Okay so usually my excuse for not updating in a while is that I've been busy (which I have been honestly) or something, but this time it was just actually really hard to make this chapter. Some of you wanted me to continue the story how I wanted it to or others wanted me to be as accurate to the show as possible as far back as Out of this world" Stevenbomb. I decided to use the new episodes but it was very hard to incorporate all of that into this story, so I apologize. There is a bright side though, I think I know how I want the rest of this story to play out now, so I'm hoping chapters will be a bit more consistent and better quality overall. Anyway we've got a decent chapter today with a few different perspectives on things past and present and the return of an important character from my "Separate Ways" story here, so everyone just kick back and enjoy the chapter.
Greg Universe had been spending all of his time trying to forget the weird and scary events that occurred during his kidnapping from Blue Diamond a few months ago. Unfortunately trying so hard to forget made everything stay fresh in his mind.
Right now he was playing around with his guitar in his van, trying to brush up on some of his older songs but his mind kept wandering to everything that had happened. The entire fiasco was trippy more than anything, but it brought to light many things that he hadn't really ever thought about, and a few things that he had just never noticed before. Like how the Gems on Homeworld were so much more different than Rose and the Crystal Gems, which was expected anyway but not that different. He also thought back to when he was dating Rose and how he never reached out to her or tried talking to her about the rebellion that much. It was all in good intention of course, but that didn't make it any less regrettable for Greg. He should have asked her about it, or at least make make it clear that he was there for her to talk about it if she ever needed to. He should have made a better effort to be there for her, cause looking back on it now Greg thought he wasn't the greatest or most supportive for Rose. But now that was something he would just have to live with since Rose was gone. Now he'd never have the chance to make things right.
Then there was Steven to think about. He just wanted to get some answers about his heritage and all the things that Rose had done in the name of Earth, both the good and the bad if it all. In Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl's defense there were a lot of things they didn't want him to find out about the war, or life on Homeworld, or all the horrible things they had to do during the chaos of it all. Even Rose herself wanted to keep some things hidden from her son as to not paint her or the Crystal Gems in a bad picture. They all were so afraid of Steven being mortified of their actions or inspiring fear in his heart for them that they all decided to hide as much as possible from him in hopes of him never finding out the truth. Unfortunately that plan backfired so miserably that they were far past the point of no return that eventually they'd have to tell Steven the whole story, hoping and praying that it didn't change how he viewed his family, including Greg himself. There were things Greg knew that he kept secret as well, and that made him feel terrible having to keep such things from his own son. It felt like lying to him, which he was neither proud of or comfortable with, especially to people he cared about, but it was one of many promises he made when Steven was born. Even though he didn't like keeping things from the greatest person in his life it was a responsibility Greg had to deal with, no matter how much it burdened him. He just kept telling himself he was doing it to protect Steven, but the more he thought that the more harm he believed he was causing. This whole thing just didn't sit right with him, not one bit.
Greg stopped his guitar playing and gazed outside of the windshield of his van. The sky was a dark scarlet and magenta color, and the once bright yellow Sun had drooped down to the horizon and had become dark orange in color. He sighed to himself and set his guitar aside and decided to just go to sleep for the night in hopes of clearing his mind a bit. He layed down on his bare mattress on the floor of his van, wrapped himself up in his favorite red wooly blanket and closed his eyes to fall asleep. He layed there like that for a good few minutes, all cozy and comfortable in bed, eager to fall asleep.
But sleep never came.
Greg didn't understand it. He was tired and really in need of a good night's sleep, but he just couldn't fall asleep if his life depended on it. With a loud sigh he sat up in his mattress, threw off the blanket, and got to his feet. He opened the door to his van and stepped out onto the cold pavement of the car wash's driveway before sitting back down on the back of the van, observing the beautiful sunset on that boring and uneventful day. His thoughts from before returned and soon he found himself living in the past, when he was kidnapped by the grieving Blue Diamond.
