Anna wakes up early. She looks at the window, seeing it's still night outside. In a first time, she sits down, rubbing her eyes and her face. She gets up and looks in the dark room. Steven is still sleeping on the couch. She slowly walks down the stairs, grabbing her cloths on the way. She goes to the bathroom and gets changed. She holds her pajama under her arm as she slowly exits the small room and quietly goes dropping her cloths on a step. Then she walks towards the door and gets out without doing any sound. She calmly sighs and smiles a bit when the fresh morning breeze smoothly runs on her cheeks and in her hair.
"- Oh Anna, already up ?" The girl jumps and lets out a sharp phoneme from her vocal cords. She looks at her left and sees Garnet sat down on a chair.
"- Sorry, I didn't meant to scare you." The strong woman smiles then adds as Anna comes closer to her.
"- How do you feel today ?" The young woman places her hand on the railing, looking at the sea.
"- It's been weeks I didn't have a true night of sleep. So yes, I feel great." She blushes a bit as she adds : "What a scenery I made yesterday. This is embarrassing." Garnet laughs a bit and stands up. She places her back against the handrail, folding her arms.
"- Don't worry about this. Everybody can have their weak moments." Anna blushes a bit and wraps her hair around her finger. Garnet places her hand on the girl's shoulder before adding :
"- It's good you rested a bit. You will need to be up for today." The girl looks at her, grinning.
"- We go on a mission ?" Garnet smiles and nods as an agreement. The young woman laughs a bit, cheerful. After a short moment, she blushes a bit and looks elsewhere.
"- Garnet ? What is a Gem ?" The tall woman puts her palm in front of her, showing a red gemstone in it. Anna looks at it, surprised.
"- Our body are made of light and our lives is in our gemstone. Pearl, Amethyst and myself are Gems." The girl nods.
"- Okay, I see now. And, how do you know when a Gem is corrupted ?" She tilts her head as she looks at Garnet.
"- A corrupted Gem doesn't look like us. More like, a monster." Garnet starts walking towards the door. Before opening it, she adds :
"- We go just after the sunrise. You should prepare yourself." Anna looks at her. Then, she raises her head and sees the sky becoming slightly blue. She thinks for a moment about what to take but she clearly not know. She stands straight, breathing deeply for a moment, eyes closed. For a long moment, she just watch the sky changing color, pleased by the sounds of the seagulls. Someone opens the door and instantly Anna looks at it.
"- Let's go." She nods and follows Garnet inside. Everybody was here, waiting on the wrap pad. The girl waves her hand to the group, who wave back. Garnet stops on the pad and turns back. Anna follows her.
"- One thing : stay in the stream, okay ?" She nods as an answer.
Suddenly, the ground lights up as the girl starts to floats. She is surprised and try to stay straight. Steven laughs a bit, upside down.
"- Don't worry, you need time to get used to it !" He winks at her, embarrassing her a bit. She shakes her head and focuses on balance. Suddenly she falls on the ground on her back. The wrap is finished and Pearl lends her a hand. She accepts it and stands up as she thanks her.
She looks around her. In front of her there is a giant tower made of stone. Around it, huge walls of water falling down marks the outsides of this place. The building seems old, abandoned. She turns many times her head, stunned by the view.
"- Anna, we're on a mission, not on a sightseeing trip." She turns around to face the others who already progressed towards the tower. She runs to catch them.
"- Sorry but, this is a Gem location ? It is marvelous !" Pearl laughs a bit.
"- You see it nearly in ruins. Before this place was way more beautiful and that's why we are here, to restore this place." Anna listens a bit, but she is quickly distracted by her surrounding.
Inattentive, she walks near the edge of the path. Suddenly, a part of it falls. The girl loses her balance and falls with the rock. A short scream gets out of her mouth. Then she succeeds to grabs the edge of the straight cliff. Pearl and Steven run to her and grab her hands before pulling her. With their help, she manages to climb back, sitting down on her knees and pressing her hand against her chest, breathing quickly.
"- You must be aware ! You nearly killed yourself !" Pearl nearly yelled at her, arms folded. The young woman blushes a bit, looking elsewhere.
"- I-I'm sorry. This will not happen again." They turn back and go to the two others. Anna stands up, walking carefully as she follows them. After a moment, the group stops near a gap between the path and the tower. The young woman steps forward and looks at the situation.
"- Do you have any idea Anna ?" She nods after a short moment. She takes a deep breath, eyes closed. She raises her right arm, hand open. After a short instant, two green pentagrams show up, one in front of her and the other in the tower's entrance. A dark fog gets out of the two circle. She quickly closes her hand. In the black cloud, they see the other side.
Then the girl opens her eyes as she lowers her arms. She walks in the portal as the others looks at her, intrigued. On the other side of the gap, the girl shows herself by waving her hand.
"- Come on guys !" Steven, cheerful, grins and jumps inside the spell. Once on the other side, he shouts :
"- It works !" Garnet places the side of her index on her chin, smiling.
"- What do you think Pearl ?" The last one laughs a bit before answering.
"- I never thought this kind of magic was possible. She is full of resources." When she finishes speaking, she go through the portal, followed by Amethyst and Garnet. Once everybody has passed, Anna closes the spell, smiling. The group resumes its walk towards the top of the tower. After a while climbing stairs, they are stopped by a swarm of white and sharp creatures looking like caterpillars. The Gems think for a moment of how to get through them. They are interrupted when Steven throws two pieces of food, taking away the crystalline insects.
