"Hey! Let us out!" Jonathan yelled, jumping up and pounding on the wall moments after the door behind Topaz slid shut, his heartbeat starting to hasten. "Woah, woah, woah," Lars said, rushing over and reaching out a hand to put on Jonathon's shoulder, "Jonathon, listen to me. Everything's going to be o-"
"No!" Jonathan snapped, swiftly turning and slapping Lars's hand away, the teenager looking shocked. "Everything's not going to be okay, Lars! Everyone back home is probably worried sick, and you had a chance to get away. But you decided to go back to get me?! Why did you do that?" he said, angry tears welling in his eyes as he sank to his knees, his body shaking as he sobbed violently into his hands. "B9 was right about me. I'm just a burden who gets in the way. People do stupid things to try to protect me but…I don't want that. I don't want people putting their lives on the lives to try to protect a stupid, pink, brat who can't even defend himself. My mom died when she gave birth to me, Buckstar died trying to give humans a better life, you put yourself in danger to try to help me…it isn't right. I'm just a burden. I shouldn't have beenborn" he choked out, ugly sobs escaping through his lips.
For a moment, Lars sat in stunned silence before wrapping the boy in a bear hug, letting him sob into his shirt. "Jonathon, that isn't true." Lars said, rubbing Jonathon's back. "Look…this situation definitely isn't great. It's scary, and I don't know what is going to happen next. But one thing I can assure you is people don't keep trying to protect you because you're a burden. They - I do it because…because well I care about you. Jet cares about you. I don't know or care who B9 is, but if she saw you as a burden, that's her problem. When you care about someone, sometimes you do things that might seem crazy to protect them. Loving and trying to protect the people you care about is not a burden on the person doing the protecting - it's just something you do when your loved one is in danger." he explained, rubbing his back. "It's…the cool thing to do." he said, continuing to rub Jonathon's back as the boy tried to compose himself, sniffling.
After a few moments of silence, Jonathan looked up, his face tear stricken. "Are…you sure I'm not a burden?" he asked, cocking his head to the side. Lars grinned. "I'm positive. And listen. I don't know how we're going to get out of this mess, but we will. No matter what happens, we'll be here for each other. I promise." he said, giving the boy a final squeeze as he stepped back, raising his hand to wipe the tears from his eyes. Before he had a chance, however, the pair was thrown to their feet as the ground underneath them lit up in a flash of light and the boys were lifted into the air.
When the brilliant light had faded, Jonathan and Lars fell to the ground, Jonathan landing in the older boy's lap. "Lars! Jonathan!" the pair raised their heads when they heard Seven's frantic voice, shocked looks crossing their faces. "Steven! What the hell is going on here?" Lars demanded as Jonathon managed to roll off of him. "It's….Blue and Yellow Dia-" the boy's words were cut off as the Blue Zircon of the trial snapped her fingers, summoning two greenbubbles to muffle the humans words.
"This is a court of law. I would expect the two of you to act as such." the gem said, glaring at the pair who were too shocked to respond. "Anyhow…" she said, turning her attention back to her Diamonds. "Every gem in this room is correct in their belief that Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond were enemies, with Rose having everything to gain by shattering Pink Diamond. It was well known that she cared for humans for an unknown reason. They're loud, hideous creatures that serve no purpose whatsoever. Not only that, but she laid her gem on the line for ones that were…defective." she said, glaring at Jonathon, who hid behind Lars. "However. Just because none of us saw the value in these abhorrent things, doesn't mean some other gem might feel the same way. That may have been a solid motive - if she had been proven to be capable of doing it." she said, looking up at Blue Diamond. "Blue Diamond, for the purpose of the argument of whether my client could have shattered Pink Diamond, may I present your palanquin?"
Yellow Diamond sighed. "Is this really necessary? We all know she did it. Rose Quartz even admit-"
"Yes. It is necessary." Blue Diamond cut in, waving her hand and warping her palanquin into the room. "I have wanted to shatter the gem responsible for Pink's shattering. I want to make sure it is the right one." she said, glaring down at Steven, who gulped.