The whole fiasco happened about 3 months ago, when Greg was first taken into space. The whole experience changed him, and definitely not in any good ways. Despite all the things leading up to his kidnapping, like the Rubies coming to Earth, or the Cluster being pacified for the time being, and even after everything that had happened with Jasper, Greg didn't believe that Homeworld posed such a large threat at the time. After all, everything Homeworld had sent their way Steven and the Crystal Gems always foiled their plans, every single time. Greg figured eventually Homeworld would just give up and leave them alone, but as it turns out the Diamonds believed Earth was still set for destruction via the Cluster, but what happens when they find out that the Cluster failed to destroy the planet? How would they react? This was a question that no one had an answer to and that scared Greg.
And what about the humans he had encountered at the Zoo? They were raised in captivity and brainwashed into blindly following orders from a voice in their head basically, never really given the option to make decisions on their own. That isn't living, that isn't right, it isn't...human. So far the voice had only given them instructions to do simple things like when it's time to play or go to sleep, but what if they were given more...violent orders? Like to turn on one another or to maybe they were forced to fight Homeworld's battles? They would naturally want to comply, so essentially they were all mindless slaves, puppets on strings being pulled by the Diamonds to do their bidding. It's the most inhumane thing Greg had ever heard of. It didn't seem like they had experienced any emotion other than happiness, and that was proven when they freaked out after Greg had rejected their..."chosen" ritual. They were absolutely devastated, overcome all of a sudden by these strange new emotions that hurt them to their very core, all because they weren't aware of all the different human emotions. Man, they would have a lot to learn if they ever made it to Earth, someone would need to be a guide to them and teach them what being an earthling is all about. Now that would be an interesting challenge to tackle.
Greg sighed to himself and got up from his resting spot on the floor of the van, slid on his vandals and closed the door behind him. He decided to pop in on the Crystal Gems at the house and see how they were doing. He was also kind of hoping that he could have some alone time with Steven and have a talk with him about the events that transpired during their out-of-this-world trek to Homeworld. He started walking to the house through Beach City. On his way there as he was walking through town he saw that Kofe's pizza parlor was still open. Then Greg got an idea that Steven would definitely like. He went into the parlor and went up to the front desk, where Jenny was working the late shift.
"Why hello Mr. Universe!" Jenny exclaimed with glee, face lighting up at the appearance of the older man. "What brings you here at such a late time?"
"Ah nothing much, was just on my way to see Steven and decided what the neck, might as well grab him a pizza on the way," Greg said, flashing the younger girl one of his signature smiles.
"Well in that case, what kind of pizza would you like?" She asked, taking a little notepad and pen, ready to take his order.
"I'll have just my usual. Large pepperoni with mushrooms to go please."
"Steven, Connie, we need to talk to you two."
Those were the words Garnet had said to the children when she called the group discussion that night. Steven and Connie were already in their pajamas for the night and were watching a film w more episodes of Under the Knife before going to bed when Garnet summoned them to the kitchen .The Crystal Gems, Steven and Connie all sat at the folding table they'd recently been using as a table for the kitchen, everyone sitting and staring at each other, waiting for Garnet continue. While they all sat their Steven had noticed something odd about the gems; they all seemed emotionally exhausted, as if they had had an argument earlier today, or maybe even before today. He saw something else in their eyes too, something he couldn't quite put his finger on. It almost resembled something like...fear, fear and nervousness. Pearl looked like she had been furiously crying recently, her eyes bloodshot and both her cheeks and miss were flushed. Amethyst's expression blank, almost cold, and her face was mostly obscured by her hair, making it hard for Steven to really read her expression. Garnet was stoic as usual and her shades were completely shielding her facial expression, but her body language told another story, with hardly any movement and whenever there was any it would be stiff and almost awkward-looking, giving Steven the idea that whatever she was about to say was very serious and that she was a bit unhinged as well. Their distressed demeanor made Steven very nervous and it wasn't hard for him to tell that Connie was harbouring the same feelings as he did in that moment. Steven mentally prepared himself for some really bad news.
"Now children, we all know that this last year has been pretty...exciting..."Garnet started. "..What with everything with the Cluster, fighting against Jasper, and our little trip to Homeworld, so let me just say this. I am very proud of the both of you for how well you've responded to all of that chaos and how far you've come in your training. You've greatly exceeded all of our expectations and we couldn't be more proud of you two."
Steven hated how Garnet was trying to sugarcoat the discussion by complimenting them, it just made him feel like she was lying to them or that him and Connie wouldn't be able to handle whatever it was she was going to say. It was almost as if the gems didn't trust them, despite everything they've been through.
