AN: Hello! Sorry for the late upload! This chapter really kicked my butt. I'm still not super satisfied with how it turned out, but I'm really tired and I think this chapter is going to make me mad if I have to edit it again. I'll probably come back and edit this in the future, but for now, I'm just going to go ahead and upload it. Bismuth still has a lot to learn, but she's heard both sides of the story now, as well as gotten confirmation that Rose is indeed gone from her friends. She's always been a pretty fair character, so I don't have Bismuth being overly rude or furious at the gems. She's more disappointed in her friends' behavior, but she is a little angry on Twoie's behalf. Her visit also helps to kickstart the gems' into changing their behavior and keeps them from trying to burst in on the others before they're ready to see them.
I hope you all enjoy this chapter! It's twice the length of my usual chapters.
Everything felt so surreal. Bismuth had turned the corner of the cliffside, and suddenly, the beach looked out of place. Part of the cliffside was destroyed, littering the sand below with rubble. Bismuth could also see odd black stains on some of the rocks. The stains varied in size and shape, trailing wildly all over the sand as well. "Huh. That's really odd…." Once Bismuth got closer, she noticed the big crater in the sand. Bismuth looked over the beach again, eyes widening in realization at what these things were. They were the remnants of a battle. "This was recent too." Worried about her friends' safety, Bismuth raced up the stairs of the big wooden base. Luckily, the base itself seemed perfectly intact. The blacksmith banged her hand on the door as she called out for her friends. "Hello? Garnet? Pearl?" Rapid footsteps sounded on the other side, and Bismuth mentally prepared herself for a fight. The door was flung open, allowing a full view of a disheveled Pearl. "Pearl!" Bismuth grinned and pulled her into a hug.
"Bismuth!" Pearl cried out happily as she hugged her tightly. Bismuth looked up as a shadow fell over her, and she grinned when she saw Garnet standing there.
Garnet grinned as well, pulling her and Pearl into a big hug. "Bismuth!" She pulled away to look Bismuth over. "H-How are you here? How did you find us?"
Pearl wiped some tears from her eyes as she finally broke off the hug and stepped back. "Where have you been? We thought you'd been captured, or worse-!" The prim gem choked up, covering her mouth with her hand as fresh tears welled up in her eyes again.
"Hey, hey! I'm fine, promise!" Bismuth held her hands up, hoping to calm her friends down. "I was bubbled away and only just got released." She held her hand up when Garnet and Pearl both opened their mouths to interrupt. "I'll tell you everything, I promise. Just want to know who your friend is first."
Amethyst perked up in surprise. She was used to being glossed over unless she purposely made herself stand out. The small gem smiled as she gestured to herself. "The name's Amethyst. Nice to meet ya."
Bismuth waved at her. "My name's Bismuth. Good to have you on board! Now, why don't we all sit down and talk? I've got a feeling you have just as much to catch me up on as I do you." The gems looked away sadly at her words, and Bismuth raised a brow in confusion. Was something wrong? Had something happened? Suddenly, her thoughts flashed back to what Ro-, Ven had said. That the gems had been responsible for Twoie's death. Now that she looked at them, they all looked worn out and maybe a little guilty. She wasn't used to this at all. The last time she saw them so disheartened was when they had lost many gems during the Battle for the Sea Shrine. There was no reason for them to look so upset unless something really terrible had happened. Bismuth felt sick as she connected the dots between the destruction outside and Ven's claim. 'I really didn't want to believe it, but maybe Ven was telling the truth.' The blacksmith quietly sat down on one side of the couch by herself while the others sat across from her.
The second Pearl sat down, she blurted out, "Were you bubbled during the Battle of the Ziggurat? That was when Rose told us she lost track of you?" The prim gem couldn't contain herself. She was overjoyed to have Bismuth back, but she desperately wanted to know what had happened to her.
Bismuth paused for a moment. The gems didn't know what Rose did. She could either reveal that now or see if their story matched Greg's and Twoie's. "There's a lot more to it than that. I got bubbled after the fight and left behind in some field. Some humans found me earlier today and released me. I had to ask around before another human told me to look around here. Something about magic in the town or whatever." Her friends looked so relieved to see her. It made her feel bad about lying to her friends, but she needed to know the truth. "Where is Rose anyway? Is she at a different base? And what is up with that whole mess outside?"
