A/N: Okay. Hold onto the edge of your seats, kiddos! this chapter right here will probably have you screaming. If Chapter Ten had wham, this one has even MORE wham. Enjoy!
A Triangle in the Stars
Chapter Eighteen: Gem Troubles
Pyronica ran for a while, huffing and puffing, beginning to think she had taken the wrong hall.
"TEETH!" she roared, before stumbling upon another crossroad. She grumbled, when she saw it, but closed her eye, listening for any movement at all. She wanted to get this over with. She soon heard the patter of feet, and started running down the left, again, towards it.
Teeth began freaking out, and sped up, almost stumbling a few times on his own chubby feet. Pyronica, still running, sent a mental message to Bill, I've found him!
Oh, good. Meanwhile, I'm pursuing someone else...
Bill had heard noises too, and was now running after 8-Ball. The ape-like monster seemed kinda chill, but also freaked out, stumbling and skipping about the hall.
"8-Ball!" the triangle called out for him, "I only wanna talk to you!"
8-Ball merely sped up and kept going. Bill sighed, still levitating after him, and asked Pyronica, Sheesh... why is everyone so skittish?
Well, everyone knows Gabriel's stronger than you. You do know that, right? she asked, after a moment, speeding up.
Bill frowned, Of course...
He bitterly remembered a tidbit from his childhood. He shook it away before long, not wanting to dwell on it. He kept calling after 8-Ball, but the monster wasn't listening. He kept running like a chicken with its head cut off...
...Chicken would sound very good to have right now...
Teeth kept running too, but eventually he stumbled, fell and couldn't get back up. He gasped, "Oh... oh, no..."
Pyronica finally reached him. "Ahah! gotcha!" she tackled him.
He screamed almost like a little girl, sweating like a pig. He suddenly realized something though. He wasn't dead right now. He calmed himself down, but not before asking, "Wait, you're not gonna kill me...?"
"Of course not! we're just trying to gather everybody up so we can fight Gabriel! come on, Teeth, Bill needs you!" she grinned widely.
Teeth soon grinned back, but was still clattering, "Oh, okay! I'll help then!"
"Great! first, we need to find our way back... stay close, please..." she then began back to the intersection where the three of them split off. Teeth nodded, and got up. He then followed closely.
Pyronica reached the intersection soon enough. She had two options here—check up on the kid, to see where he had gotten himself, or go straight to Bill. She frowned a little, not sure which way to go. She made to take the middle path, though. Teeth bounded after her, trying his best to keep to the side of her, but soon she backtracked, deciding to ask, Uh, Bill? did you go right? or straight?
Teeth frowned, as much as a row of dentures could frown anyway. He walked backwards to where she stood, and looked up at her.
I went straight. But I think you might wanna check on the kid first, was his response. He's not answering my messages...
She nodded. She looked back at the hallways, and went down the other one.
"GEM KID!" she shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth.
Teeth trailed behind her. If he had eyebrows, one of them would be raised right about now. A Gem kid? what was that? She turned around to face Teeth, sensing his confusion. Pyronica proceeded to explain, "Bill's become attached to this kid. He's half human and half Gem, apparently. Anyway, he wants us to look for him. How bout'cha take the right side, and I take the left?"
"Oh, okay.." Teeth seemed pretty okay with this, though he had his reservations. But he didn't linger on any of them. He soon nodded, "Sure."
She then began to check all the rooms on the left, one by one, not one of them yielding the Gem child. Teeth, meanwhile, checked all the rooms on the right. He didn't get very far though, as he opened only four doors, and peeped into this last one...
...and inside was a Cluster Demon. He was distorted, disfigured. He had bits of him that looked like rock, and one of his arms ended with a foot, while one of his legs ended with a hand. The bits of him didn't match at all. He had a black, thin arm, similar to Bill's, and then his other, wrong, arm seemed like rock, but the foot it ended with was green. His torso was grey, shaped like a diamond on one side, while it might have been an octagon on the other. His proper leg was orange, and was thicker, and seemed to be wreathed in flame. His messed up leg was silver, and thinner, ending with a very large blue boot that looked to be made of ice.