"However," Garnet continued, adjusting her shades a bit. "Something's come up recently, something big. We didn't want to tell you kids sooner because we didn't want to worry you or have you do something rash without us, but the situation has changed, so here's why we've been gathered here tonight." She took a deep but shaky breath, furthering the kids' concerns, and said, "We believe someone's been trying to restart the Prime Kindergarten."
The kids gasped at the news and looked at each other, both sharing similar expressions of worry and fear. If this was really true then it could be an endless list of scenarios that could occur, and each one of them did nothing but spell disaster for the Crystal Gems.
"What does that mean for us?" Steven asked, turning back to the gems.
"We have reason to believe it means that another Homeworld Gem or gems have made it to Earth," Pearl explained. "And not friendly ones either."
"Well why would they be trying to restart the Kindergarten?" Connie asked. "What good would any of that old technology be?"
"Have you ever been there before? Do you know what used to go on there?" Asked Amethyst, not looking Connie in the eye when speaking.
"No, but Steven's told me about it and Buddy's journal showed us some pictures of-"
"Then you don't know how bad this is," the purple gem said in what almost sounded like a cruel tone of voice.
"Yes, getting the Kindergarten operational again would cause many dangers to arise," Pearl added. "But the fact that there's a Homeworld presence on Earth that we don't know much about or what their intentions are? That's a huge risk in terms of protecting the Earth. If they're trying to restart the Kindergarten we need to figure out why and how they're doing it."
"Then we should have a steakout!" Connie suggested. "We could all just hide somewhere in the Kindergarten and-"
"No," Garnet said flatly. "We can't have either of you involved in this matter." As she spoke those words Steven noticed that Pearl and Amethyst both gave Garnet looks of anger or disbelief after hearing her words, but Garnet either didn't notice or she ignored them and continued. "We aren't telling you so you can get involved, quite the opposite actually. We're telling you because the three of us will be conducting our own investigations into this matter for a while until we rule out whether there really is a Homeworld presence on Earth or not. I need you both to promise that neither of you will get involved with this in any way, shape or form."
Steven couldn't believe the words he was hearing. They were being told about something that was super important, possibly very dangerous to the people of Earth, and they were expected not to do anything to help? No, that wasn't going to fly with Steven, no way.
Evidently Connie felt the same way, as she tried to reason with the stoic gem."No way, there's got to be some way you can let us help. We don't necessarily have to actually be there with you in the Kindergarten. We could observe from a distance with surveillance cameras and-"
"No Connie, you won't be allowed to do anything of the sort," Garnet interrupted. "There's no way we can let you do that."
"Garnet," Pearl chimed in. "Come on , let's think about this. I'm sure there's a way they can-"
"I said no, period."
"You can't do this to us!" Steven protested in frustration. "You need to let us help, this is our home after all, you can't just tell us about something this major and expect us to sit by and do nothing about it!"
"Yes you can and you will, and of discussion," Garnet said, crossing her arms.
"No Garnet, I'm with Steven and Connie on this one," Amethyst said, looking up at her. "We have to let them help or-"
"I don't have to let them do anything and I won't, so butt out," Garnet ordered, a bit of anger suppressed in her voice.
Then Pearl said, "But Garnet-"
"Enough! I don't want to hear another word from you two!" She shouted, talking to Pearl and Garnet. Despite the dirty looks they both gave her they stopped speaking and became silent observers in the discussion.
"Garnet, we won't get in your way, just let us help," Connie pleaded, hands clasped together. "Please..."
"Yeah Garnet, why won't you-" Steven began before Garnet cut him off.
"You don't need to know why, so just promise me that you won't get involved. That's all I ask for."
Steven by this point was getting frustrated. "If you didn't want us getting involved then why tell us anything? It's like your trying to upset us and then making us feel helpless about the whole thing! Why are you telling us all this?"
Garnet said, in a serious and almost threatening tone, "Steven, you need to get rid of that tone of voice with me, right this instant."
That's it, Steven was about to lose it. He was about to start screaming up a storm, when Garnet suddenly said in her normal voice, "And go answer the door, both of you."