Her question was met with silence. Bismuth looked at her friends, but both avoided looking at her. Garnet demanifested her glasses as she stared sadly at the floor. "Bismuth… Rose is gone. She's been gone for a few years now." Her voice wavered with grief.
Bismuth pretended to be surprised at that. She was pretty sure that Greg hadn't lied to her, and getting three stories confirming that was enough for her. Rose was gone. "What happened?" Bismuth needed to hear the gems' version of Rose's death. She trusted Greg, but Bismuth still needed to know for sure.
Pearl brought a hand to her mouth in a mix of shame and grief. "Oh, Bismuth. Rose, she-!" Her breath hitched for a moment. Talking about this story had always hurt so much, but now the pain was even worse. It reminded her of how much she had failed Rose in caring for Steven. Of how much she had failed Steven. "Rose fell in love. With a human." Pearl didn't dare bring her gaze up from the floor. The whole house reminded her of Steven. "She wanted to have a child, but gems can't have offspring the way humans can. Humans give half of their genetic material to their offspring, but we're gems!" Pearl remembered how happy Rose was at the thought of having a child with Greg. How excited she'd been and how she had asked them to protect him. "The only thing we have is our gem." She thought she had been protecting him.
Garnet placed a gentle hand on Pearl's shoulder, knowing that Pearl was struggling to tell the story. "Rose erased all trace of her personality and memories from her gem so that she could gift it to her son, Steven. He's half-gem and half-human." Bismuth leaned forward, resting her elbows on her legs. That was the same story that Greg told her. Well, she owed Ven and Twoie an apology after this. But that also led to more questions. 'Why does Ven look so much like Rose and Twoie?' Twoie looking like Rose made sense. He was revived by Steven using Rose's powers, but Ven was definitely a gem. Twoie promised to tell her everything if she came back… The blacksmith decided she would go back after she caught up with her friends. She still had more questions. "Regarding what you saw outside… Well, that was the result of a few recent developments gone wrong." Garnet put her head in her hands. "Stars, I don't even know where to begin with that."
"I do." All eyes turned to Amethyst. The small gem leaned forward with her elbows on her legs. "Bismuth, do you remember the hourglasses in the Sea Shrine?" When the gem in question nodded, Amethyst continued. "Well, we went on a mission to find the 'Hourglass of Time,' and we brought home two hourglasses. The real hourglass was destroyed, but the second hourglass is apparently functional." Bismuth's eyes widened. They had a functional hourglass? "I guess in the future, I still kept the hourglass because an older-looking version of Steven came here, claiming he was from the future."
"But I thought there was only one true hourglass?! You're telling me that there are more?" Bismuth couldn't wrap her head around it. Time travel? She knew it was possible, but to have it confirmed blew her mind!
Garnet shrugged. "We believe this second hourglass is a prototype. The other hourglass in question had been flipped over and played with a few times by Amethyst, but it never sent her through time. There must be very specific conditions that have to be met for the hourglass to be operational." Bismuth nodded. That made sense. If a specific condition had to be met for the hourglass to work, she could see Homeworld trying to develop a more functional hourglass. "We only just recently came to that conclusion." Garnet hunched in on herself slightly. "The truth is we thought the same as you. The timing especially was bad. When we met Future Steven, we were not fully convinced that it was him. We were suspicious as their time of arrival corresponded to an ongoing situation involving Homeworld gems."
Bismuth jumped to her feet. "What? Homeworld is back on earth?"
Garnet nodded. "The situation is mostly handled right now. However, it wasn't when Twoie arrived."
"Wait…" Bismuth's brows rose in surprise. "Twoie?" She held her breath. 'Don't tell me-!'
The permafusion blinked, then brushed a hand over her face. "I apologize. When Future Steven arrived here, we decided to call him Twoie, so we wouldn't confuse who we were talking to."