None of that really mattered, though. What mattered was what was in his hand. It was a little pink gem, which glittered in the darkness. The creature saw Teeth, gasped, and vanished in a bright flash of pink light. Teeth began freaking out again. He hurriedly called for Pyronica, even though he knew it was too late. Pyronica ran over.
"You found him?" she asked, breathless.
"No! one of those Cluster Demons was in there though. It had a gem in its hand, a pink gem!" he didn't know what Steven or his gem looked like, so he thought he didn't find anything particularly special. But the image freaked him out regardless.
She gasped. "A pink gem? and Cluster Demon? wait... you mean Gabriel's monstrosities?" she clenched her fists. "That... that... that jerk! come on, we have to find Bill..." she shook her head, sighing. "Oh, man. He's not going to like this..."
Turns out Gabriel's probably got the kid now. Be there in a bit.
There was no response for a while. Almost as though Bill was wrangling with his emotions right now. Soon she heard a sigh, I see... well, alright. I managed to get through to 8-Ball, just so you know.
His voice seemed a bit less energetic. She was right. He wasn't liking this at all, but, since this was a human, he was conflicted about it as well. Teeth closed the door, clattering again. Pyronica started running again, back to the intersection, "Try to keep up. We gotta hurry!"
Teeth clambered after her, still rattling a little bit.
Hey, Bill. Guess what I've got!
Bill thought this was Pyronica for a moment, and he answered, seeming to smile, You got Teeth, didn't you?
Actually, no. I'm sure by now you've figured it out. I've got what I wanted. Revenge. You stole something precious from me, now I'm returning the favor!
Just then, Bill knew who was speaking to. He clenched his fist.
Oh, it's you... the demon growled, his smile vanishing. You better not do anything to him, Gabriel...
He had wanted to renounce his care for the boy instead, but figured this might make things worse for Steven. Besides, every second that passed he found it was growing harder and harder to toss this new feeling aside. 8-Ball was sitting opposite from the triangle, scratching his head. He couldn't believe he didn't trust Bill all that time. But the lines of allegiance were blurred, and he at the time didn't know who to trust exactly. But at least now he did.
Don't worry. He'll be fine... and then there was a tangible hesitation. Before... How long does it usually take for him to reappear after he's been converted to gem form?
Bill then paled considerably. He started shaking a minute later. He eventually replied, rather evenly, You... you did what to him...?
8-Ball tilted his head, now wondering what was wrong with his friend.
One of my idiotic hybrids was sent to simply knock him out, but instead he's... trapped as a little gem. Oh, well.
More silence passed. Bill was now glaring at the wall, and 8-Ball grew very uncomfortable, shifting every so often.
I swear... if he's... the triangular demon suddenly cut himself off, still feeling conflicted, and then started again, He better be okay. You hear me? he better come out of that gem with not even scratches on him.
Relax, came Gabriel's slick voice, I'm sure he'll be fine... assuming you join me. I'm only going to ask once. This is your only chance. Then this gem... I'm going to destroy it, smash it into tiny pieces, and turn those pieces into powder. So. What about it, eh?
Y...you're... you're bluffing... Bill paled even more. He was almost white at this point. He vaguely remembered the nightmare he had made Steven have the night he was taken in. And then he got an idea... Gabriel! what is this all proving? all I see it's proving is that you're as bad as I am! if not worse! you wouldn't want that, would you?
He was going to try and use Steven's philosophy, with a few twists of course because he could barely understand it himself. But then... the star demon started laughing, What is this proving? I'm not trying to prove anything! I'm trying to do what you did to me. You broke me. You broke me into pieces, and then you watched them burn. I don't care if what I'm doing isn't right. I don't care if it makes me worse than you. That doesn't matter. It's justice. It's what you deserve!
The demon snarled, but kept at it, This isn't justice. It's petty revenge. And you're gonna damage yourself more when it's done with you.
