9. The Cosmic Jubilee.
As on Homeworld, structures and pathways lit up with an eerie glow during the fast-encroaching darkness as the red dwarf star dipped under the horizon.
Important-looking gems began warping in from regions unknown and activity at the spaceport really picked up as gems arrived and made beelines for the Center. A small few were accompanied (or rather, followed) by their own Pearls. The three Off Colors pretended to be part of it all. Lars expected ushers, or at least something, but he had to resign himself to following cues once again.
"Did you ever accompany your Morganite to anything like this jubilee thing?" asked Lars.
"No," came Pearl's reply. "She was always much too busy."
The gems around them appeared to be taking seats exactly where Lars would expect to sit in any normal Earth stadium. He waited politely until Padparadscha sat.
"Why, thank you, Captain," she said as she took her seat.
"You're welcome, My Clarity."
She covered her mouth delicately and started giggling, and Lars couldn't help but chuckle too - the ridiculousness of all this! They reigned it in quickly though as seats began to fill up around them with strange gems.
"I don't even know what to expect," whispered Lars, watching other gems file in. "What is this going to even be? A party? Or a concert? How dangerous are gem mosh pits?"
"I don't know what those things are," replied Pearl, a little distracted from looking around for any sign of Ruby. "So, I spy with my little visionsphere, something beginning with no."
He looked down at Padparadscha, who was simply seated contentedly between him and Pearl with hands clasped together on her lap, and he decided to just sit quietly and wait for whatever it was to begin while also scanning the crowd. After a long wait, and many, many new arrivals later, the crowd went silent and settled when he would have normally expected buzzing excitement. The whole affair struck Lars as alien and weird, and that was even before the eerie music started.
"To all imperial dignitaries and officers in attendance of the Cosmic Jubilee - Welcome!" came a gem's amplified voice from - where? Lars had no idea.
Two Jaspers appeared, walking out onto the staging area. Lars, a little bored up until this point, watched with mild interest as they approached each other from different angles and then when they met, they clasped hands and fused together.
The result was a much bigger and more powerful-looking Jasper who pulled forth a massive, awesome sword from one gem, and a spear from her other. Smashing them together, she somehow created something that looked like a wicked evil scythe. Lars' interest was piqued, to say the least.
"Woah!"
He received an odd look from a nearby Pearl accompanying an Agate, which Rhodonite's Pearl noticed, and gently nudged him about. "Lars!"
"Okay, sorry," he said quietly.
Movement caught his eye from the other end of the staging area. Two amethysts, who strutted around a little first before grabbing each other and fusing into another much bigger version of themselves. From the backs of her hands, where their gems were, they formed massive spikes which appeared to be her weapon. He stared wide-eyed as the two combatants approached each other cautiously before coming to a halt. The two stood, staring at each other for some time before suddenly breaking into an epic battle, one that Lars really found himself getting into.
The battle lasted a good long while until the Jasper fusion broke apart in a poof of smoke. The fighting stopped, and the Amethyst fusion showboated a little before unfusing and all four singular gems left the staging area on amiable terms.
"Hey," whispered Lars. "Why isn't anybody cheering? That was awesome! Could use some slick commentary from Mr Smiley, though." He felt the familiar pang of homesickness as he said it, like a well-timed and painful reality check.
"That's a fascinating point of view and normally I'd have follow up questions, but I'm a little worried." Pearl replied, looking uncomfortable. "I'm not seeing Ruby or the guard anywhere."
"Agh, sorry, Pearl. I'll be useful now," he promised, and resumed helping her scan the crowd.
"Crazy Lace Agate is in attendance," said Padparadscha.
Lars and Pearl looked up and spotted her almost instantly on the other side of the center, seated, also watching the fight. Pearl blinked and went back to her task of seeking out Ruby, but Lars lingered long enough to make brief eye contact with the agate before looking away.
Suddenly, a group of rubies entered the staging area. Lars squinted hard at the tiny gems in the distance, trying to make them out individually.
"Ruby!" Pearl gasped quietly.
The Ruby in question had been gazing up around at the crowd, attempting desperately to see her friends. In an instant, they spotted each other and were transfixed.
However, Ruby was shortly distracted by the task of fusing with her peers. Pearl gasped and Padparadscha's jaw dropped.
Lars boggled at what the implications could be. He struggled to keep his voice a whisper. "Uh, guys? What - Do all those Rubies know everything about us now?!"
Padparadscha shook her head. "Ruby knows better than to do that."
Pearl was too upset to respond, and Padparadscha reached out and placed a hand subtly on her back.
