Bad Gems
The day after Peridot and Citrine came to earth, Isaac was alone with Steven in the house. He was cleaning up the kitchen after having made breakfast for the two of them. Isaac didn't see well last night, as the blonde man couldn't keep his mind off the Gems. To say that he was troubled by yesterday's events would be an understatement. Seeing the two Homeworld Gems was one thing, but seeing Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet's reaction was another. They didn't tell him or Steven why they reacted like that or what was going on, only to return home and wait for them to come back.
"Woah, how are they gonna get out of this one?" Steven asked, and he read from a series called The No Home Boys. He turned to the next page and sighed in relief. "Oh, that's how. Hey Isaac! Have you ever read this book?"
Isaac looked up and saw the book. "Oh yeah. A long time ago," he said, putting away the milk. "Honestly, though, it doesn't exactly hold up once you get older."
"What? That's ridiculous! It's got everything like adventure, mystery, witty banter," Steven listened off everything he found great about the books.
"I know, but after reading something like Grapes of Wrath, it just kind of feels like the No Home Boys are downplaying just how bad the Great Depression was," Isaac said, remembering when he read the classic novel.
Their conversation was interrupted when the Warp Pad finally activated, and the girls came back. Steven ran over to greet them. "You're back!"
"Hey, girls," He greeted them as he approached the three. That's when Isaac noticed that the Gems were carrying several of the Robonoids. "Why'd you bring those Robonoids back home?"
"We can't have them reactivating and fixing the Homeworld Warp," Pearl said to him.
"Hey guys, check this out! Kabloosh!" Amethyst suddenly crushed one of the Robonoid in her hands. Resulting in the green goo inside the marble splashing all around her and startling Pearl, causing the white Gem to drop Robonoids she was carrying.
Now covered in goo, Pearl turned to the purple Gem in anger. "Amethyst, please! This is serious! We need to understand these things, not squash them."
"I do agree with you, but Amethyst does give me an idea," Isaac said, picking up one of the robonoids off the ground.
He then startled the white Gem by hitting it hard on his knee. "Isaac! Be careful," she said worriedly. Isaac looked at her, making her blush and cough in her fist. "I-It's just; you could have hurt yourself."
"I'm fine, but thanks for being concerned," Isaac said as the Robonoid cracked down the middle. Walking over the kitchen corner, he cracked it open like an egg and set the two halves down with the gooey substance still inside both halves.
"Ooo!" Steven said in wonder as he looked at the goo.
Grabbing a spoon from the drawer, Isaac scooped some of the goo out and examined it. "The best way to understand these things is to see how they work on the inside," he told the Gems as they walked over and watched. "And how to counter them."
"Does that mean we get to break more of them?" Amethyst asked with excitement.
"Not right now," Isaac told her but then smirked. "But maybe later."
"Yeah!" Amethyst and Steven threw their fists in the air.
"Brilliant idea, Isaac," Pearl said with an impressed smile before frowning. "But there's still a more pressing matter. If Homeworld Gems are trying to return to Earth…." Pearl's eyes widened as she suddenly started to panic again. "THEY HAVE TO BE STOPPED!
"Pearl, calm down," Garnet said, still holding an armful of Robonoids. "We're still cut off. The Earth is safe."
"Safe from what?" Steven asked, reminding the two that he was still in the room. "What do the Homeworld Gems want to do?"
"Steven...what happened with Homeworld is...well, it's complicated," Pearl said, glancing away guiltily.
"And that's not a real answer, Pearl," Isaac said with a frown. Placing down the spoon on a napkin, he stood up. "Look, I know I've only been here for a short while, but Steven and I are still Crystal Gems. We need to know so we can help you."
Pearl exchanged looks with Garnet. The maroon Gem looked at her and nodded. Taking in a deep breath, Pearl turned to the two hybrids. "You see, boys, a very long time ago, Gems tried to do something... very bad," she said, glancing at Amethyst. The short Gem quickly turned away with her arms crossed before walking away. "It was something that would have damaged the Earth. Some Gems, like Onyx, Rose Quartz, Garnet, and myself, felt that this was unfair to the life that already existed here, and so we swore to never let the Earth be used for their... purposes. Even if it meant-"
There was a sudden shattering pop as Amethyst crushed another robot underneath her foot. Her expression was a mixture of bitterness and anger. Pearl groaned in annoyance, but continued nonetheless. "Even if it meant we could never go home.
"We chose Earth." Garnet finished.
Isaac looked down for a moment, thinking about everything Pearl had told him. "So what was Homeworld trying to do?" he asked, interested in the reasoning for Homeworld's interest in Earth.