The blacksmith wanted to scream. 'So, Twoie is actually Steven, who is the son of Rose, who also happened to die due to something her friends were involved in?' She couldn't wrap her mind around it. She couldn't imagine her friends actually hurting a human, to begin with, but one related to Rose? What did they do that resulted in Twoie's death? "Okay, so what happened then? You guys were suspicious, fine. But the way you're explaining everything is worrying me." She watched as the others winced, and fear filled her gem.
Pearl grabbed her ribbon in her hands and began nervously wringing it. "You have to understand, Bismuth! He didn't act like our Steven!" At the time, the prim gem just couldn't believe that Twoie was also Steven. Yes, he looked like an older version of him, but he didn't behave like him. "He was distrustful and secretive. He knew things about events but didn't tell us until it was pretty much already occurring. It was information we needed! We didn't know why he was being so uncooperative and distrustful of us. So, we started thinking that maybe he was a spy from Homeworld that had somehow come back in time to sabotage us."
Bismuth raised a brow at her in disbelief. The whole time-traveling thing was strange, sure, but they could've easily tested Twoie with information that only Steven would know. Why all of the suspicion without trying to see if Twoie was actually Steven's older self? And that nonsense about behaving differently? "Pearl. You know war changes a gem. Sure, Twoie didn't live through a gem war, but if Homeworld has been giving you trouble like you said, then he's probably been through some stuff." The blacksmith frowned as her friends winced.
"Actually…" Amethyst awkwardly rubbed her shoulder. "He was in a war."
"What?" Bismuth raised both brows in shock. But didn't they say the war was over? How could Twoie be in a war if the Crystal Gems had won unless… Oh, no… Bismuth stiffened in shock as she realized what the increased Homeworld presence meant.
The small gem nodded. "I guess Homeworld is interested in the earth again or something because Twoie said we fought in and won the second gem war." Bismuth was speechless. Things were becoming too much. She was bubbled for over 5000 years, only to return to earth and learn that everyone she knew was gone. Only Garnet and Pearl were still around, along with an amethyst that they must've met sometime after the war ended. Not to mention that she was released by the time-traveling son of Rose, who died from something involving her friends, but was revived using Rose's healing powers. Everything was so different, and Bismuth was becoming overwhelmed as the story continued.
Garnet looked down at her hands, tracing the sapphire stone on her palm with her fingers. "Since Twoie came from the future, my future vision wasn't and still isn't working correctly. It is trying to process the significant change in the timelines, and, at the time, that made us panic further. There was no way to truly tell if Twoie would betray us in the future. Everything came to a head when we were trying to track down Peridot, one of the Homeworld gems that had arrived on earth. The other threat, Jasper, is being handled by a Lapis that turned away from Homeworld, but we were unsure of Peridot's location." Bismuth's eyes widened at the name. That was the gem that was with Twoie and Steven. For a moment, Bismuth felt the urge to rush back to the others and see if they were okay. Then, her mind caught up to her, and she relaxed again. Peridot had been clinging to Steven. No Homeworld gem would be that close to a human willingly. Not to mention, Peridot was comfortable with the group and had seemed upset as well at the mention of Twoie's death. She was not their enemy, or at least, not anymore. "Twoie refused to tell us where Peridot was hiding, and we were getting angrier with each refusal."
Garnet clenched her fists. She had never meant to hurt Twoie as badly as she did. Her fight was based on the idea that he was a gem, not half-human. If Twoie had just been more trusting and open with them, Peridot wouldn't have kidnapped Steven."He should've told us! None of this would've happened if he'd just told us where Peridot was hiding." He wouldn't have looked so suspicious.
"That's not fair either." All eyes turned to Bismuth. The blacksmith knew she was still finding out about what happened, but she couldn't help herself. Garnet had talked to her about the dangers of future vision when they became friends. "You said Twoie came from the future, right? That means he knows the timeline of events that would've happened. He made his best judgment based on that knowledge, something I remember you going on about regarding acting on your future vision." Bismuth pointedly narrowed her eyes at Garnet. The other gem had the sense to look guilty.