"Pearl," she said simply. "Just take a moment. We need you."
Pearl acknowledged the offering and nodded, taking a calming breath. She couldn't help but watch the following battle with a deeply-held personal interest.
The Ruby fusion ended up facing down a singular Topaz - judging by gem placement, Lars figured it was one of the two spaceport topazes. Which meant there was only one unaccounted for, and that made the odds of escaping this evening seem a little more likely.
But in the heat of the moment it was apparent that the Ruby fusion was becoming more and more distracted as the battle wore on. It didn't last nearly as long as the first one, however - the Rubies came apart quite easily after failing to dodge a strike from the Topaz's hammer.
This fight didn't end on the most friendly of terms. The rubies walked from the stage, arguing amongst themselves. Rhodonite's Ruby fired a few cryptic hand signals at Pearl before disappearing from the stage.
"Was that a code? What did she say?" asked Lars.
"I have no idea," sniffed Pearl, whispering. "We need to find her."
"Right," said Lars, standing.
They pushed their way through the grandstand as politely as possible, absolutely not wanting to create an incident with so much at stake. They exited the grandstand area and found themselves running around a narrow labyrinth underneath the seating area. Lars was entirely lost, but Pearl lead the way with a vague map in her head as an idea of the direction her poor Ruby might be in.
"PEARL" the call cut through the air like a knife. Pearl turned to look down a passage they would have otherwise run straight past, and there she was.
"RUBY" They ran towards each other faster than Lars had ever seen anybody run before, and when they met, they clutched tightly at each other.
"My Pearl! I snuck away from the other rubies while they were arguing. You-you understood my signs!" Ruby said through tears.
"Oh Ruby! I really didn't! I can't believe they made you fuse and fight that Topaz!"
Padparadscha watched their tearful reunion smiling happily and so did Lars with wide, watery eyes.
"I never actually wanted to, but I had to! It was only so I wouldn't blow my cover, until I found you again. I'm so sorry! You're the only gem in the entire universe that I'll ever want to fuse with!"
Pearl had ugly tears streaming down her face, but she was smiling. "Ruby, it's okay. I understand. I love you."
"I love you too! And we... we're together again!"
As Ruby took Pearl's cheek in her hand, their forms lost definition and began to glow bright white. However, the fusion shorted as Ruby suddenly shook her head and pulled away - and their two forms promptly became solid again.
"No! Not yet! We- we should-" Ruby was suddenly very serious and let go of Pearl, glancing at the others as if noticing them for the first time. "Everyone! Hi! Quickly - we need to go get the Twins. They looked so scared, they need our help!"
Lars and Padparadscha nodded while Pearl sniffed back tears. "Are they okay?" she asked. "Do you know where they are?"
"Of course I do. But before we do that - please! Please tell me you have a plan to get out of here before the prison ship comes! I couldn't think of one on my own!"
The three others look at each other quietly before Pearl responded, "Kind of!"
"Good enough!" Ruby balled a fist and raised it into the air in a very serious manner. "Let's go!"
Soon, Ruby led the way, running, through the softly glowing night. Thankfully, the area outside the Center was devoid of gems. Lars found it necessary at one point to double back and pick up Padparadscha, and he took up the rear carrying her in as respectful a manner as he could. The ease with which he now found he could run at a steady pace to keep up with aliens while carrying what probably would be the equivalent of an eight year old child deeply interested him in a disconcerting way, but as usual, he had to push that down for later and focus on the task at hand.
Ruby jumped onto the local warp pad and slid to a stop. "Everyone, hurry!"
Once everyone was standing on the pad, Ruby activated it, and they disappeared into a stream of pure light.
This being only the third time Lars had ever traveled via warp stream, he was startled to be suddenly floating in place, swathed by fast-moving beams of light and a mildly distracting updraught. Or were they moving downwards very fast? He let go of Padparadscha, only to have her float in place in front of him anyway. The others were looking pretty nonchalant about the whole affair, so he tried to as well.
After a few moments, they were ejected from the stream and found themselves on a similar pad, albeit on a much different part of the colony where the red dwarf star still hung high in the otherwise black sky.
Ahead of them was an elegant path leading uphill to what looked like a giant fortress.
"The Twins are in there," said Ruby. "C'mon! Hopefully everyone's at the celebration!"
She led them, still running, up the path towards the heavily armored door. She rapped at the access panel - it took a couple of tries, but the door eventually slid open and the Off Colors piled in. However, they were greeted by a very irate blue agate with a destabilizer at her hip who noticed them immediately and stomped over.
The Off Colors recoiled, not having expecting this.