Garnet and Pearl exchanged a worried glance at this. Isaac was much more mature than Steven, so it wasn't like explaining it to a child. They were more than certain Isaac could handle the truth about it. And then there was Steven, who they didn't know if he could handle the truth if they told him. However, neither Pearl nor Garney were really certain if they were ready to reopen that old wound.
"We'll...save that for another time," the Gem leader said, her stoicism breaking a bit.
"Great. More secrets," Isaac grumbled. Pearl looked at him with a sad expression, knowing his frustration. She walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"When the time comes, we'll explain it to you and Steven," she said with a reassuring smile. "Just please be patient." Isaac looked away for a moment before looking at her and nodded.
"Wait a sec, so that means…." Steven's eyes suddenly had stars in them as he came to an amazing realization. "We're just like the No Home Boys!
Everyone turned to look at the young Gem with looks of confusion. "The wha-?"
"The No Home Boys!" Steven said, holding up the book he was reading earlier. "It's a book series about these boys who have no home. So they travel around the country, living in boxcars, and riding river rafts, solving mysteries! They had a successful run, until the disastrous graphic novel adaptation. But my favorite story is this classic one where the no-home boys are chased across the countryside by a mysterious pursuer, which turns out to be the very fear resting within themselves."
"Steven, we are not like the No Home Boys," Pearl scoffed with a roll of her eyes. "We are literally standing in your home right now."
"I think he means we're all homeless," Isaac said, crossing his arms and looking down at Steven. "But like Pearl said, we're not homeless. We're living in a house with plumbing, lights, and heat. We've got food and money to pay for essentials." He paused for a moment when he thought of something. "How are we even paying for most of that stuff?"
"It's a secret," Garnet said with a small smile as she and Pearl walked away to the Temple gate.
"That doesn't fill me with confidence!" Isaac called after them before the door slid shut behind the two Gems. The blonde hybrid sighed and walked back over to the kitchen corner.
"So, what now?" Amethyst asked, crossing her arms and looking away.
"I don't know," Isaac said exasperatedly, sitting back down on the stool. "Unless you wanna tell me about what Homeworld wanted to do with Earth."
"Why do you care about that dumb old stuff anyway?" Amethyst asked bitterly. "It all happened thousands of years ago, so let's not talk about it, okay?"
Isac raised an eyebrow at her. Seemed like a touchy subject for her. As Amethyst sulked in the corner, the hybrid returned to picking at the inside of the Robonoid.
Steven flopped down on the couch with a heavy sigh. "Aw, I wish I was a No Home Boy. No past, no future, just the open road!" He said, flipping through his book once more.
"Yeah, sounds like fun," Amethyst said lazily before peeking up. "Let's do it."
"Huh?!" Steven and Isaac exclaimed in unison.
"Yeah," Amethyst grinned daringly. "Let's run."
"Yeah!" The young Gem exclaimed with an excited smile.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute!" Isaac quickly interjected, standing up from the stool with a scowl. "Are you insane, Amethyst!? You can't just run away from home!"
"Uh, yeah, we can," Amethyst said with a dry tone. "We just get up, walk out the door, and go. We can go wherever we want, do whatever we want, and there'll be no one to tell us what to do!"
"Have you ever lived on the run before? I have, and it's not all it's cracked up to be," Isaac said, remembering the hardships he faced getting to Beach City.
His comment got Steven's attention. "You ran away before," he asked with an interesting expression.
"No, I didn't run away. After dad died, I left home to come here. I had to travel all the way from my hometown, miles away. Trust me, the journey getting here wasn't a fun one," Isaac said.
"Well, what if we did it just like the No Home Boys?" Steven asked with a smile as he started to imagine how their journey would go. "With bindles of food and supplies, we'll survive the open road on our quick wits and determination to make it out on our own!"
"Yeah!" Amethyst cheered encouragingly.
"I highly doubt that doing it like your books will make being goddamn homeless any better!" Isaac said, not at all buying Steven's optimism. "Why would you even want to leave home just for some cheap thrills? Also, what if Garnet and Pearl find out?"
"So what? I don't care what Pearl and Garnet think about this," Amethyst said bitterly.
"Please come with us, Isaac," Steven pleaded sincerely.
Isaac glared at Steven and Amethyst and sighed in frustration. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he knew in his head that he might regret this. He wasn't too worried about the purple Gem, but Steven wasn't ready for something like this. But this was Steven he was talking about, and even though he hides it under endless positivity, the kid could be extremely stubborn when he wanted to be. However, he wasn't going to learn unless he actually experienced it for himself.
"Alright, if you really think you have what it takes, then let's do it," Isaac said.
"Yes!" Steven cheered, throwing his fists in the air with a big grin on his face.