At first Steven and Connie were confused until a few moments later when a series of knocks at the screen door were heard. The children looked at each other for an instant before springing off their chairs and running over to the door, only to find someone completely unexpected come through the door.
"Heya, kiddos!" Greg Universe proclaimed, holding up a pizza over his head like he was beholding it to the skies above. "Mama mia, kids I've brought a pizza!"
"Dad!" "Mr. Universe!" were the happy and cheerful cries that came from the children as the middle-aged man bestowed their favorites dish, which they happily accepted with gratitude.
"Thanks Dad!" Steven said, completely forgetting how upset and helpless he had felt only a few seconds ago.
While the kids were preoccupied with Greg's surprise visit, Pearl learned over and angrily whispered "I thought you would tell them everything. You said you'd talk about the invasion and our...plans, so why didn't you?"
"Yeah what gives G?" Amethyst also whispered.
"I didn't tell them," Garnet began. "Because they don't need to be more worried than they already are. I knew that Greg would be stopping by too, and I thought he should be aware of the whole story, not Steven and Connie. We don't know what'll happen, so let them enjoy whatever time they have left, they deserve it."
Pearl and Garnet leaned back away from Garnet, understanding and agreeing with Garnet's choice. It was the only option it seemed, and for now that would do good for the time being.
"What brings you here at such a late hour Mr. Universe?" Asked Connie.
"Well I was just cruising around town minding my own business when I remembered that you kids were having a sleepover here, so I decided to crash this party with the greatest Italian dish in the world," Greg explained casually acting like this wasn't random at all. "I hope that was alright with you three," he then said, directed towards the gems, who were still sitting at the table. It took him a minute to realize how gloomy and unsettled they seemed, but when he did his cheery demeanour was replaced with one with concern. "Was this a bad time?"
"No, not at all," Garnet said nonchalantly. "This was perfect." She looked back to the kids and said "You two can take the pizza up to Steven's room and eat while you watch your show."
Holding the pizza in his hands Steven suddenly remembered what they had been previously discussing, and was about to object when Connie said "Thanks guys, we'll be watching Under the Knife if you need us," before he could say anything and led him back to their pillow fort to continue watching their show.
After the children went away Greg looked at the gems and asked "Is something wrong?"
Garnet replied by gesturing one of the now empty seats at the table. "Take a seat Greg. We have much to discuss."
Despite Greg's cheerful surprise visit, Steven couldn't shake the negative feelings in regards of the Gems he had from earlier as he was eating pizza and watching his favorite show with his favorite person in the world. He knew he should've been more understanding towards the Gems and just listen to them but he had been doing that all his life without knowing hardly a thing about them. He was tired of always being in the dark with things all the time and he wanted some answers. Even though he so desperately wanted to get the answers he'd been hoping for, he recalled the last time he had tried to get them on his own; his father was kidnapped by a Diamond and imprisoned on a strange faraway planet and Steven had to go rescue him.
Although it seemed Greg wasn't in any real danger during their great space odysseus and every one had gotten back safe and sound, Steven felt guilty for getting everyone dragged into all of that chaos all because of his anger and mistrust for the Gems. He didn't mean to endanger his family, he just wanted to know the truth about Pink Diamond and...his mother. After everything Steven had been through, after proving himself to the Gems time and time again, he felt like he deserved to know the whole story instead of learning piece by piece every time something bad happened when it was just randomly revealed at the most inconvenient of times. Then the one time he was able to find something out on his own it nearly cost him the lives of almost everyone he held dear to himself. He wanted answers, no doubt about that but not at the cost of people he cared about.
All of these thoughts were conflicting Steven right now because he was debating on whether he should disobey Garnet and follow them on their investigations to the Kindergarten. He would be careful as to not get caught and he just wanted to see what would happen if he did follow them. No one would ever find out and he would finally know something without the Gems trying to hide it from him for once.
And it's not like he would be alone if he decided to follow the Gems, Connie would be there as well. He was almost sure that Connie shared the same feelings for the situation as he did and he knew that regardless of anything that came their way, Connie would have his back and he would have hers. They had both proven to be a powerful duo whether they fought as Stevonnie or as individuals and they were both eager to go on more missions with the Gems. After all it's what they've been trying training for for so long and they truly believed they were ready for anything at this point.