"Now, records show that Pink Diamond was shattered right outside her palanquin, with witness statements claiming Rose Quartz attacked her from the front. Many claim it was Rose Quartz, but very few gems take the time to ask how she did it! At the time, it was a well-known fact that Rose Quartz was an enemy, so there were to be no Rose Quartz soldiers in her entourage or her guard." she asked, stopping her pacing momentarily to look up at Blue and Yellow Diamond. "So how did a Rose Quartz get so close in the first place? Where were her attendants, Agates, Sapphires, and Pearls?"
Yellow Diamond slammed her fist on the table, making every gem in the room flinch. "They were there with her! They saw the whole thing!" she protested.
Zircon shook her head. "If they had been, why did none of them see Rose Quartz coming? Why did her Sapphires not foresee her plan? Why did her Agates not try to fight her off?" she demanded. "That…is strange." Steven agreed, staring at the ground in shock. "Even if Rose Quartz was somehow able to sneak past an entourage of gems, wouldn't her Pearl have cried out in alarm? I doubt it. This had to have been someone her gems would allow to get near her, who would listen when asked to stop her palanquin and step outside, and with the authority to cover it up afterwords! Someone….like one of you!" she said, coming to a stop in front of both Diamonds with a proud smile that immediately fell when Blue Diamond gasped in disbelief and Yellow Diamond stood, unamused.
The Zircon laughed awkwardly, taking a step back. "Uh, disregard that last statement! I might have gotten a little carried aw-" the gem's apology being cut short as Yellow Diamond crushed the gem with a finger, poofing her. "Case closed! Right my Diamond!" the green Zircon said, proudly smirking before her face contorted in shock as Yellow Diamond rounded on her, firing an electric blast from her hand at the Zircon and destabilizing her immediately.
Blue Diamond stood and ran to confront her fellow Diamond, angrily yelling at her to stop what she was doing. Steven, meanwhile, quickly jumped up and ran over to Lars and Jonathon, popping their bubble. "Alright, that's our cue! Let's get out of here!" he said, grabbing their hands and leading the way towards Blue Diamond's palanquin as the Diamonds continued to argue. "Hurry up and drive this thing!" Lars yelled as Steven made his way towards a hand panel, the palanquin jumping up and bursting out of the trial building and into the sky.
"Where…are we?" Lars asked as he held onto Jonathon, the ship starting to descend rapidly. "Homeworld…" Steven said, glancing out the window in shock as the ship fell faster and faster towards a gaping maw leading to the abyss on Homeworld.
…
"I predict the Off-Color is awakening."
"Give her some space, Paddy. This might be a trick and she could still be working for the Diamonds."
"Aw, come on, Rhodonite. I doubt that. The way they threw her gem in here after managing to repair it only a few minutes ago suggests they don't much care for her - even if they might need her."
Freshwater groaned and pushed herself to a sitting position, her head spinning. "What…what the hell happened? Where am I?" she shouted, trying to get to her feet and failing miserably. "I feel like shit." she murmured.
"I can imagine. You have been through a lot more tests than usual today." Freshwater rubbed her temples, trying to subdue her throbbing headache as she observed her surroundings. Currently, she was lying on the floor in a cemented four-walled cell, the Off-Colors sitting a few feet away. Turning her attention to a nearby wall-mirror, she felt her stomach lurch as she let out a loud yelp at the sight before her.
"Freshwater is shocked that since her gem was cracked she has returned to her original form." Padparadscha predicted sadly. "Wh…what…No, this can't be right." Freshwater sad in shock, staring at her form. She had forgotten how…ugly it looked. A bright pink mohawk, light blue skin, one eye having a brilliant white gemstone, and the other an eye being a deep dark blue-ish bklack color without an iris. Even their uniform had been replaced with a black tank top with a bright yellow star, cargo pants, and combat boots. Not fitting for a Pearl in the slightest.