"What's going on!?" she asked, clearly not in the mood. "What are you doing here?"
None of them had a remote chance of overpowering the agate - they all knew it. And their reticence made her extremely suspicious of them all, no matter how important and rare at least two of them looked. She drew her weapon.
"Nothing to say? I'll just destabilize you all, one by one, until I have my answers."
Lars considered the destabilizer and exhaled, rekindling an old bet with himself. "Guys, stay back."
"Lars-" Pearl started to argue, but he ignored her.
The Agate narrowed her eyes at him, her weapon sparking. "You want to take me on.. 'Lars', was it? What in the name of the stars is a Lars?"
Lars knew she was trying to goad him - that's exactly how he'd try to get the upper hand, too. So he stayed quiet, watching her warily.
"Well. Maybe a few hundred years bubbled will make you more willing to talk-"
The Agate rushed him, leading with the destabilizer. He jumped back just in time and, in a frantic effort to not let its twin points rip his torso open, he found himself able to grab each of the prongs with his hands and held onto them as tight as he could. He felt only a familiar soft crackle where the current met his skin through his gloves, but beyond that, he was okay. He exhaled hard, relieved, but despite his apparent increased stamina he could tell that he wouldn't come close to matching the Agate in strength. He braced himself, gulping hard, expecting a thrust or a swipe, or at least an attempt to shake him off.
However, the agate let go of the weapon in incredible surprise and recoiled in horror, clearly having trouble understanding what she was seeing. A gem, immune to destabilization? This gem's form hadn't even -tried- to break apart!
Lars flicked the thing around and caught it by its handle in midair. He briefly looked surprised and happy that he'd managed to achieve such a maneuver without messing up and accidentally flicking it uselessly across the ground, and then pointed it at her.
"Hey, look. We don't want to fight... but we will if we have to. We're just here for our friends," his voice cracked nervously, but he became more bold as he finished his statement as he found himself joined on both sides by Ruby, Pearl and Padparadscha, all with their fists raised grimly.
"What- what are you-" she gasped. "You're all defectives! And pirates! I thought the report from the crash made no sense when I heard it!" She flexed her touchstumps, and charged at Lars in particular with a raging fury that defied reason. "You won't get away-"
Lars' eyes went wide as the Agate took over his vision - just before poofing instantly upon contact with the destabilizer. Her gem clattered on the ground before coming to a rest on its side. Ruby jumped on it.
"I got it, I got it!" she called as she bubbled the inactive gem.
Lars looked on in distaste, remembering the time his entire head had been bubbled during the Trial. "She's.. okay in there?"
Ruby stood, and waved the bubbled gem up into the air where it traveled a couple of yards upwards and then delicately hung still in midair. "Yeah, I'm sure someone will find her and let her out later. Until then, she won't be in our way."
"Don't worry Lars, I predict you'll do amazing!" said Padparadscha.
"Aw, thanks Padparadscha, but all I did was 'be made of meat'. You guys are actually the amazing ones, wanting to fight that huge angry lady."
"Oh, no, we did nothing until you got the destabilizer," said Pearl.
"You really kept it together and showed her who to mess with!" Ruby clapped him on the back.
"A-a series of flukes, guys, but... thanks." Lars stammered, wondering what kind of nightmares he'd be in for if he ever did fall asleep again.
But there was no time to dwell - Ruby was already leading them off and down into the depths of the ancient gem complex.
"Rutiles," called Ruby. "Twins? It's just us, don't be scared!"
And there they were, deep underground in a small holding cell barely tall enough for Lars to stand up in, much less the taller Twins. They were crouched against the wall on the other side of the barrier. They didn't look good. Lars passed the destabilizer he had claimed to Pearl and quickly crossed the barrier, holding out a hand out to them.
"Guys, it's so good to see you! C'mon, let's get out of here."
One of the Twins looked up briefly, and then went back to huddling with her twin. "No." "Just.. leave us here."
Lars stared. "What?"
"We're defective." "We deserve to be shattered."
"My dudes, we're all 'defective'. Let's go!" He reached down and grabbed one of their arms, tugging on it gently. "Please, come on."
"Everyone else is defective in ways that can be hidden whenever they want." "We are just... like this. All the time." "There's nothing out there for us, no matter where we go."
Lars struggled for words. "You.. you've been locked up here by yourselves for hours, and maybe you still feel bad about the crash, which still isn't your fault, by the way... Let's go outside, we'll all get some air-"
"Just stop, Lars." "Inhaling and exhaling in a different location won't help. We are thinking clearly." "We're never going to get out of this. Even if the Earth is still intact," "Even though Pink Diamond failed, it doesn't matter." "It's obvious that the Diamonds are thinking about Earth again." "Even if it's safe for a while, it won't be for very long." "It's kinder to be destroyed now, before we actually have anything worth losing."