(Play music: "Burning Bridges" by The Mike Curb Congregation)
The trio didn't waste any more time and started preparing for their journey to parts unknown. While Steven and Amethyst pack some food in their own bindles on sticks, Isaac didn't play along with their little game and packed his taco pack. He opened the door and allowed Steven and Amethyst to walk out of the house first, before closing the door behind him.
They left the house and walked across the sandy beach before trekking across the streets of Beach City. As they headed to the border of town they were picked up by Steven and Isaac's teenage friends Jenny, Buck Dewey, and Sour Cream in Jenny's Car. They offered the trio a ride, which they were more than happy to accept.
"Friends all tried to warn me, but I held my head up high!"
Once they got out of the car, the teenagers waved goodbye and drove back into the town. They drove Isaac, Steven, and Amethyst up the hill to the edge of Beach City. They then turned towards the countryside. Isaac took in the beautiful sight as Steven looked optimistic about the journey before him when he was suddenly picked up by Amethyst. The purple Gem placed him on her shoulders before running off. Isaac followed her into the countryside.
"All the time they warned me, But I only passed them by"
With the sun high in the blue sky, the three friends walked together across the open field before a raccoon popped out of a bush. It joined them on their travels, walking across a log bridge over a glistening river. But when the group stopped to rest and eat lunch, the raccoon suddenly attacked Steven while Amethyst looked on in laughter. Isaac hit her in the back of the head before grabbing the raccoon and throwing it far and away from them.
"They all tried to tell me, but I guess I didn't care"
They eventually came across the railroad that ran near Beach City. As a train came passing by, Amethyst decided to grab Steven and throw him on board one of the boxcars and hop aboard herself. Isaac quickly chased after them and was able to climb onto the moving car.
"I turned my back and left them standing there!"
As the sun started to go down, Isaac, Steven, and Amethyst watched the sunset from atop the boxcar. When Steven asked if Isaac wanted to sing, he rolled his eyes, but eventually agreed. Singing the next verse of the song.
"All the burning bridges that have fallen after me," Isaac sang with a big smile, looking out at the setting sun over the horizon. "All the lonely feelings and the burning memories!"
"Everyone I left behind each time I closed the door," Amethyst joined the blonde man and the two started to sing together as Steven listened.
"Burning bridges lost forevermore!"
"Burning bridges lost forevermore…"
So far the journey had proven itself to be fun, but as the sun continued to get lower, Isaac started to become concerned. The nights were always the hardest when he was on the road. They brought out wild animals, Corrupted Gems that were drawn to him because of his mother's Gem, and worst of all was the cold. Letting a sigh as he sat at the doorway of the boxcar, Isaac turned around and saw Steven opening his bindle and preparing to eat his food.
However, before he could chow down, the raccoon from before suddenly jumped in and attacked Steven again, while Amethyst watched from where she sat on one of the haystacks. "Aah! Aah! The raccoon is back!" Steven yelled as the creature stole his food. The raccoon ate all of it in one bite, before Isaac grabbed it by the neck and threw it out of the car.
"You alright, Steven?" He asked, picking up the boy who now had scratch marks all over himself.
"Yeah, but that raccoon ate all my food," said Steven before turning to the purple Gem. "Um, Amethyst? Can I have some of your food?"
However, Amethyst was in the middle of devouring all of her food in one go. "Oh, uh, sorry dude," she said after she finished off her food.
"Goddamnit, Amethyst," Isaac groaned.
"What? I'm hungry!"
"You don't need food to survive," said the blonde man, pulling out a second sandwich from his backpack and handing it to Steven. The young boy quickly took it and chowed down on the sandwich. "How come you didn't pack more food?"
"My bindle couldn't fit enough food for me and a raccoon," Steven said as he finished off the sandwich.
"Why didn't you bring your backpack?" Isaac asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It wouldn't fit in my bindle," he replied, making Isaac facepalm.
"Steven, you didn't need the bindle when you could have used your backpack!" He said with a frustrated look in his eyes.
Young Gem glanced away, somewhat embarrassed. "Yeah, but I wanted to do it like the No Home Boy," he said quietly. Noticing Isaac deadpanning at him, he climbed onto a nearby stack of hay and laid down on it. "Maybe I can just sleep this hunger off... Just like the No home Boys."
Isaac rolled his eyes and took a bite of his sandwich. However, he knew that Steven wasn't going to last. All he needed was a little more of a push. "So, what do you think of your 'No Home Boy' experience, Steven?" He asked sarcastically, using air quotes. "Is it everything you always dreamed it would be?"
"Not...exactly. I feel like I've been misled about hay," Steven said, having problems getting comfortable on his hay bed. "It always looks so soft in those illustrations, but it's actually really scratchy." The boxcar rumbled violently a bit, causing another haystack to fall right on top of him. "Isaac, I want to go home now."