"This is why the robots in the Kindergarten locked onto you." Fluorite explained. "You're like us."
Freshwater raised a hand. "Yes. I know. Defective. I…I was made aware a long time ago." she said. "But if I'm defective, that doesn't explain why the Diamonds were so hell-bent on having me work for them for so long. They obviously saw something they liked in me. Obviously not my appearance." they said, grimacing at the mirror before continuing. "Look…the Diamonds are planning something. Something awful. And they're going to use the information they got from whatever tests I was a part of along with the information from my exit hole to do it. See…they want to wipe everyone out. Not just Off-Colors - everyone. A complete and total genocide where the entire hierarchy will fall and be replaced with perfect gems that will be basically incapable of doing what Rose did." she explained, passing the report around for everyone to read.
"It's not going to be a pretty sight, but the Crystal Gems want to help put a stop to it." she said, pushing herself to her feet, holding onto the cell bars as the room spun more aggressively. "Look…I can't undo any of the awful things I've done in my life, but I want to try to make up for them. You should come with me. You don't have to be sitting ducks here forever." she said.
"If you're going to talk escaping prison, I highly suggest you keep your voice down."
Freshwater felt her blood run cold as her eyes flickered towards the bars, shocked to see Blue and Yellow Pearl standing there. "We wanted to tell you what was going on, but…" Blue Pearl said, looking away as her eyes filled with tears as Yellow put a hand around her. "We couldn't. The Diamonds forbid us, but now that you know everything, we can talk about it. And…we want to help." she said, glancing around them to ensure that the area was truly empty. "Look…we technically aren't supposed to be here." Blue Pearl said in a hushed voice as Yellow Pearl nodded.
"We're supposed to be back at our base putting out a report to hunt down Rose Quartz, the Lars, and an Off-Color human that My Diamond ordered to be picked up. They managed to escape to the area near the Kindergarten you found with Hessonite. Our Diamonds are furious and want them all killed immediately. While we still have to put out the report, we had to come here first to check on you." Yellow Pearl explained. "And of course…tell you something extremely important. Look. The Amethyst guards around thai place have grown very…lax in their upkeep of the place. Blue Pearl and I have been able to easily sneak in and out with no issue since all Amethyst guards but one usually take their break at the same time. They aren't supposed to do that, but they do. That break is going to be over in about 10 minutes, so I highly suggest if you're going to go rogue…you do it now. We'll wait until then to put out the alert to buy you some more time." she said, pulling out a copy of a key she and Blue Pearl had made and swiping it across the door to deactivate the forcefield keeping the Off-Colors inside.
Freshwater turned to the Off-Colors. "Well? Are you guys in? Even if you decide Earth isn't your cup of tea, it's better than sitting here and letting Homeworld experiment on us all until we either die from it, or they feel like they have enough information to justify shattering all of us." the Off-Colors hesitated. "Freshwater is right." the Rutile twin on the right said, decisively standing and brushing themselves off. "I'm…tired of running. I'm scared, but I want to at least try to fight." she said, the others nodding in agreement.
"All right!" Freshwater said, pumping her arm in the air and turning to Blue and Yellow Pearl. "Thank you. I don't know how to repay you for this." she said, hugging both of them. "Live a happy life on Earth." Blue said with a smile. "And of course, tell your girlfriend we say hello, and when we come back we want a seat at the wedding." Yellow Pearl said with a grin, returning the hug as Freshwater blushed. "Pearl is not my girlfriend." she said as she pulled away. "Could've fooled me." Blue Pearl said, laughing as well.
"I predict we have eight minutes until the other Amethyst guards get back." Padparadscha predicted, twirling her fingers anxiously. Freshwater nodded. "Alright then. Let's bust outta here." she said, starting to run towards the door and immediately regretting that decision when her head spun violently, Yellow Pearl grabbing the gem just as she was about to topple over. "One of you might want to carry her. The sedative is still working its way out of her system."