Of course it would take convincing for Connie to disobey the Gems, after all she'd never disobeyed anyone's instructions all her life, which wasn't necessarily bad but in this case if Connie wanted to help she would have to make her own decisions. Steven felt guilty for having to make Connie go against everything she believed in but it needed to be done on order to get involved in...whatever Homeworld presence Garnet believed was on Earth. With guilt already in his heart and a strong sense of dread in his very core, Steven spoke.
"What are we going to do about this, Connie?"
Connie looked away from the TV and set down the slice of pizza she'd been munching on. "What do you mean?"
"I mean about what Garnet said," he clarified. "She's telling us that there might be a danger to Earth and she told us not to get involved? That doesn't sit right with me at all."
Connie sighed. "I don't like it anymore than you do, but we can't do a thing about it. No one's gonna let two kids get involved in something as serious as this, even with all the training we've gotten."
"You're right we are just two kids," Steven agreed. "Two kids who've fought all sorts of gem mutants and survived just fine. Heck, we even defeated Jasper as together as Stevonnie that one time! I'm pretty sure we can take care of ourselves just fine by now."
"Well all that's true," Said Connie, thinking about how far they've both come. "But you heard the Gems, they don't want us getting involved. They've got everything under control, we just need to listen to them. And..." She began to nervously twirl her finger around her long, dark hair. "I've just recently gained their trust. I don't want to break their trust already, not after how far I've come."
Steven hummed in agreement, understanding exactly where she was coming from. He used to be the same way, but within the last year he'd become fed up with all the secrecy and lies the Gems had put him through and so he decided that the only way he would get the answers that he so desperately wanted was to go find them for himself. "But they're hiding something, they always do and I'm done with playing along with their games. I'm going to the Kindergarten, with you or not." He then reached his hand out and took her own hand in his palm. She looked down at their interlacing hands, a deep blush forming over her cheeks and then back into Steven's eyes with a caring look that warmed his heart a bit and began to feel his own face become hot.
"But I want you to come with me."
His argument seemed to be somewhat persuasive, as Connie began to furrow her face in thought for a moment, mentally weighing all of her options in her head when eventually she sighed and looked back at him with a confident smile.
"Alright Steven, I'm with you. If we're gonna do this though, we're going to need some sort of plan. You have any ideas?"
"Don't worry, we'll come up with something, but we're going to need help."
"Really? Who would we ask?" Connie asked.
Steven smiled. "Don't worry, I know just the person. Would you like to meet her?"
It was just another day in the Prime Kindergarten; dark and gloomy, an eerie silence attaching itself to the entire location, the area completely devoid of all organic life as far as the eye could see. Most people thought the place was depressing to look at and some were even scared when they were in the Kindergarten by it's scary and isolated location.
The Commander absolutely loved all of it.
He stood there high atop one of the high canyon-like walls overlooking the long and wide cavern that was the Kindergarten. Here he could see the place completely in all of it's lifeless glory, including the many holes in which Amethyst soldiers had emerged all those years earlier during the first war for this miserable excuse of a planet. The Commander took pleasure in viewing the achievements Homeworld had completed while inhabiting the Earth; all the structures and pieces of technology they had built here and the first time a Homeworld-controlled planet has not one, but two Kindergartens built here? It was just marvelous, and the smile on his face reflected the pride he felt inside himself.
Then the Commander frowned after thinking about everything they had lost the last time they were here; they lost the Planet itself to those pesky lowlife rebels known as the Crystal Gems, all the time and energy wasted building and using weapons against said rebels instead of focusing on expanding and gaining more territory, and above all else...they lost a Diamond, one of the most powerful beings in the galaxy, a leader to all but also a friend to almost all who met her. It was tragic, no doubt about that, but what was even worse was the undeniable fact that the all-powerful Homeworld Empire had lost a war to a bunch of inexperienced and insignificant rogues. Needless to say, it was embarrassing and demoralizing for all of Homeworld, and their failure was forever written in stone for all to see.
But this time things would be different. This time Homeworld would take this planet as their own and exploit all the resources it had to offer and expand their empire after colonization here, and no small ragtag army of rebels could stop them this time. The Earth would be theirs for the taking and so it call be taken.