"Finally!" Isaac let out a sigh of relief, rising up, and walked over before throwing the haystack off his little friend. "I have to say, it took you a lot longer than I thought it would."
"How did you do it, Isaac? How was life on the road for you?" Steven asked, wondering just how his older brother-figure managed to be like the No Home Boys when he couldn't.
"Well, for one thing, I kept to the road and I used buses and other vehicles, while also eating wherever I could," Isaac said, leaning against the bales of Hay with his arms crossed, looking down with an expression of slight guilt and sadness. "It wasn't an easy trip for me, Steven. You know, I left behind some friends back in my hometown, and deciding to live with you and the Gems wasn't an easy decision."
"Do you ever regret it though?" Steven asked. Isaac chuckled and ruffled his hair.
"Not at all, buddy. I do have to admit, Steven, this was pretty fun. However, I think it's time to stop pretending," Isaac said, grabbing his backpack and throwing it on. "Alright, Amethyst, let's go!"
However, they saw Amethyst ignoring them as she sulked over to the edge of the boxcar doorway and sat down. "Amethyst?" Steven asked, going over with Isaac and sat next to her.
"Come on, Amethyst, it's time to go back," Isaac said.
"I'm not going back," Amethyst said, surprising the two boys as she stared out at the passing scenery.
"But, I'm done pretending to be a No Home Boy," Steven said.
"Not me," Amethyst said apathetically.
"Wait, you were actually running away for real?" Isaac asked with sudden concern.
Amethyst looked at him out of the corner of her uncovered eye and looked away. "So what if I was?" the Gem shrugged.
"But...But why?!" Steven asked with a frown. "Don't you like home? I'm sure Garnet and Pearl are worried sick about us. Wondering when we're coming home."
"That's not my home." Amethyst interrupted him sharply.
"Oh yeah, that's right. You're from Homeworld," Isaac said.
"That's not my home either!" Amethyst yelled angrily, even more offended by that idea.
"Yeah? Then where is your home, Amethyst?" Isaac questioned her with a scowl. "Where did you come from?"
At that moment, an almost dark smirk crossed the purple Gem's face as she turned to the two. "I'll show you."
The trio continued to ride the rails for quite some time before finally disembarking from the train after several hours. However, even after they got off the vessel, they still had to walk several miles before coming close to their destination. However, Amethyst eagerly led the two, Isaac walked behind her and Steven. The young man looked around, and couldn't help but feel a sense of deja vu. It's the same feeling he got more and more recently. However, as they got closer, he started to feel disconcerted when he saw where Amethyst was taking them.
Up ahead was a large, foggy, and desolate canyon. The walls of the formation were dark towered high over the three, with a dark fog shrouding the area. Isaac noticed that all vegetation and natural life stopped, and now they were walking on dry earth. The entire place gave off an eerie vibe, with every sound they made seemed to echo back at them.
But Amethyst wasn't unsettled by the canyon. She ran up to it with a smile. "Here we are!" The purple Gem chuckled as they stood before the entrance of the canyon. "Welcome to the Kindergarten! What do you think?"
"Uh... It's great!" Steven exclaimed with a forced smile, not completely sure what he was supposed to think of the canyon.
"Why is it called a Kindergarten?" Isaac asked in confusion.
"Huh?" Amethyst looked at him with a puzzled look.
"Well, on earth, Kindergartens are like schools for babies and little kids. This…" Isaac looked at the canyon. "This is just a really creepy canyon."
"Well, yeah it's not going to be a human kindergarten. This is what a real Kindergarten looks like," the purple Gem proclaimed, before grabbing Steven's arm. "Come on!" Amethyst dragged Steven along as she ran towards the entrance of the Kindergarten. Isaac followed behind as they entered into the canyon itself.
As they walked through the canyon, the more unsettling it became for the two boys. Not only were the depths of the canyon dark and devoid of life, but dotting along the faces of the walls were thousands upon thousands of deep, human-shaped holes. Even stranger was when Isaac and Steven looked up and saw several machines hanging on the walls of the canyon. The machines resembled bacteriophages, also called phages. The bottom of the machines had one large drill, surrounded by smaller ones. Thin, jointed appendages are located near the drills, presumably for walking. The upper structures sport large, red, gem-like ornaments on the top.
The phage-like machines were massive compared to the Demigems and Amethyst as she led them through the Kindergarten. But when Isaac looked at them, he felt he knew what they were, and they made him feel anger towards them. But why? Just what was going on with him?
"What the hell is this place, Amethyst?" Isaac asked, frowning.
"It's kinda where I'm from," she replied with a shrug.
"But I thought Gems were from space?" Steven said in confusion.
"Pearl and Garnet are, but I was made here on Earth, like you two!" Amethyst explained. "Heck, I think your mom even came from here."
Isaac was taken aback by this. "Really?"