Fluorite nodded in agreement, picking the gem up and putting her on her back. "Alright. Now let's bust out of here." The left Rutile twin said, she and the other Off-Colors climbing onto Fluorite's back as the gem quickly made her way to the direction of the exit.
"Well. That's the bravest thing I've ever done." Yellow Pearl said as she and Blue Pearl waved to the Off-Colors. "Agreed. If the Diamonds find about about this, we're cracked." she agreed. "It's worth the risk, though. I'm…tired of fighting for gems who are actively thinking about and plotting to slaughter us all one by one."
"Hey! What are you gems doing out of your cage?!" the Amethyst guard in front of the door snapped, pulling out her weapon. "I thought it was obvious?" Freshwater said, arching an eyebrow. "I'm not exactly keen on being experimented on until I meet a very painful death, and neither are my friends. Now, look. We don't want to fight. Just…move. Nobody has to get hurt."
The Amethyst guard barked out a laugh. "Oh, save it, Defect. I'm not going to be the one getting hurt" she said, lunging at Fluorite, who flinched. Before the knife could come down, however, Freshwater sighed and summoned her weapon, flinging it towards the gem and watching sadly as they poofed away in a cloud of smoke. "I warned you." she muttered before reaching into her gemstone and pulling out the report for Perfect Imperfection. "Sure would be a shame if all of Homeworld found out about this." she said, handing the report to Fluorite, who nodded and put the report next to the Amethyst gemstone for the other Amethyst guards to find.
"Alright. Let's head to the Kindergarten. Hopefully we can find Steven and the others along the way." Freshwater said, clinging onto Fluorite as the gem ran, doing her best to creep into every shadow they could find in an attempt to stay undetected. "Man, Steven must have really pissed off Yellow and Blue. I haven't seen this many gems actively hunting for someone in a while." Rhodonite said, anxiously rubbing her hands together nervously. "Maybe this is a dumb idea…"
"A little too late for that." Freshwater muttered, glancing behind her as Fluorite rounded a corner and ducked into an alleyway as a swarm of Ruby guards came running by. "Pretty soon, there's going to be an alert that we've all escaped. I'd rather not be here when that happens." she said, pointing across the street at Hessonite's base. "See that? That's Hessonite's base. After we regroup with Steven, we can make a gameplan to steal that ship and get the hell out of here. For now though," she said, pointing towards the Kindergarten, "let's make a run for it." Fluorite nodded before taking a deep breath. "Don't worry. We've got your back." Freshwater promised, summoning her weapon as the other gems nodded. "I predict we are all terrified." Padparadscha said. Freshwater nodded. "We are. But that's okay. A little bit of fear is probably what's keeping us all alive right now."
"You're right." Fluroite said, nodding decisively before charging in the direction of the Kindergarten, doing her best to ignore the shouts and yells of disgust as the Off-Colors came out of the shadows. "Sorry for the disturbance." Freshwater said as the Rutile twins summoned a bow-and-arrow and firing it at any gem who got too close while Rhodonite hurled one purple dagger after the next, using Padparachas's abilities to predict past events by calling out when a gem had started advancing towards them.
Freshwater did her best to cling onto the fusion for dear life as they passed by the Diamonds place of residence, Blue and Yellow Diamond coming out just in time to see Freshwater give the gems a smug grin, flicking the Diamonds off with one hand and holding on tightly to Fluorite with the other.
"I'm coming, Pearl. I promise." she whispered, taking a deep breath to brace herself as Fluorite launched herself into the abyss that lead to the Kindergarten, the gems above skidding to a halt and glaring down at them. "We'll let the robots deal with them." an Agate muttered, turning back. "Man. This report is going to suck." Another muttered, groaning and putting their head in their hands.
…
Fluorite didn't stop running until she felt sure that she wasn't being chased, her heart pounding as the gem finally stopped in an area Freshwater immediately recognized as the area where she had met the Off-Colors. For a long moment, the gems were silent as they climbed off of Fluorite, all in shock before Freshwater let out a loud whoop of excitement. "Guys! That was amazing!" she said, grinning at the Off-Colors.