A silence fell on the group. The gems standing on the outside of the barrier gazed in quietly, concern in their eyes.
Lars sat down next to the Twins, back up against the same wall as them. After a minute, a Twin glanced up at him, and over at the remaining gems.
"What are you doing?" "We told you to go."
"Oh, Twins," said Padparadscha sadly, "Don't you remember? We're Off Colors."
Minutes passed in silence between them. And suddenly, the Twins kicked a leg out, sheepishly. They sighed.
"Fine, if it's really that important to you all," "Let's go."
Lars smiled, and stood in the barrier on his tiptoes to create a breach big enough for them to awkwardly duck through. Once they were on the outside, they received huge hugs from all their friends and wiped away tears.
"We're sorry." "We were in there a long time." "Where's Fluorite?" "Not back yet?"
Pearl perked up suddenly. "Oh! Still safe. I'll bring her out. Surely she's regenerated by now."
The six components of Fluorite touched down on the ground in a beam of light right in front of them. They all gazed around, trying to get their bearings.
"Oh good," said Pearl. "You're not fused just yet."
"The last thing we remember was the shuttle crashing, so we weren't sure what the situation was," replied one of them, "but you... you're all here!"
"Yeah, Fluorite saved us from taking damage during the crash!" Ruby was pumped to see the rest of her friends again.
"So, we must be safe!" said another component of Fluorite, happily.
"But, where are we?" asked a third, looking around the passage they were all standing in.
"Wow," said another of them, spotting the destabilizer in Pearl's hands. "That's fancy. Pearl, where did you get that?!"
Ruby jumped in. "It's a long story! Basically, we've spent all cycle separated from each other - it was horrible!"
"We've just busted the Twins out of prison," explained Lars. "We need all you guys to help cover them again in case we get spotted."
"We need to get off this colony as soon as possible," Padparadscha continued.
"And finally - we need you and the Twins to pick out a suitable ship when we get to the spaceport," said Pearl, raising her hands in a shrug and smiling self-depreciatingly, "Because we have no idea what we're going for."
"It's a short story, granted, but it sounds solid." The main Fluorite component balled her fists and turned back to look at her crowd of lovers. "We can do this!"
The other five components of Fluorite voiced their agreement and confidence and everyone moved out.
Soon, the Off Colors touched down on the warp pad outside the Sacred Center. The sounds of battle emanated from the massive building.
"Wow, they're still going," said Lars.
"Whatever, let's just go," urged Ruby.
They left the warp pad and moved off into the night. They only managed to get roughly one hundred yards from the warp pad before they were stopped abruptly.
"Hold it," cut a familiar voice, and Crazy Lace Agate stepped out from behind a statue.
The Off Colors all instantly stiffened, on high alert.
"I knew your story didn't add up. And then I watched you leave the Jubilee.. saw you enter the warp pad." Suddenly, she was flanked by her two topazes, as well as the two jaspers from the first battle of the evening.
The prognosis for the rest of the evening was bad. It was a long shot, but Lars opened his mouth anyway. "Look, we.. we just wanna get out of here. We can explain-"
"Yes. We can most definitely explain all of this in a reasonable and reassuring manner," Padparadscha smiled, looking up at Pearl for support, but all Pearl could do was shrug back at her, eyes wide, sweating bullets.
"Oh." Padparadscha was crestfallen.
Crazy Lace Agate looked very unimpressed.
"And you've busted your defective 'friend' out of her cell. Oh, let me guess," she continued, glancing at the destabilizer still in Pearl's hands, "It took all of you together to overpower Blue Lace Agate? Care to try your tactics against the five of us? Even those odds out slightly?"
One of the Jaspers laughed confidently. "Heh, yeah, us five against these twelve puny off colors seems like good odds to me, Crazy Lace."
"The prison agate is safe-" Lars sunk as he was cut off again.
"We haven't had the pleasure of dealing to piratical rebels in.. millenia!" said the other Jasper with a cruel smile. "I was almost getting bored."
Fluorite reformed out of fear. So did Rhodonite.
Crazy Lace laughed. "Hah! Even your illegal fusions are weak and terrified, you defective little Era Two Pezzottaite." She smiled. "Pathetic. If I were you, I'd be embarrassed. This is going to be very easy."
Lars' mind had been racing, attempting to use his knowledge of the surroundings to fill the gaping hole where a contingency plan should've been, and he spun around to shout an order. "Galaxy Warp. RUN."