Before he could get an answer to that question, Amethyst suddenly gasped with delight. "Check it out!" She bolted over to a nearby giant rock and laughed as the boys followed after her. The purple Gem embraced the boulder with a smile. "Oh, man. I missed this guy. It's my climbing rock."
"Uh, hello!" Steven greeted the climbing rock with an uncertain smile.
"Steven, it's a rock," Isaac deadpanned.
"Fuck yeah it is!" Amethyst exclaimed brightly before pointing to another nearby rock. "And over there, that's the sitting rock. And that was the one rock that I kicked into two rocks!" Amethyst climbed the climbing rock and happily sat down atop it.
"So, how long did you live here?" Isaac asked curiously.
"For a while, I guess." The Gem shrugged. "Um, at least until I met your mom. She's the one that found me and brought me to Rose and the others." Still delighted to be back in such a familiar place, Amethyst flopped off of the climbing rock and ran further into the Kindergarten with Steven eagerly following her.
Isaac however, was more hesitant about going further in, especially when the purple Gem was running towards one of the massive drill machines.
"Woah! What are these things? They look like bacteriophages," he said, unnerved as it towered over them.
"What's a bacteriophage," Steven asked curiously.
"They're viruses that can infect and reproduce within bacteria, which can sometimes destroy the bacterium itself," Isaac said with a smile.
"Ugh!" Amethyst groaned in annoyance. "Okay, new ground rules: don't talk smart like Pearl. This it's just some old Gem junk, from a long time ago. It's probably busted by now."
Despite her assurance, Isaac was still unnerved by the sinister-looking machine. Especially when he noticed the drills on the machinery pointing straight down. As Amethyst ran off, both the blonde man and Steven examined the strange machinery in worry, with the young boy resting his palm on one of its legs.
Looking at the same leg, Isaac reached out to touch it with his own hand.
"Hey, Steven, Isaac! Look!" Isaac's hand stopped just inches away from the leg when Amethyst gained their attention. She had on a big smile as she motioned to a hole in the canyon wall. "Here's the hole I came out of!"
"Hang on," Steven said in surprise and confusion as he and Isaac ran towards the hole. "What?"
"It's my hole," Amethyst repeated at their bewilderment before stepping into the hole. Her body fitted into it perfectly. "Look! It's me-siiiiiized." With a wry grin, she slid seamlessly into the back of the hole and sat down, letting out a sigh of content. "Still got that good hole smell."
Steven and Isaac peered into the hole with looks of perplexity. "You came out of this hole?" the young Demigem asked.
"This is where I was made, dude," Amethyst nodded. "One day just, "pop" ...Right outta this hole."
Backing up from Amethyst's hole, Isaac glanced up and noticed numerous other holes on the canyon wall. However, one noticeable difference was that they were larger than Amethyst's hole. Now he was getting the sickening feeling that it was just like the manga The Enigma of Amigara Fault. "So... what about the other holes?" He asked, not noticing that he was stepping back toward a 6-inch deep circular hole in the ground.
Amethyst looked and saw him backing up towards the hole. "Whoa, dude! Look out!" She called out.
But it was too late. Isaac let out a startled gasp as he stepped on the edge and fell back. He heard the muffled yells of Steven as he fell back, but right when he should have hit the ground, Isaac's mind started to play tricks on him. Through his eyes, it was as if he was falling much deeper down the hole. 6 feet turned into 15 feet and so on. He was helpless to do anything. When the opening of the hole disappeared was when Isaac felt like he hit the bottom. He groaned in pain, before opening his eyes. To his horror, he found himself buried underground. Entombed completely dirt. Beginning to panic, Isaac started clawing at the dirt, trying to free himself before all of the oxygen ran out.
"Isaac?!" Steven yelled worriedly as he stared down at the man who he saw as his older brother. Isaac was laying on his back, facing the sky with his eyes closed. "Amethyst, I think he's hurt!"
"Come on, he's probably just sleeping," Amethyst said dismissively.
Suddenly Isaac started screaming in agony as he sat up. Images flashed violently in his mind as his head once again suffered under a great deal of pain as steam started coming off his arms again.
"Isaac!" Steven yelled as he and Amethyst quickly jumped into the hole to aid him. But Isaac quickly stood up and scurried up the side of the hole and climbed his way back on. Panting heavily, Isaac stared at the ground for a moment as he tried to calm down. However he heard sounds from all around him, making him look up. What he saw would leave him astonished and in complete shock.
The Kindergarten was very lively and full of activity and life. Gem life, as Gems began popping out of their newly formed holes. Each one of them was the same size and build as Citrine, but with the purple colors of Amethyst. These Amethysts walked around alone or in formations as the drill machines were fully active. Drilling into the walls of the canyon and injecting new Gems in the earth to begin the process of forming more of their kind. Taking life from the Earth and leaving nothing behind.