"Rutile! I didn't know you guys could aim a bow-and-arrow like that! Rhodonite! I swear I heard a gem poof every time you threw one of your daggers. Padparadscha, your ability to use your past-tense predictions really came in clutch. And of course you Fluorite! Your ability to just duck and weave out of every gem trying to attack us was just…amazing!" Freshwater gushed, stars in her eyes.
Rhdodonite rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "Yeah…it was pretty intense." she said as Padparadscha cracked a smile. "I predict Homeworld is in a state of shock at being defeated by a bunch of defects." she said with a laugh, the others joining in.
"You guys aren't defective! You're unique! Your 'defects' really came in clutch today." Freshwater said with a grin.
"Freshwater? Is that you?" Freshwater's grin dropped as she whipped around, her grin growing as Steven ran forward and tackled her, both gems laughing loudly. "Dude, we have got to stop meeting in situations where our lives are in mortal danger." Freshwater said, affectionately rubbing the boy's hair, who laughed. "I know, I know. Hey Lars! Jonathan! It's safe!"
The Off-Colors gasped as the pair in question stepped into the area, Jonathan holding Lars's hand for comfort as the older boy nodded and waved at the pair. "The human is Off-Color?!" Rhodonite said, shocked as Jonathon nodded and Lars pushed him forward gently. "Hey. It's okay. I'm right here."
Jonathan looked back at Lars before nodding and approaching the Off-Colors. "Are you…like me?" he said, a grin coming to his face as Fluorite nodded. "How could anyone look at this adorable kid and think he's defective?" the Rutile on the right said, her sister nodding. "Homeworld is quite…strange." she said.
"Yes. Strange, unaccepting, and terrifying." Rhodonite said, hugging herself. Freshwater put a hand on the gem's shoulder. "Which is why we're getting the hell out of here. ASAP." Before the gem could start to tell the others about a possible escape plan, however, the familiar buzzing filled the air. "For now though. We need to hide." Rhodonite said, the gems scattering as the ever familiar buzzing of the robot that hunted defective gems filled the air, bringing with three robots that used a bright red light to scan the area as gems scrambled to find hiding spots.
Freshwater scrambled into one of the Pearl shaped exit holes, holding her breath and watching as the robot scanned the area, her heart skipping a beat when two of the robots began to scan the exit hole the Rutile twins had hidden in. Before they could lock on, however, a loud CLANG filled the air as someone hurled a rock at one of them that bounced off harmlessly but managed to distract long enough for Rutile to slip away.
"Lars!" Jonathon yelled from his own hiding spot, mortified as the robots rushed over towards where the item had been thrown from, scanning him. "It's okay to be afraid." the boy murmured to himself, doing his best to slow his heartbeat and not letting out a sigh of relief until the robots backed off and went to scan another area.
"They were trying to scan your gem!" Steven said excitedly. "They can't even see you!"
Lars grinned. "Awesome! Looks like the tables have turned then." he said, his determined face falling when Padparadscha spoke from a few feet away. "Human Lars! I have an amazing vision that you and Jonathon are human, and therefore are gemless and are therefore safe from the robots!" she explained, oblivious to the fact that another robot was scanning her.
"Padparadsha, look out!" Jonathan shouted, tackling the gem just in time for it to charge up and shoot a beam of light whizzing overhead, Lars coming over and kicking the object away. "I…I think that's probably the coolest thing I've ever done." he said, turning to Jonathon. "Jonathon. Get ba-"
"No." Jonathan protested, shaking his head. "I'm human too. I can help." he said, looking Lars in the eyes, who hesitated. "Don't tell Jet I let you do this. If she found out, she'd kill me." he said with a small laugh as Steven summoned his shield. "Sounds good to me!" Jonathan said with a grin.