Bill was unaware of the small, but red, flames flickering on his arms. His adopted brother seemed to have forgotten their lives back in the second dimension, and, more specifically, why Bill had snapped Gabriel's soul into pieces in the first place. 8-Ball curled up. If he didn't know about psychic links, he'd think Bill was about to blow for no reason. But, nonetheless, it scared him.
I DON'T CAAAAARE! Gabriel roared, furious. After some huffing and puffing, he spoke again, this time in a dangerous tone, Consider your friend dead. When I'm done with him, he's going to be worse than dead... and then the connection cut off, right then and there.
The flames vanished all of a sudden. And his color was restored. His glare softened until he was just staring. Off into space.
8-Ball, after getting himself back into a proper sitting position, finally got up the nerves to speak, "What's wrong, boss?"
"...lots of things.." Bill replied when he snapped out of his stupor. The monster had yet to know Steven was traveling with him. And he wanted to keep it that way.
8-Ball frowned, and then shrugged. He figured he'd be told soon enough, that there was more to this than Bill's past literally coming back to haunt them all, Bill in particular.
The triangle shakily sighed and then re-established a psychic link with Pyronica, almost screaming, Where are you? it's been more than a 'bit'! we have to hurry! Gabriel has Steven and he's... he's going to kill him!
There was a noticeable crack in his last sentence, despite him trying to hide it. He still felt horribly conflicted, however, but this side of him now seemed to take the reins more often. And then he stared at his hands.
Oh... why on earth did he let Steven go off on his own...?
Pyronica rushed into view, gasping for breath, "Bill! there you are! we... we kinda got lost!"
Teeth stumbled again, huffing and puffing. 8-Ball smiled a bit when he saw his friend, but the smile didn't last. They still had stuff to take care of.
Bill was trying his best to hide how frazzled he was becoming, but could barely stop shaking. He got up and smiled for only a second, "Oh, thank God you're here. Forget the regroup, we have to find Gabriel and rescue Steven before it's too late!"
8-Ball frowned, "Who's Steven?"
"But he could be anywhere!" Pyronica argued, "What's the chance we find him before anything happens to the boy?" she asked, blatantly ignoring the question.
8-Ball's frown deepened. Teeth simply watched this conversation.
"I..." Bill couldn't think of a good comeback. He rubbed at his top point, calming himself down. "Yeah.. you're right. Still, we should try. Right?"
He had no idea why he was so concerned about Steven, a meatsack who was part Gem. He couldn't explain this feeling, but he was starting to hate it again. But now wasn't the time to push it back. Now was the time for action.
Pyronica sighed, drooping slightly, "I don't know, Bill. It seems kinda like a lost cause to me..."
"Lost cause, huh...?" Bill reiterated. He then sighed, "Maybe. Hopefully he's just bluffing anyway."
8-Ball groaned inaudibly, and started pacing. He was wondering why they were mucking around. He didn't know this Steven, but he seemed important to Bill and that should have been enough. Teeth watched his friend pace now, growing more and more worried by the second.
"Gabriel's ruthless. He will deliver on all the threats he makes. Trust me... I know," she looked away from Bill. Suddenly, all the lights in the building came back on, just like that.
Bill looked up at the now working light fixtures, frowning. He couldn't be happy. Not now. Not while his adopted brother still had Steven. He clenched his fist, getting his resolve back, "We have to find them... I don't care if it's a lost cause. We have to find them."
8-Ball and Teeth looked his way just then, the former with his lips pursed and the latter with his jaws ajar.
"But how? where could they possibly be?" Pyronica put forth, her brow furrowed.
8-Ball resumed pacing, grunting and growling. Teeth paced with him in an attempt to help the ape-like creature calm down.
"I really don't know," Bill admitted as he rubbed at his top point. He was searching for a place though, where he thought Gabriel would be. And one such location was coming into focus...
A/N: Lots of characters here. But I hope we all played them well. I mean, in the sense that they seem realistic, because the Henchmaniacs were barely given any personality. So we had to play off of whatever was given and add our own. :3
Ace had Gabriel, obviously, the mystery character, as well as Pyronica. I had Bill, Teeth and 8-Ball. I hope you enjoyed!