Isaac stared at it all in horror.
"Isaac!" the said blonde Gem gasped as he snapped out of it and looked to his left to see Steven and Amethyst looking at him with worried looks. "Isaac, are you okay?"
Isaac looked back and saw it was all gone. The vision that he saw was gone. There were no more Gems, just Injectors that had been left behind. A barren wasteland. "I saw them," he said, breathless.
"Saw what?" Steven asked, now very concerned for Isaac's well-being.
"I saw other Gems," Isaac said as he stood up. "They were coming out of the walls! They were being formed from the earth itself! There were hundreds of them and those machines were putting them in like seeds."
After taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down, Isaac looked down at Amethyst, who looked up at him with wide eyes and mouth slightly agape. His thoughts were running a mile a minute before he came to a sudden realization.
"Homeworld...it was using the Earth to make more Gems."
Amethyst's face slightly developed into an upset look when a light suddenly emanated from behind the trio and the familiar warping sounds whirred. The boys spun around to face a nearby warp pad on a platform in the Kindergarten. Just then, Pearl arrived from the warp pad.
"There you are!" She shouted in relief. The white Gem remained on the pad for just a moment, looking around the Kindergarten in disgust before leaping off the platform.
"Pearl!" Isaac exclaimed with a smile, as he and Steven walked over to her. Relieved to see her.
"Great," Amethyst remarked crossly. "Here comes the fun police."
"Garnet said you'd be here, but I didn't want to believe it," Pearl said, already prepared to give the purple Gem the proper scolding she deserved. "Amethyst, what were you thinking?! Why on Earth would you bring Steven and Isaac to a... Kindergarten!?"
"I don't know." Amethyst scowled, kicking a nearby pebble. "We were in the neighborhood."
"Pearl?" Steven interjected hesitantly. "Was Amethyst really made here? Did Homeworld really grow other Gems here?
The white Gem sucked in a sharp breath when he asked that. Believing her to be the culprit, Pearl turned back to Amethyst with an appalled glare. "How much did you tell them?"
"About what? You mean about the bad thing?" Amethyst asked with gritting teeth. Her whispers steadily rising in volume the angrier she got. "How this bad place is where bad Gems came to grow more bad Gems? Is that what you're talking about?
"Pearl, wait, it wasn't Amethyst!" Isaac intervened. "I had another vision of this place and I...I saw what this place was used for."
Stunned by this revelation, Pearl became even more enraged at the purple Gem. "Amethyst! They're not ready to know about this!"
"Oh, but don't worry. Everything's just fine now," Amethyst said with a fake smile as she walked towards the Demigems, pressing past the slim Gem.
"Amethyst!" Pearl growled rigidly, but the purple Gem continued to ignore her.
"It all worked out. We won!" Amethyst continued as she walked closer to them, failing to notice their shared looks of growing confusion and fear. Too unhinged to stop or even care as she mainly looked up at Isaac.
"Stop."
"And we shut this place down-"
"Stop!"
"So the Earth would be safe from parasites like ME!"
"AMETHYST!" Pearl swiped her hand in front of the purple Gem's face before steps in between the Demigems and Amethyst. "That's enough!" This made Amethyst walk away in anger.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Isaac spoke up, expressing concern. He saw what Homeworld was doing with the Earth, but couldn't understand why she would want to keep something so important away from him and Steven.
Pearl placed her hands on his cheeks, despite his blushing. "Isaac, I'm sorry. Both of you," she said, placing a hand on Steven's shoulder. "I never wanted you to see this horrible place."
That comment tipped Amethyst's anger over the edge. "Then why don't you just... LEAVE!" The short Gem exploded as she summoned her whip and lashed out at Pearl. Isaac and Steven were in shock as the weapon coiled around Pearl, before Amethyst hurled her against one of the Gem machinery.
"Pearl!" Isaac shouted.
"Admit it! I'm just an embarrassment to you!" Amethyst shouted as she swung her whip at Pearl again. This time the white Gem quickly dodged away from it, and the whip sliced through one of the legs of the machinery.
"Amethyst! Wait!" Steven tried to stop Amethyst, but she lifted him up and tossed him away, sending him tumbling a distance away.
That angered Isaac even more, and he decided not to stand by. Using his strength, the son of Onyx tackled Amethyst to the ground. Pressing the side of her into the ground as he pulled her arm back. "Amethyst, what the fuck are you doing?!" He yelled as she shrugged underneath him.
"Get the fuck off of me, Isaac!" Amethyst screamed in fury, glaring at him for interfering.
Seeing the blonde man pinning down purple Gem, Pearl rose up again and summoned her spear. "I don't want to fight you!"