"As amazing as this little reunion is, this isn't over yet." Freshwater yelled, barely managing to tuck and roll out of the way of a beam that one of the robots shot her way as the robot nearest Jonathon, Steven, and Lars attacked again, locking onto Steven's gem and firing, thankfully reflecting back at the robot and causing it to destroy itself.
"The shield is reflective!" Padparadscha said happily as Steven continued to do his best to shield her, using each shot from the robot to fire it back at itself while Jonathon and Lars did their best to duck and dodge to avoid being hit in the crossfire as they jumped in front of one gem after the other.
Just as things were starting to look up, however, Jonathan felt his blood run cold as he looked up and saw Freshwater struggling desperately to duck out of the way of one of the robots. Hopping up, the boy bent down and hurled a rock at the robot, letting out a whoosh of relief when it backed off. This relief quickly shifted to horror, however, when he realized the robot had already powered up and aimed to shoot directly at him.
"Jonathon! Look out!" Lars yelled, rushing forward and hopping onto the robots back, managing to throw it off target by mere inches as the robot tried to buck Lars off, flying higher and higher in an attempt to throw him off. "Eat…this!" Lars yelled, pulling back his makeshift weapon and slamming it into the robot, the momentary relief of defeating the thing disappearing when it imploded, throwing Lars straight into a wall headfirst, the teen falling limply to the ground.
For a moment, Jonathan stared at Lars's limp body on the floor of the Kindergarten, the chaos of the remaining robots becoming fuzzy as he rushed over, cradling the boy's head in his hands. "Lars?" he whispered, his heart skipping a beat when he put his hand on his heart and didn't find a pulse.
Freshwater felt her heart pounding in her chest as she watched Jonathon stand up from his place on the ground, shaking with anger as he rounded on the final robot, which was nearest her. She couldn't tell if it was just the trick of the light, but she could have sworn his eyes had changed from their normal hue to a fiery bright pink as he stood and yelled, "That's ENOUGH!" The gems instinctively put their hands to their ears at the sound and watched in shock as a bright beam erupted from the boy's mouth much like the Pearl had seen Lion emit during a fight. As soon as the beam hit the robots, they imploded immediately, falling to the ground in a heap of metal and launching the Kindergarten into an eerie silence as Steven and Jonathon approached Lars's corpse.
"He…tried to save me." Jonathon said, tears welling in his eyes.
"Jonathon…this isn't your fault." Steven said, kneeling down and holding Lars's head as tears filled his own eyes. "None of this is. Lars cared about you. He just wanted to protect you." he said as his tears fell from his face. "That…that sounds like something Lars would agree with." Jonathan said, sobbing as he sat next to Steven.
As Steven and Lars mourned their friend, they were unaware of the dull pink hue that was slowly coming to Lars's skin, not taking notice until the dull hue bathed the Kindergarten in a bright pink light. Opening their eyes, both boys were shocked as Lars pushed himself to a seated position, groaning and looking disoriented, but alright.
"Ugh…what the heck just happ-"
Lars's question was interrupted as Steven and Lars hugged the boy, both teary eyed. "You stopped the Robonoids, but…but one of them exploded. You weren't moving, and…and I started crying and I-" Steven pulled away, shocked. "I brought you back to life!" he said excitedly.
"Back to life?" Lars said, shocked as Jonathon backed up slightly to give the boy some space. "So I was…away from life?" he said, raising a hand to run it through his hair and freezing when he saw its pink hue."I'm…I'm pink?!"
"Sorry! It's…a side effect." Steven said sheepishly. "Do you…feel okay?" he asked, cocking his head to the side. "I…don't know." Lars admitted. "I'm not sore, not tired, I'm just…really freaked out!" he said, the gems freezing when they heard the familiar buzzing of the robonoids nearby. "Quickly! Block the entrance. Lars, you stay here and rest." Steven said, him and the others hurriedly making their way over and shoving a large boulder in front of the exit, pausing as the roboid overlooked them for the time being.
"We need to get off-planet, and soon." Freshwater said, glancing at Steven. "Especially you. As long as the Diamonds think Rose Quartz and their little Defective Pearl fuckup are on Homeworld, they're going to keep coming."