Anna laughs as the simplicity of this solution. Suddenly, a small earthquake can be felt. A rock from the roof tears down, falling on the girl. The young woman looks up, seeing the heavy boulder over her. Pearl jumps on Anna, sending her to the ground with her. After the short moment of confusion, the girl sees the face of the Gem just in front of her eyes. The two blushes as their eyes stares in each others.
"- I-I'm sorry. I never had.. any training. I'm.. kind of slow." The young girl blushes more while speaking. The Gem shakes her head and stands up, lending her a hand. With her help, the girl gets up and removes the dust from her cloths.
"- If you need training, I can train you." Pearl turns back and walk to the other side, followed by the others. Anna sighs then grabs her elbow, looking at the ground.
After one more obstacle, they arrive at the top of the tower, above the sea level. Steven is searching something in his bag as the others wait. The girl comes closer.
"- So, how do we restore this place ?" Pearl shows with her hand an altar.
"- We need to place the artifact belonging to this place here." The boy's face starts to sweat, searching faster in the bag.
"- What's the matter Steven ?" He laughs nervously before replying, rubbing the back of her head.
"- I forgot the artifact at home." Pearl looks at him, stunned. She starts to pace around him, speaking nervously.
"- We only have five minutes to restore this place or it will collapse !" She continues speaking to Steven as the girl walks slowly towards the shrine. She brings close her hand to it. She jumps a bit when she touches it, felling a sharp sensation. She tries once more, sticking her palm. At the contact, she frowns her eyebrows as she sense a low pain caused by the sharpness of the altar. After a short moment, some blue line patterns show up on the back of her hand. They become brighter and brighter. Anna looks at them, intrigued but suddenly, they turn black, hurting the girl. She quickly steps back, rubbing the back of her hand.
Another earthquake appears, slightly stronger than the last one. She turns back, raising her opened hand. A pentagram shows up, casting the same black fog as before. The portal opens, showing the beach and the temple behind it.
"- If we need to leave, just rush into the portal, okay everyone ?" They look at her while nodding as an answer. Steven takes out a doll from his back and puts it on the shrine. It starts to float after a short moment. They all looks at the puppet, aware of anything. A loud sound comes for the basement, followed by a strong earthquake. Pearl shouts :
"- The place is collapsing ! Everyone, go thought the portal !" Everybody runs towards the spell as the whole building is going down. Steven passes through the first, followed by Garnet and Amethyst. Pearl runs towards it, but the building tears down in two parts, creating a gap in front of the Gem.
"- Anna, go ! Don't worry about me !" The girl gives her a worried look. She loses her balance as the tower turns into pieces. She stretches out her arm towards Pearl, moving the portal's entrance near here.
"- No ! I can surv-" She is interrupted by Anna yelling at her.
"- I don't care ! Go in, now !" The Gem stares at her, giving her a small worried smile. She jumps in the spell. The last one brings back her hand on her chest. The portal immediately responds, turning around and moving near her. She gets up and try to jump, but the ground collapsed before she was able to go into the portal.
The others watches carefully what's happening on the other side.
"- Where is she ? I can't see her !" Pearl comes closer but the spell ends, closing the wormhole and fading away. Steven yells :
"- We need to go back ! She needs our help !"
"- We can't ! The warp pad is destroyed !" The Gem looks at the sea, holding her head with her hands. After a short moment, she kneels down, putting her face in her palms.
"- This is all my fault... I shouldn't forced so much to let her comes with us." Garnet puts her hand on the shoulder of Pearl.
"- I'm sure she is fine. She is resourceful, and I'm sure she will not give up so easily." She nods back, raising back her head. They wait a while and suddenly, a green pentagam appears in front of them. Pearl instantly gets up.
"- She is okay !" She cheerfully waits, but the circle fades away as fast as it shows up. Her smiles fades from her face. Suddenly, Garnet looks in the sky as a low and constant sounds can be heard. Something heavily falls on the beach, creating a cloud of sand. In it, the shape of someone stands straight. Pearl immediately runs towards it. The wind takes away the fog. The Gem stops when she sees Anna standing still. After a moment, she falls down. The woman runs and kneels beside her.
"- Anna ! Are you okay ?" She embraces her, shaking her slowly. Some of her tears falls on the face of the unconscious girl. She grins when Anna opens her eyes. The young woman slowly frowns her eyebrows.
"- What... happened ?" She hardly moves, breathing slowly.
"- I don't know. You falls from the sky after the portal has closed." The girl raises her forearm, looking at the back of her hand. The line patterns are still here, slowly fading from blue to black. She sighs, laughing a bit.
"- I-I'm sorry." Her eyes slowly turns towards the face of the Gem, covered with some tears. She blushes a bit then tries to sits down. Pearl helps her. She looks elsewhere, embarrassed.
"- W-When do we starts my training ?" Pearl looks at her, stunned. Then she laughs a bit before answering, a bit more cheerful :
"- When you want Anna." The two exchange a smiles. Garnet, near them, folds her arms.
"- Before training, you should recover." She points at some wounds on the girl's arm. She laughs a bit quietly. She puts her hand on one of her wound. She focused as a low and greenish light appears under her palm. Once she removes her hand, the wound is totally healed, only the blood remains on her pal skin. Pearl places her hand on the girl's back.
"- Can you walk ?" Anna nods as an agreement, slowly standing up while frowning her eyebrows because of the rest of her wounds hurting her. The Gem still passes her arm under the girl's shoulder, hand on her back. Anna blushes a bit, thanking her.