"I wouldn't want to fight me neither!" Amethyst growled. She knocked Isaac off her when she jumped up and curled into a ball and spin-dashes towards Pearl at fast speed.
Pearl quickly rolled out of the way just in time, before she started firing energy blasts at Amethyst from the blade of her spear. Amethyst maneuvered and avoided the energy blasts, rolling along the sides of the canyon wall until she jumped into the air, and swung her whip downwards at the white Gem with the force that was intended to seriously harm or poof her. Fortunately Pearl sidestepped and stomped down on the tip of the whip, slicing it off with her spear.
As the brawl continued, Isaac summoned his katana sword and pointed at Steven, who looked ready to jump in to stop the fighting Gems. "Steven, stay here!" He yelled before rushing in to try and calm down the fighting Gems. "Pearl, Amethyst! You've got to calm down!"
"Stay out of this!" Amethyst threw her whip like a bolas at Isaac.
The son of Onyx quickly sliced the whip in half. He charged at Amethyst, who summoned another whip and swung at Isaac, trying to hit him. Isaac transformed his sword into a staff and used it to catch the whip, which wrapped around it. He then spun his weapon around, tangling Amethyst's weapon in it, and then yanked back hard. Pulling it out of the purple Gem's hands before he tossed both weapons away.
"Enough! It's over Amethyst!" He shouted at her with glaring eyes.
"Nothing's over!" Amethyst shouted back.
Pearl joined in, twirling her spear in her hand before pointing it at the short Gem. "Amethyst, stop this! You can't beat us!" She urged firmly.
"I... DON'T... CARE!" Amethyst screamed her lungs out in raw fury. Letting out another scream as she summoned two more whips and lashed them at Pearl. Both weapons wrapped themselves around the spear of Isaac's crush. "I'm NOT gonna let you stand there and remind me of everything I HATE ABOUT MYSELF!" Amethyst lashed her whips, sending violet energy waves down the whips towards Pearl.
"Pearl!" Isaac yelled and dashed towards her. He summoned another sword and brought it down on the whips, cutting them just before the bursts of energy made contact with the spear. However, they did make contact with his katana.
The result was a massive explosion that rocked the Kindergarten that sent both Pearl and Isaac flying backward. The young man held Pearl in his arms before his back slammed against the Gem machinery before landing hard on the ground below.
"Isaac!" Pearl gasped, pulling herself out of his arms and looked at him with great concern. "Are you okay?"
Isaac grunted as he tried to pick himself up. "Never better…" he grunted, before seeing Amethyst approaching them. Glaring at her, Isaac summoned another sword and waited for her to attack.
But instead, Amethyst's look of fury broke down as tears started to form.
"I never asked for it to be this way…" Amethyst told Pearl as she started weeping. Choking on her sobbing, as hundreds of years of pain come to the surface. "I never asked to be made...!"
When he heard that, Isaac gasped slightly.
"I never asked to exist."
A sense of deep worry, sympathy, and understanding washed over him as he looked at his teammate. Just as Pearl, who was stunned in silence hearing Amethyst's words. She's known the purple Gem for years but never would have imagined that she would be harboring these feelings. "Amethyst…"
Steven quickly stepped in between Isaac, Pearl, and Amethyst, tears in his eyes, and spread his arms out. "Amethyst, please, no more!" He pleaded as Amethyst stopped attacking. "I know you're upset, but I can't bear to watch you two hurt each other."
Before any of them could do anything else, there was a sudden loud creaking from the leg of the Gem machinery that was previously sliced by Amethyst's whip. This gained the attention of everyone as they looked up to see the drill they had gathered under giving way and began to fall towards the group. Acting quickly, Steven summoned his bubble shield, which encased himself, Isaac, and Pearl. However, Amethyst quickly side steps away from it, remaining outside of
"Amethyst!" Steven gasped, horrified to see the purple Gem outside of his bubble.
"Amethyst, what are you doing?!" Isaac yelled, standing up.
As the drill started falling down on them, Amethyst stared at them with a look of fright and shame, she turned and began running away
"Amethyst, Amethyst, AMETHYST!" the young Gem cried again as the Gem machinery collapsed on top of the bubble.
Thankfully, the field kept them safe from the drilling machine, as dust and dirt kicked up around them. When the dust settled, Steven quickly dispelled his bubble shield and looked around for Amethyst, who had disappeared in the chaos. "Amethyst!" He sobbed as Isaac hurried after him.
"Amethyst! Where are you?!" Isaac called out as he looked all over. But then he heard a very faint noise. Looking back at the rubble, he saw a piece of metal blocking off Amethyst's hole.
He rushed over and pushed it aside, uncovering the hole as Pearl slowly rose up and Steven ran over. The white Gem kept her distance out of both dread and guilt.