Garnet sighed, clasping her hands together on her lap. "You're right. He kept saying it wasn't the right time, but I was so worried about Peridot that I kept pushing him. I was scared." Bismuth's eyes widened in surprise at her friend's confession. "My future vision wasn't working well, and I was scared about Peridot contacting Homeworld to inform them that rebels still existed on earth. Twoie had the information to stop that, but he wouldn't give it to us. Then, a few hours after trying to get him to tell us, Steven was kidnapped. I blamed Twoie for that because Peridot was the one to kidnap him. I didn't trust him at all after that." The permafusion clenched her fists tightly. "I was furious with him for putting Steven in danger, and it was just another thing that made Twoie suspicious in my mind. Why wouldn't you protect your younger self, especially one who looked up to you so much, if you weren't a spy?"
Bismuth gritted her teeth. She had a feeling she knew what was coming. It was very obvious to her that Garnet's 'Ruby was showing,' as she liked to tease her old friend. Only this time, it was no joke. Her friend was getting worked up just thinking about Twoie. If the gems had been suspicious that Twoie was a threat and then presented with an event that only solidified their suspicions, then… Twoie's death… She didn't want to even think about it. Voice filled with her rising horror, Bismuth asked them again, "Stars, what did you do?" The others balked in surprise. The blacksmith didn't care if she accidentally gave herself away now. All this talk about 'suspicions' and 'spies' made her sick to her stomach. Because Bismuth knew what the end result of this conversation was going to be. Sometime between the gems being suspicious of Twoie and being released from the bubble, Twoie had died. The gems were acting guilty of something and were sad when talking about Steven and Twoie. Bismuth clenched her fists in anger. Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst were responsible for something that resulted in Twoie's death. And Bismuth was starting to suspect the worst.
Tears welled up in the purple gems' eyes. Amethyst choked back a sob as she stared guiltily at Bismuth. "We rescued Steven and bubbled Peridot, but when we got home, Twoie was gone. Garnet and Pearl were suspicious of him, so we left to search for Twoie. When we came back, Twoie had let Peridot out of her bubble, which made the other two accuse him of being a traitor, but when we saw that Twoie had accidentally bruised Steven, I thought they were right. I care about that kid, okay?" She grabbed her head with her hands. "So, I attacked Twoie. I was upset! I thought that I was responsible for Steven getting hurt since I believed Twoie wasn't a spy, so I overreacted and attacked Twoie. And I kept Steven outta the way because that kid thinks the best of everyone. He would've gotten involved because we were hurting his big bro." Bismuth's mouth dropped, but she couldn't even think of anything to say. Amethyst wasn't giving her a chance anyway. The grief-stricken gem was just blurting out details. "And we took the fight outside. You saw all that stuff out there? The crater and the broken cliff? That was us. We fought Twoie, and the entire time Twoie was just defending himself and trying to get us to stop." Amethyst gestured to herself, Garnet, and Pearl. "We killed him, okay? We killed him!"
There it was. The thought that Bismuth had been trying to ignore. Because she didn't want to believe that her old friends would kill an innocent. "You killed Twoie…."
Pearl let out a strangled sob at her words. She hadn't meant to kill him. She had just been trying to poof someone she thought was a gem. "It was an accident. We thought he was a gem." But humans were fragile. They were more fragile than gems. Pearl sobbed harder. She had killed Rose's son.
Bismuth shook her head sadly. "Rose was right after all." The others looked at her in surprise. "I didn't tell you all the full truth of how I got bubbled. I wasn't bubbled after that battle by enemy gems. I was bubbled by Rose."
Garnet stared at her in horror while Pearl gasped. The prim gem stood up in shock, holding her hands to her head. "B-but why on earth would Rose do that?!"
"Because I created a new weapon that's sole purpose was shattering the diamonds." Bismuth ignored the strangled gasp of horror that came from Pearl. "I called it the Breaking Point. It was specially designed to shatter any gem, including the diamonds."
