Amethyst speaks with the shadows
Amethyst had no interest in the backstories here. Although the prospective details about the Kindergartens intrigued her, but also saddened to think of what could have happened if she was made here instead. All those precious gems...lost in flaws and imperfections dictated by their creators.
Garnet and Pearl were seemingly in control of the situation, but it didn't help Amethyst feel any better from the occasional noise that filtered through. The Kindergartens appeared small than the one she was created in. But the sight of the Lemon Quartz scared her slightly. Amethyst couldn't imagine going blank like that.
It brought back the memory of being in White Diamonds ship, specifically looking at Yellow and Blue who had been mind controlled by her. Then she felt herself disappear and return to a conscious state to find White Diamond supposedly beaten and proven wrong.
Steven did something, but Steven failed to elaborate what he did. Part of her was annoyed by that fact and that whether or not anyone had asked him on what really went on between them. She'd ask Connie, but Amethyst assumed she'd tell her to ask Steven instead. Garnet and Pearl never bothered to poke him on the matter either. It made Amethyst wonder if they knew how to poke and prod at Steven until he decided to spill. It wasn't the surface level aspect of his feelings either. The one time he did mention how he felt...especially after the revelations on his mother, he relented...before retreating and reflecting the question to her.
Amethyst loved Steven. That wasn't up for debate. She hated how he hardly cared about his own emotions at times and when he did mention it on the occasion he exploded, like he'd always bottle them up and he'd lash out at people. It took a while for Amethyst to develop her own understanding of him at his core and that he wasn't Rose or Pink. He was indeed himself. Growing up with humans allowed her to grasp her own mindset on them, far faster and easier than either Garnet or Pearl, who were short-sighted on that front. She could have thanked Jasper for allowing that connection to blossom, the way that the both of them believed that they constantly failed the expectations that were improperly forced on them. Smoky Quartz was born from their equal parts of sorrow, pain and love.
He had shielded himself, however. Metaphorically speaking. She hardly believed it was just words that had been spoken that day. Something he did alongside something that he said that could have toppled the almighty White Diamond to her knees. Even from listening from White in that brief moment had Amethyst completely confused about her estranged nature and if could admit it now, was kind of glad she was made on Earth instead of being with the weirdos on Homeworld.
She promised him that she wasn't going to fall apart on him. Amethyst had to make sure he didn't fall apart on her.
Even before the chaos at the Ball erupted before them, the sight of Steven just being miserable told her volumes about how he was. The expectations that were thrust upon him. He didn't need that. She was thankful for Connie to pull him out of that rut, despite the whole pull that ended up with all of them poofed. It proved her right yet again, that only the values on Earth mattered to them. It was Homeworld that had been...incredibly alien.
His comment on her being the most mature Crystal Gem didn't sit right with her originally. His words continued to stick with her.
They found another file room...though like the other two, it looked like this one was either broken into or...it had graffiti on the doors. Pearl translated it as "keep out".
"Of course we gotta go in." Amethyst said with a healthy mix of enthusiasm and sarcasm.
The doors wouldn't open automatically, as Garnet brought on her gauntlets and forced them to slide open for her. They went inside and were met with an odd scene.
The room was dark, save for a few candles. Amethyst went in first as she stood to look around. There were pictures. Pictures of the Crystal Gems. Pictures of Rose...pictures of all of them...
"It's hard to determine if fate could be fought." Said a mysterious voice.
Amethyst turned around to see...herself. No Pearl, no Garnet. She turned around again to see them as stone statues behind her, riddled with violet flowers.
"Who are you? And what have you done with them?" Amethyst cried.
The fake Amethyst walked past Amethyst and stared at the statues.
"At some point, we're all subject to darkness. It's the matter of when. A Sapphire can't tell us this. They only see darkness too." She said, as she put her hand on Garnet's statue.
What...what was she talking about?
"I don't care about what you say, I need you to bring them back...now!" She balked.
The figure wasn't even bothered by Amethyst's threats. She turned to the gem, her eyes black as Amethyst nearly jumped.
"You do not want to fall apart. You let others fall apart for you...so you can feel more whole than they." The replica continued.
Amethyst's temper was tested.
"That's not true. Last thing I want...is people breaking around me." She claimed. She felt wrenched, tagged and thrown. She knew what this was and she let it get to her.
"Who are you to say what I feel or what I want. You're not even real. You're a Lillim trying to get inside of my head!"
The figure gave off a subtle grin as she started to walk around Amethyst with her hands behind her back.
"You gems are nothing without humanities curse to guide you. They've infected you...before we even did. Look at you...a gem who's taken to them...fused with their hearts even. The one you call Steven...he's a danger to humanity and to gem kind." Said the figure.
Amethyst attacked her instantly as she brought out her whip to whack her one, only to break Garnet's and Pearl's statues in clean halves, as the petals of the purple flowers flew everywhere, like a spiralled tornado. She shook the tears off her face, until she saw that Garnets and Pearl bodies were on the floor, but they were unmoving as they had widened eyes and appeared to be looking at one another.
"There's a darkness too powerful to be countered. By that time...you'll see this world burn because of him."
Their bodies disappeared slowly. They weren't poofed, but their light forms faded in black pixels, only for their gems to remain.
"Why are you telling me this?" Amethyst questioned. No way would she let anyone call up Steven in such a nonsensical, idiotic way. There was nothing wrong with him at all. He's different, but he would never want to cause this world trouble. Not intentionally of course. Even if he did, he'd be the first one to rectify his mistakes.
The form turned into Steven before her eyes, though the main difference was that his eyes were pure black. He stood in front of her, with his hands in his pockets, using his voice.
"You know his hidden pains. The foretold Boy with a Billion Burdens. Pearl...Garnet...so focused on their pasts and their futures. They don't even care about the present. Unlike you."