"There really is no winning! If we leave this cavern, we're completely exposed, but if we stay, we'll be shattered for sure." Rhodonite said, hugging herself. "So we either stay here and get caught…" the right rutile said, frowning. "Or go out there and get caught." the left rutile finished, grimacing.
"So…am I a zombie now?" Lars asked, shocked. "What's a zombie?" Jonathan asked, arching an eyebrow. "It's a dead person that comes back to life and can't talk, don't have a heartbeat, and eat brains!" he said, mortified. Jonathan laughed. "Then no. I can talk and I've never wanted to eat anyone's brain. I also have a heartbeat, though it's kinda slow. I know all of this is scary, but trust me. It isn't the end of the world. It just…takes a little getting used to." he said, offering Lars a smile. Lars's jaw dropped. "Wait…so this…this is why you're…" Lars said, unable to bring himself to say it. The boy nodded. "Yeah. Sorry I didn't tell you earlier. It's kinda hard to make friends if you open with something like, 'Hey, my name's Jonathon! I died like 1000 years ago, but Rose Quartz - ya know. The shatterer - brought me back to life! Nice to meetcha!'" he said, rolling his eyes. "Trust me. I've tried. Oh! ON the bright side, apparently ya get a really cool roaring power? I've only done it like…just now. But that's pretty cool." he said with a shrug. Lars shook his head, flabbergasted. "How are you so…okay with all of this?" he asked. Jonathan thought about it for a moment. "I'm not." he admitted. "But, I had Jet to help me with understanding it. And now, you've got me." he said, flashing the boy a bright smile.
"Yeah, Lars! You're still the guy we knew from before. The only difference is now you're just pink!" Steven said, looking at the boy's hair. "Even your hair is pink." he observed, poking it and jumping back when it lit up a bright pink color. "Woah! What was that? You saw that, right?!" Lars said, shocked. "That's new." Jonathan said, equally shocked as Steven attempted the same with Jonathon's hair, surprised when it, too, lit up.
"Lars…I think I know what this is." Steven said, shocked. "I think there's something I can try, but…no. I'm not going in your head." he said, shaking his head.
"You're going to possess me again?!" Lars said, shocked.
"Again?" Jonathan muttered, looking up at Steven in shock.
"What? No, no. I'm not. It's more literal, but-"
"Steven, look. I trust you, okay? Just…do whatever you need to." Lars said, running a hand through his hair. "If I have magic hair, I wanna know." Steven hesitated but nodded, glancing a the others. "Okay everyone. Step back. Lars, put your head down." he said, nodding as the gems did as instructed. "Now you might feel a slight…foot in your head."
"Wait…wha-" Before Lars could ask any further questions, Steven had managed to push his foot into Lars's head, taking a deep breath before disappearing inside to everyone's shock. A few minutes later, the boy reappeared, toppling backwards and sending Lars falling back with him, the lunch he grabbed for Lars on the way back landing beside him.
"So. What's inside my head?" Lars asked eagerly.
"Home!" Steven said, grinning. "Or rather, a way to travel back to planet Earth by traveling through Lars's head!" he said excitedly. "See, at home I've got a big pink Lion that acts as an alternate dimension of sorts that's kinda like a storage unit! It has tons of artifacts and a hill, a tree, and another island! I'm 90 percent sure if I were to try to get to that other island, I'd pop out of your head, Jonathan!" he explained. "Since the three are connected, I can reach all of you by going through either you guys's head, or Lion's mane!"
Everyone stared at Steven like he had three heads, but before they could question, Steven shoved the food he had grabbed into Lars's hands. "Here! I brought you some food!"
Lars shook his head. "Thanks, but I'll save it for later. I'm just…not hungry. Must be pink magic in my guts now or something." he said with a shrug as Jonathon laughed.
"Wait…so you guys got that from Earth?" Rhodonite said, shocked. "That's impossible! It was decimated by the Diamond attack!"
