A/N: Thanks for all dem reviews! Caution, this chapter has a bit of goriness to it. -Mali
Steven and Amber colored the coloring book as Luca's uncle's car was fixed up and cleaned. It didn't take long to wash the car, but Luca liked talking with his uncle's old buddy.
"So would you ever be interested in flying up here during the summer and staying a week, Luca?" the long-haired man asked.
"Maybe, you guys could get a couple drinks while Steven and I make sure Amber is taken care of," Luca smiled, "Could be fun, Greg."
"Yeah. I have some catching up to do with your uncle," Greg said.
"Luca! I made you this picture," Amber put a horribly colored picture in his hands and ran back to Steven.
"Goodness gracious," Luca said, showing the picture to Greg.
"At least she tried," Greg smiled.
"Yup," Luca said.
"Maybe you ought to leave Amber with us, she seems safer with more of her kind," Greg said, "She looks like she is having fun with Steven, and she is probably going to get along with the Crystal Gems in the future."
"That's probably what I should do, but I know she doesn't want to be without me," Luca said.
"You have to do what's best for her in the end. If you do become one with her, and have a kid, she will die," Greg said, "Rose and I made Steven, but she didn't make it through…"
"I wasn't talking about having kids with her, I was just saying that she is clingy," Luca said.
"Well that's how it always goes, you will end up killing her in the end," Greg said steadily, "Leave her with us and she can have a long healthy life."
"Alright," Luca said, looking to the ground, he didn't want to lose Amber but knew he had to.
The Crystal Gems had already returned to doing what they were doing, going off to distant lands. Peridot bid Steven and Amber a good-bye as she left to join them. Steven always wondered where they went and why they didn't take him, but he pushed the thoughts far away.
"Hey Amber, try to color in the lines," Steven said gently.
"Okay…" Amber's pictures were starting to look much better.
She took a picture of a bunch of butterflies to Luca, "This looks very nice!"
"You are very welcome," Amber left it in his hands and walked off to make more.
"Hey Steven, can you come here a second?" Greg asked.
"Sure dad! I will be right back, Amber!" Steven ran over after putting down his markers.
"Hey, Steven? Luca wants to leave Amber here with you guys but he knows she will want to stay with him," Greg looked to Luca then to Steven, "She will be much safer and happier with you guys than in a town where no one appreciates her."
"Amber needs to be safe, Steven," Luca said gently, "I can't take care of her anymore."
"Okay, we will take her in," Steven said gingerly, "Are you sure?"
"Yes," Luca said, believing his own lies.
"If you leave now, she won't see you," Greg said steadily, "It's ten hours right? She won't be able to follow you that far."
"Alright, I will see you sometime in the summer," Luca said, starting to walk to his car.
He regretted not thanking Amber for saving him, but continued walking. Amber stood up and tried to follow him but Steven stopped her.
"Luca! Don't leave me! I made you a really good picture!" tears rolled down Amber's cheeks, "Please don't leave me… I promise I will be a good gem, I swear."
Luca turned away from her and got into his car, quickly driving away. He didn't dare to look back at his crying friend, as he knew he would turn around.
"Please…" Amber fell to the ground, uncontrollably sobbing, "Why did you leave me…"
Steven frowned, he knew she loved Luca, but he also wanted to protect her, "He had to, he wants to keep you safe…"
"But I was safe with him…" Amber cried out.
"You are in love with him right?" Steven asked slowly.
Amber looked at him with hate in her eyes, "No, I just want to be his friend."
"Well, friendship sometimes turns into a relationship which may not be what you need," Steven looked away from the angered gem, "We don't want you to die."
"Isn't that my choice whether or not to love this human?" Amber said, choking down her tears, "Isn't it my choice to live however I wish? He is all I have besides the caretaker!"
"But… We all care about you," Steven looked into the gem's eyes.
Amber took off her visor and looked at Steven, "Please, let me go to him."
"Okay," Steven led the gem to the nearest phone and they called up Luca.
The phone rang for a while but a shaky voice answered, "Hello? Is this Steven? Did something happen to Amber?"
"Everything is okay, Amber has decided she wants to stay with you…" Steven spoke carefully, but he no longer heard the voice.
After a long silence, the voice returned, "Okay, I am coming back."
"Alright," Steven said, "We will drop her off at the gas station near where Ocean City was."
"See you there," Luca responded, he felt horrible for leaving the gem who saved his life.
In half an hour, Amber had gotten into Luca's car and they had taken off. When they were an hour away from home, Amber saw three strange figures. She realized that they were gems and told Luca, who told her to stay calm. He slowed the car and set it in park, making sure it didn't slide off the hill.
The three gems walked toward the car and Luca became worried, "Who are you guys?"
"We are here to finish the job of our failure comrades," the tallest gem frowned, "Please exit the vehicle."
"No," Luca responded slowly grabbing the emergency window breaker.
One of the gems walked to his car door and ripped it off. Luca stabbed the device into the gem's interior, causing it to poof into the air, the gem clattering to the ground. The other two gems surrounded him and his window breaker didn't prove useful anymore. Amber admired Luca's strength, but she realized that child-lock was on as Luca exited the car. She cried out as her fists hit the windows, eventually climbing up front. Luca slammed the door on her but she opened it up as he drew away the two gems. The bulky green gem summoned a sword and plunged it into Luca's leg, causing him to fall to his knees. Amber was kicked to the side as she tried to get to him.