Amethyst growled at him. This was wrong. So wrong. But his image stirred up stupid feelings that shouldn't exist.
"They do care. They also have to deal with their own problems. It's like we're living creatures with minds of our owns or something!" The purple gem pointed out.
The Lillim Steven laughed; harder and louder.
"Why does Steven continue to deal with their problems while ignoring his own then? Amethyst, you call to him to tell him how to express himself. Is that the best thing for him? To tell people how he really feels?"
Lillim Steven glitched in and out of her mind in ways that she couldn't even identify, though some had him in various states of anger and played them like some kind of projected recording as it mimicked his actions one by one.
It's lucky something has some information that I don't have to get out of them!
I'm a little tired... of you guys telling me how I feel!
She's GOOOOOOONEEEE
That last one she'd never even seen or heard of before, but it was enough to knock her off her feet. She looked at her hands and saw her own tears drop on them. She grew even more angrier to the point of boiled rage.
"You LEAVE HIM OUT OF THIS, YOU DON'T KNOW HIM LIKE WE DO! IF I FIND YOU EVEN REMOTELY TOUCHING HIM I WILL END YOU MYSELF!" Amethyst roared.
The figure then gltiched into Rose Quartz, as Amethyst was forced to shuffle back as she got uncomfortably close and started to use her voice.
"But my Amethyst, my dear sweet Amethyst. You don't want to hurt me..." She said, so sickly sweet.
That tipped her over the edge as Amethyst used a spin dash against the wannabe, only for the attack to go straight through her. Amethyst tried multiple times, until she split herself into Pink Diamond on her left and Steven on her right.
"Who cares about what I feel? How you feel is bound to be much more interesting." Said the Lillim Rose.
NO. NOT THAT.
"How do you feel Amethyst?" Asked the Lillim Steven.
PISSED OFF.
"I'm glad you're free." Said the Lillim Pink Diamond.
The three started chatting around her as she knelt over and placed her heads on her hands. She didn't want to hear this. She didn't need to hear this.
"Zero plus Zero Equals Zero right?" Said Lillim Smoky Quartz.
No...not their fusion!
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"
The sound of screeches and screams filled the air as Amethyst saw nothingness around her, then beams of yellow light that shot them away. It then became lighter, as she heard the muffled voices of Garnet and Pearl, fighting off the black smoke that encapsulated her vision. Their grunts and shouts meant they were battling an unseen foe. It wasn't long until Pearl grabbed her hand pulled her too her feet. As usual, Pearl freaked out and placed her hands on her shoulders, her face filled with widened distress.
"Oh my Amethyst are you okay?" Pearl asked in a frantic tone.
Garnet stood next to her and unsummoned her gauntlets.
"The door opened and you took a direct hit from the blast." She explained.
Amethyst took a look at her surroundings. The room was empty, save for the purple flowers. She put her hand on her gem, to make sure she was still there.
"I...I dunno..." Amethyst croaked out.
Seeing them there did ground her back in reality somewhat. Garnet explained there was a darkness that tried to infect her gem. The Lillim had latched on to her, with her none the wiser. They fought them off as Pearl took advantage of the Lemon Quartz's gem to use as projected light. She didn't want to, but something told her it was going to be useful for their own protection where their own gems wouldn't be able to. She could see Garnet staring at her, as if she wanted to examine her closely. She felt okay physically. Mentally though?
"It was like it was trying to break me from the inside. It was horrible."
It was frightening on how they could get into her head like that as if they drilled through her memories and experiences and her attachments to the people she cared deeply for. It wanted her to hurt Steven the most however. Again with the burdens that were not of his own making. Things that were not his fault. Things out of his control. Things out of their control.
It seemed adamant in wanting to see Steven fall apart on her. Like it simply loathed Steven's existence and wanted him dead. It preferred to go about it in the most complex of ways.
She refused to believe anything it said and what it implied. So why did the words cut her deeper than she allowed them to?
"Snow warned us about this." Garnet commented further.
"We just need to be extra careful."
Extra careful?
"CAREFUL? I JUST...OPENED THE DOOR GARNET...NO WARNING, NO NOTHING! BOOM THEN IT JUST GOES ON ABOUT...about..." Amethyst screamed, until she burst into tears.
Pearl was taken aback by her reaction, as she had raised and crossed her arms from her loud response.
"Amethyst...it spoke to you?" She iterated, shocked.
Oh it spoke to her alright.
"It...it...it wanted me to hurt Steven." Amethyst spoke, trying so hard to not cry.
Garnet and Pearl exchanged glances.
"Don't tell me it knows who he is?" Pearl wondered, deathly afraid.
Garnet knelt down before Amethyst and stared at her. Amethyst knew what this stare meant.
"Tell us what it told you. We need to know everything."
Yes. They did. Or else Garnet would shake it out of her or Pearl would continue to scream at her...at the least.
Amethyst tried to drum down the nearest description of what she heard. Which made Pearl even more paranoid as she bit the tips of her fingers and while Garnet sat down cross legged on the floor with the occasional nod to let Amethyst know she was busy in the absorption of her words. At the end of it, Pearl calmed down to an extent as she tried to make sense of what the Lillim said. Garnet saw nothing like usual. Amethyst wanted to be angry, but if Garnet couldn't see anything, then it was out of her hands too.
They made it clear that the Lillim wanted nothing more than to sow discord among them. The last thing she wanted was them to be pulled into the abyss with her. She felt Pearl hug her as she cried. This should not have hurt as hard as it did, even with the Lillim involved and telling them all sorts of crap. Why would Steven be a threat? Because he was a Diamond? Pffff. He'd talked them to death if he could. Or he'd befriend them most likely.
Amethyst didn't want him to deal with them at all.