Freshwater shook her head. "Not true. Earth's very much alive and tingling with life." she explained.
"But….why would gems want to be there if they know it's going to be destroyed soon?" Rhodonite asked.
"Well…many reasons." Jonathan said with a shrug. "I want to go back because that's where my friends and family are." he explained as Lars nodded in agreement.
"And I want to go there because I have a lot of amends to make." Freshwater said, running a hand through her hair. "And…there's this gem I really want to spend more time with." she admitted shyly.
"I like it there because we can live freely without worrying about the Diamonds. We don't have to hide there." Steven explained as the Off-Colors looked shocked. "That…sounds wonderful." Fluorite said with a smile.
"It is! We can go there with the portal." he said, motioning to Lars. "How am I supposed to go there through my own head?" Lars asked, arching an eyebrow. Steven's face fell. "There has to be another way."
"No. There's not. Everyone else go, and I'll stay here." Lars said decisively.
"Oh, absolutely not!" Jonathan protested.
"Jonathon is right." Fluorite said with a nod. "We won't do it. Not if it means leaving you behind. We know this planet and have been hiding in these tunnels for eons. You'll need us to help you get around. Besides. Us Off-Colors gotta stick together. "
"We'll get to Earth another way. " The Rutile twin on the right agreed. "Freshwater mentioned a ship we could steal, and we'll go from there."
"It doesn't feel right to just leave you here." Freshwater protested as Steven nodded in agreement.
"Steven, Freshwater, you said yourselves that everyone here is out to get you. Neither of you are safe as long as you're here."
"But, Lars-"
"Don't argue with me!" Lars snapped. "You…You brought me back to life. Just let me be someone who deserves it."
Steven hesitated before nodding. "Okay…I'll tell everything you're okay." he said decisively, turning to Jonathon. "Are you sure you don't want to come back?" Jonathan nodded. "Yeah. I'm sure. If my best friend can't go back…neither will I." he said, offering the boy a smile, who returned it.
"Alright then. I'll let Jet know what's going on." he promised. "Heads up though…she's probably not going to be too happy." he said. Jonathan nodded. "I know." he said, glancing up at Lars. "But I have to do this."
"Well. That settles that." Steven said, turning to Freshwater. "Well. Are you ready?" he asked, offering the gem his hand. Freshwater chuckled. "Nope." she said, taking it. Steven laughed. "Me neither." he said, both gems taking a deep breath before climbing into Lars's head.
"This is hopeless!" Pearl said as she and the gems warped back home, exhausted, Pearl immediately starting to pace back and forth. "We'll never get that dropship to fly and we're losing time! Who knows what they're doing to Steven! Who knows what they're doing to Freshwater! What are we going to d-"
"How about you take a deep breath for starters? That always helps me calm down."
The tall, lithe gem froze before turning slowly, everyone's eyes widening as Freshwater brought attention to herself in Steven. "I'm back!" Steven said, grinning as the gems quickly hopped off the warp pad and made their way over to Steven and Freshwater, every eye in the room filling with tears as the gems, Connie, and Greg encircled them, Greg being the first to reach his son and hugging the boy around the waist.
"Freshwater! Good to see you back on Earth." Garnet said with a smile, ruffling the Steven's and Freshwater's hair affectionately as Amethyst playfully punched the Pearl in the arm. "See. Told ya this place wasn't so bad." Amethyst said before turning her attention to Steven and hugging him as well. "Yeah, yeah. What can I say. You guys grew on me." Freshwater said, rolling her eyes, her calm demeanor falling as Pearl stepped up to her, an unreadable expression on her face. "It's nice to see you again." she said, awkwardly looking away. "Listen…about what happened before we left the Zoo…I'm sorry if things were awkward. I…I've been having these feelings for you for a while now, and I think I just got caught up in the mo-"
Freshwater interrupted the gem by leaning up and planting a kiss on her cheek, feeling her heart skip a beat and her face darken considerably. "I don't think it was awkward at all."