"Amethyst!" Isaac said, relieved to see her.
Amethyst was cowering and weeping inside her hole with her back turned to them and her shoulders shaking. She kept her arms wrapped around her knees and pulled them tightly into her chest. "Your mom never should have found me, Isaac!" She told him in a sad tone. "I'm a bad Gem! She should have just left me here all those years ago. It just would have been a hell of a lot better for everyone."
"What? No, Ames, you're not a bad Gem," Isaac said, confused.
"He's right!" Steven nodded in agreement. "Look, I don't know what any of this really means, but-"
"Yeah, you don't," Amethyst said bitterly. "Cause if you did, you wouldn't be talking to me."
Isaac glanced at Steven before turning towards his secret crush. "Pearl, I want you to talk to her."
"But-" Pearl tried to protest.
"It has to be you, Pearl," Isaac told her with, serious tone.
Pearl looked hesitant for a moment at the idea of talking to Amethyst, but realized that he was right. Taking in a deep breath, she slid into the hole and kneeled next to Amethyst. The purple Gem kept her back turned to her. After a moment of tension, Pearl finally spoke up. "Amethyst?..." she began. "Amethyst, I had no idea you've been upset about this.
"What?!" Amethyst spat harshly at her, finally turning around with hot tears pouring down her cheeks. "You had no idea!? Ho! This is, like, my entire existence! You want to pretend that none of this ever happened! You think I'm just a big mistake!" She shouted, grabbing her head in grief.
Pearl gasped upon hearing this. "No, no. Amethyst, you're not the mistake. You're just the byproduct of a... big mistake..." Pearl trailed off as she blushed embarrassingly in realization. Amethyst shot her a cold glare as Isaac shook his head. "No, that's not-" the white Gem quickly tried to correct herself. "I... I just never thought of this as you. None of this is your fault. You didn't build this place. I... I'm sorry, Amethyst."
Amethyst's eyes widened.
Pearl began to tear up as she spoke with absolute sincerity. "I hope you can forgive me. Out of all the things that came out of this mess, you were one of the best. I always thought you were proud of that."
With a genuine smile, the white Gem extended her hand to her teammate. Amethyst glanced at her and her hand for a moment. Wiping her tears away, she grasped Pearl's hand and allowed her to help pull her out of the hole.
Isaac and Steven quickly stepped away to clear the path for Pearl and Amethyst to exit the hole, having reconciled their differences. Amethyst looked at Pearl hesitantly for a few seconds, before she was unable to keep her overwhelming emotions contained any longer. With a heavy sob, she enveloped Pearl in a crushing hug. Pearl was taken aback briefly, but returned the hug back to the short purple Gem.
Steven formed a content smile as Isaac placed a hand on his shoulder. Looking down at his young friend, Isaac smiled and said, "I think it's time to put an end to this little adventure."
"You're right," Pearl replied as she and Amethyst pulled away from their hug. "Let's get you boys home."
"Yes!" Steven exclaimed. "Let's go so Steven can sleep in a bed."
The group turned towards the warp pad and started walking over to it. However, for a moment, Isaac stopped and looked back. Staring at the crater that he fell into previously. He looked at it for a moment, before shaking his head and continuing his way. Stepping onto the warp pad and joining the others, who were hand in hand. Sharing a smile with the white Gem, Isaac grabbed Pearl's hand and the three warped out of the Kindergarten. Leaving a symbol of a dark time in Gem history as the fog in the canyon began to clear up. Revealing even more of the Gem machinery and holes deep in the canyon, while ominous metal clanging noises echoed throughout it.
AN: If you know what movie that song is from, you have a good taste in movies.
I find it really baffling that they would give us an important plot episode like Warp Tour and then throw in 3 filler episodes, except for Alone Together, before we get back to the plot with On the Run. On the Run felt like a true continuation from where Warp Tour left off.
I'm skipping Alone Together, as it really doesn't have anything to do with Isaac, and going straight to Marble Madness. However, that doesn't mean that we wouldn't be seeing Stevonnie. In fact, I'm planning on having her make her first appearance in the next chapter. Personally, I'm excited to get to Rose's Scabbard. I was thinking of giving Isaac and Pearl a 'spicy' love scene at the end of that chapter, but I'm still debating on it.
I'm going back to Weirder Things, to do the chapter you've all been waiting for, 'Not What Them Seen' and possibly 'A Tale of Two Stans' before moving onto Heroes of Tomorrow or possibly another chapter of this story.
Thank you very much for reading. "Gem of War" will return. Please be sure to Favorite and Follow if you like the story, and also Review it. If you have any questions or discussions you'd have for me, then please in a Review or a PM me.
Thank you for reading, may God bless you, and have a wonderful day.