"But Crystal Gems believe that all life is precious and worth protecting. Why would you purposefully create such a horrible weapon…." Garnet breathed out shakily. All of the destruction such a weapon would cause… All of the poor gems whose minds would be forever fractured…
Bismuth narrowed her eyes at Garnet. "Look who's talking." The other gems flinched. Yeah, she understood what Garnet meant, but she wasn't going to let the hypocrisy slide. Pushing her frustration aside, Bismuth continued her story. "I was desperate to stop the war. We were losing gems left and right. Our friends were being captured or shattered." The blacksmith clenched his fists tightly. "I thought our problems would be solved if we could just shatter a diamond." She remembered when Rose arrived at the forge. Bismuth had made sure her project was secret. She was excited at presenting it, thinking that Rose would feel the same way. Bismuth chuckled bitterly. It felt like only yesterday that she had fought with Rose over it. "Rose was horrified. She told me that shattering gems would put us on the same level as Homeworld." She remembered Rose pleading with her to destroy it. "I told her that we would be different. We'd be shattering them for the sake of our cause. To protect our allies, our friends, and to free all gems from Homeworld's tyranny. Rose didn't care. She told me that no one would use it. That it wasn't right." Bismuth sighed heavily. At the time, she hadn't understood why Rose was so stubborn. Why she was so insistent that shattering was wrong. "I was furious. I thought Rose didn't care enough about us that she would rather let us continue fighting than end the war as quickly as possible. So, we fought, and in the end, Rose won."
The blacksmith brushed her hands through her hair. "After everything I've learned, I think I understand her side now. I just- I don't know why she never released me. Maybe she thought I'd tell you all how we fought, or maybe she thought I'd turn or something." And now, Bismuth would never know. She'd never know why Rose kept her bubbled for so long. Bismuth sighed as she stood up. "Guess there's no point in speculation. I wish the circumstances were better, but I am glad to see you guys. Before I go, I need to tell you something."
Amethyst blinked in surprise. "Wait, you're not gonna stay here?"
Bismuth shook her head. "No. I never lived with the others during the war, to begin with. I always stayed at the Forge. I'll probably head back there and see how it's doing." Well, she'd head to the forge after she talked with Twoie and the others, but they didn't need to know that. Bismuth started walking towards the door but looked back at the others. "I think you guys should know that Twoie is alive."
"What? But-, how?" Pearl held her hands close to her chest. She knew that Twoie had died. They all saw him die! How did he survive? And how would Bismuth know unless-? "W-was he the human that freed you?"
Bismuth nodded. "Twoie freed me from the bubble, and he also told me that he was revived by Rose's powers."
Amethyst grinned widely and rushed forward, so she was standing in front of the taller gem. "I'm so glad he's okay! You gotta tell us where he is, man! I owe him so many sorrys."
When Bismuth shook her head, their expressions morphed into a mix of hurt and betrayal. Garnet stepped forward, looking at her desperately. "Please! You must tell us where they are. We need to apologize for not believing him."
"For one thing, an apology isn't enough." Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst looked up Bismuth in surprise. The blacksmith was glaring at them disapprovingly. "You killed him. This is future Steven, right? So, the people that he trusted and looked up to were responsible for his death." The gems looked away shamefully. "An apology is never going to be enough for what you did to him. You need to think about what happened and find a way to make it up to them, but only on their terms." The last thing Bismuth wanted to do was break her promise. The poor kid needed allies more than ever. Besides, Twoie was scared of them. She had seen the boy shake at the mention of his former friends, and the rest of his little group were still angry or upset. If the gems came over, it would just make everything worse. Honestly, Bismuth wasn't happy with her friends either. Judging by their ashamed looks, they had honestly thought an apology would've been enough to fix it. "I'll talk to Twoie and Steven, but they need to decide if they want to see you all. They already told me that they didn't want you guys knowing where they are, and I'm not going to betray that trust. They've been betrayed enough already."
Without another word, Bismuth walked out of the door. Seeing the destruction all across the sand held a new horrifying meaning to her. It made her sick to her gem just seeing it all. Bismuth sighed and quickly made her way through the beach and back to the town. She needed to find Greg, so she could get a ride back to the barn. Bismuth had her own apology to deliver and an offer for Twoie and Ven.