The Commander's prideful smile returned as he observed his garrison of Amethyst and Jasper soldiers and Ruby laborer gems unloading the various small cargo ships full of weapons and equipment onto the landscape while his Bismuth engineers began constructing a base of operations and his team of Peridots setting up the "special defenses" in the event of an attack at any point while being stationed here, despite the odds of such a thing being so incredibly low as it is. He was well aware that there were still remnants of the Crystal Gems residing somewhat nearby from the Kindergarten, so an attack was still possible and be wanted to be ready to defend against him if they did anything. Well even if they did do such a thing, the special defenses in place would destroy them and if they managed to evade the defenses, there was an entire battalion of Gem soldiers of all kinds ready for anything that came their way. The so-called "sworn protectors of Earth" wouldn't stand a chance against Homeworld's numbers stationed here or their new and improved technology far more advanced than what was used during the first war here. Yes, the Commander was very excited to crush what little remained of the Crystal Gems once and for all. Suddenly a voice calling to him broke his train of thought.
"Commander! Commander!" An Amethyst soldier ran was running towards him. He turned to the soldier once she reached him, painting loudly and annoying him very much so just with her presence. Couldn't she see that he was in deep thought before she interrupted him?
"What is it?" It better be important," he said sternly.
"Sir." The Amethyst pulled a small metal disc called a Holo-disk from a pocket on her uniform and held it out to him. "It's from someone back on Homeworld."
"Oh what is it now?" He asked himself in dismay and took the disc from her. He was about to hit a small button on the side of the disc when he saw that the Amethyst was still standing there. "Is that all?"
"Y-yes sir!" She said before giving him a salute and running back to her task with the other gems.
Once the Amethyst was finally out of earshot the Commander hit the button and a small 4-inch shimmering blue figure projected from the disc. Even though the projection made the figure completely blue he recognized the person immediately.
"Holly Blue," he said with a formal smile, trying not to show his annoyance for her constant pestering that kept hindering their progress. "So nice to hear from you again. I'm proud to say that everything is going according to schedule here and-"
"Quit blabbering about progress to me," the figure interrupted with her trademark snarkiness that everyone hated most about her. "I'm not interested in progress, I believe I've been checking up on you enough to know how far you've come along, that's not why I'm calling you now."
The Commander frowned. "Then why are you calling me now?"
"I just wanted to remind you how much I'm putting at risk for deploying you on this mission," Holly Blue said. "You haven't been deemed suitable for conflict by the Diamond Authority yet, so I'm emphasizing how important it is that you do your job as quickly and as quietly as possible as to keep the Diamonds from learning about this secret mission."
The Commander gave her the most reassuring smile he could muster using all of his patience and said "Don't worry, I'm doing everything you've instructed and taken every precaution you specifically mentioned. Nothing's going wrong, trust me."
"See that's the thing, I don't trust you. Don't forget who you're talking to, remember that you are still my experiment. I own you, and if your errors somehow come down on my head there'll be some serious consequences. Am I clear?"
He bit his lip in order to not give her the satisfaction of seeing his seething anger at the moment. "Crystal."
"Good," she said with a wicked smile. "And one last thing. I gave you the title of "Commander" for this mission, but just know you are anything but. You are simply my plaything, my creation, and you will never be anything more."
Fed up with this conversation already, he clenched his teeth and asked, "Is there anything else I can do for you?"
"No, that will be all," Holly Blue said condescendingly, giving him two claps for good measure. "Keep me posted on anything new and continue with your work."
"Will do."
"And one last thing," said Holly. "You better not mess this up for me, Soren Spessartine. You will regret it."
And with that last statement the Holo-disc went dark.
For those who read "Separate Ways" you know who Soren Spessartine is already. I'm excited for Soren returning to the scene as I've got some wonderful ideas on how he'll develop over the course of this story and how he'll interact with others on both Homeworld's side and the Crystal Gems' side, so don't worry Soren will be a great addition to the story.
Also, after I finish this story I might take a break from my SU Universe for a bit and maybe start either a Star vs. The forces of Evil story or a Gravity Falls story, or maybe even both. What do you guys think?
Anyway as always make sure you follow or favorite this story or both, and be sure to drop a review below and tell me how I'm doing so I know you guys want more chapters and I'll see you in the next one. Peace.