Instantly, the Off Colors bolted away from the five impossibly big battle-gems who all took an extra moment to weapon-up before setting off after them. They quickly began gaining ground.
The Off Colors scrambled back onto the warp pad and all at once they noticed one of them was missing.
"Padparadscha!" they all cried out. The tiny gem was still on her way over, clearly struggling despite having hitched up her dress; She was traveling much too slowly to beat the fighters who were quickly gaining on her.
Lars grabbed the destabilizer from Rhodonite and jumped from the warp pad before the fusion could react. When she did, her jaw dropped. "Lars!?"
He sprinted over and picked Padparadscha up protectively before realizing that the approaching gems were now too close to escape from. Even if he could destabilize one, the other four would stomp him and the little gem in his arms into the ground a mere instant later. Time slowed down, and he could almost feel their breath on him. The forerunner - one of the jaspers - was so close that he could clearly distinguish her pupils from her irises.
Operating purely on a reactive level, his eyes lit up bright white. He pointed the weapon, clutching onto his little friend tightly and, after taking a deep breath and steeling himself, he screamed.
There was nothing else to do.
They had failed. HE had failed. Under normal circumstances, it was something he was accustomed to. But this time, everyone around him was going to be punished brutally for it, and so would he. He knew this without a doubt.
He let it out - the anger, the homesickness, the fear, the unfairness of the lives his new friends had been forced to live, the memory of the friends he had left behind or abandoned through mundane cowardice, the parents he constantly disappointed, the girl he couldn't admit that he loved, the perpetual denial of his own self - and his own inability to fix any of it while struggling out here in space - everything - all the thoughts and feelings he'd been forced to constantly push down and push away came out in an instant.
And it was glorious.
The combatant gems who had until just that moment been bearing down on him instead suddenly flew back, becoming airborne briefly, as if battered by a short series of powerful concussive shockwaves. He grit his teeth, as he watched them hit the ground some yards back from where they'd just been. He was sweating, brow furrowed deeply, ears ringing, not at all understanding the odd scene that lay before him now - all the huge gems that had been just about to stampede him and Padparadscha into the ground were suddenly and inexplicably downed.
The rest of the Off Colors, who had at some point there left the warp pad to try to help, just stared in shock and disbelief.
The sounds of battle in the nearby Sacred Center stopped dead, and he couldn't help but notice dusty skids in the ground below him where he'd slid back half a yard or so due to the strength of the blasts.
He glanced back up. The frontrunner Jasper was already sitting up, gathering her wits about her, starting to focus her attention on him again.
Padparadscha screamed in delayed shock, and he snapped back to the reality of the dangerous situation they were in, scrambled to add the destabilizer he didn't remember dropping back to the contents of his arms, and made sure he was still holding the small gem before taking a couple of steps backwards and then turning and running to join the rest of their friends.
Every single member of the Off Colors shortly disappeared into the warp stream in a flash of light before the temporarily disabled onslaught of gems even had a chance to properly regroup.
Emerald was livid.
"MY PERSONAL SHUTTLE IS CRASHED ON UPSILON IX? IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE WAITING FOR ME IN THE DOCKING BAY HERE ON HOMEWORLD."
"I-I know!" cried her scared inferior. "I-I'm only the messenger!"
"I KNOW THAT."
The inferior gem smiled shakily while Emerald glared directly into her soul, assuming gems are given to believe in such things.
"Interrupt my closest vessel to the planet," came her order. "Tell its Nephrite that she and her crew are to postpone whatever they're doing and go directly to Upsilon IX to investigate. Tell them to find the rogue gems responsible, and hold them. Tell her to bother me ONLY when this is done. Understand?"
Nodding, the inferior gem took a step backwards. Emerald's temper could be explosive at times.
"WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"
"T-to do the thing you said, Emerald-"
"Not yet. There's another thing. Go to the spaceport afterwards. Commandeer another of my fleet's vessels on my behalf. Tell them to cancel all orders and wait for me. I believe one of my destroyers is currently docked there. I want that one."
Her inferior nodded, and waited for further instructions.
"What are you waiting for? Go see that it's done. I have an audience with Yellow Diamond scheduled, I can't be held up by these minor inconveniences."
The other gem saluted, turned and walked off quickly as Emerald also turned and walked in the opposite direction.
It had been another beautiful, weather-less day on Homeworld up until that distraction, but she couldn't let it ruin the rest of her important day and she had confidence that her trusted subordinate gem would be able to get this whole situation sorted out by the time she was finished.