"We need to finish the job, an Amber shouldn't get in our way," the green gem spoke, removing her sword and jabbing it into his thigh eliciting a shriek from Amber.
"You had better stop that!" she shouted, pinned down by the blue gem, "I will break your gems!"
As Luca was cut up several times, Amber knocked the blue gem off of her and removed the sword from her friend's side. She violently swung it into the green gem, poofing her instantly. The blue gem took a couple steps back, attempting to run away. However, the gem became aware of the fact that she had been stabbed. Amber's eyes glowed red under her visor as she ripped the blue gem in half.
More gems came from behind the corner as Amber left Luca on the ground. Her hands were covered with his blood; she knew he didn't have long left but that these gems needed to be taken care of. Amber started fighting, not stopping for several minutes while Luca bled out. When all of the gems had been defeated, Amber sprinted to Luca.
"Hey Amber, I never got to thank you for saving me earlier…" Luca coughed a little.
"No, I didn't do anything worth while. You are going to make it through the night, we are going to get help," Amber grabbed his cell phone, "I am going to call the service of healing now."
"It's 9-1-1…" Luca tried to pick himself up but saw the blood, "Oh gosh, how much am I bleeding?"
Police and an ambulance arrived within minutes and Amber still had the sword by her knees, "Hello, we are here to help a Luca. Would you mind telling me why you have a sword with you?"
"I used it to protect my friend…" Amber said as Luca was being lifted from where he lay, "Hey! Where are you taking him?"
"We are taking him to the hospital," the police officer said, "Did you have a hand in his injuries? You seem to have the only sword and he isn't here to testify."
"Let me go with him in the vehicle!" Amber wasn't doing much to help herself out but she only wanted to be with Luca, "I don't have to answer your questions."
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be provided for you at government expense," the lines seemed robotic as the officer finished speaking.
He walked behind the gem and started to put handcuffs on her, "Get your hands off of me!"
Amber turned around and kicked the officer in the head as he toppled to the ground. The green sword was on the other side of the car, but in fear, the officer fired six shots into Amber's body. She felt pain for only a few seconds, poofing into the air. Her gem clattered to the ground making the cop leap back.
"Guys, she charged me and then she turned into this here gem," the cop nudged it with his shoe.
"Oh, it's just an alien. We should give her to the scientists," another cop picked up the golden gem, "They are the enemy."
The cops dropped her gem off at some laboratory to be studied.
Within four hours, Amber mustered the strength to come out of her gem to a white room. She felt the walls; they were as hard as titanium. Two people in white coats walked in holding long poles with nooses at the end of them. Amber wasn't able to fight off the poles as the men led her to some gray room. She was lifted onto a table as the nooses were removed from her neck. Her arms were tied down to the table as she started to feel slight discomfort.
"Do you know why you are here?" a woman asked steadily.
Amber glared at her, "Certainly not out of the goodness of your black heart! Release me at once!"
"Don't you know that gems damaged this planet permanently?" she walked closer to Amber and ran her hand from the gem's chest to her core, "We can't let you escape to hurt the Earth so we might as well experiment on you."
"I didn't do anything! I love the Earth, I don't want to hurt it…" Amber saw a sharp object being directed at her abdomen, "Please stop, I am not a bad gem!"
The knife dug into her flesh, "Hey, she developed a stomach and there is spaghetti in it. Maybe gems can develop other organs… Here, let's hook her up to the machine."
Amber's body attempted to regenerate but was halted as shocks of electricity raged through her body, "Please stop! I promise I won't fight you I will do whatever you want!"
The shocks stopped as her body regenerated, "Anything?"
"Yes…" Amber said, closing her eyes.
"Alright, let's put her into the fusion department," the woman ordered her people to untie Amber, who didn't fight at all, "Faze off your outfit, you will be dressed with our clothes now."
"Okay…" Amber hated this awful feeling of researchers staring at her bare body.
Her hair was cut until it was boy short as she was fitted into a blue gown. She was led into a long hallway full of small rooms, becoming pale as she saw the horrible states other gems were in. She tried to back up, but was shoved forward into a small, compact room.
Amber sat down and put her head to her exposed knees, waiting for the worst to happen. Several hours later, Amber was shoved to her feet and led into a big room. Other gems were being shoved together unwillingly while others just fused.
"Here is your partner, fuse with her," the researcher said as Amber tried to back away.
"I can't fuse, it's inappropriate," the tan gem continued to shake her head as the blue gem in front of her stepped forward, "Stop!"
"Just fuse with me…" the blue gem said telepathically while grabbing Amber's gown, "It will all be over soon."
Amber hadn't any idea how to fuse with another gem but she saw the other gems doing it. In the end, she wasn't able to fuse so the researchers forced her to after smashing her into the other gem.
The fusion was small but it roared loudly as it corrupted, "What happened… We fused. Why would they make us fuse? They are studying our weaknesses. In a couple minutes, they will take us to another room."
Amber felt herself being lost, why couldn't she be with Luca on the couch right now watching TV? All of a sudden violent thoughts raced through her head as she felt herself becoming angry.
"Let's take them all out…" Amber's side communicated, "But then they will kill us… But, if we fight them hard enough with the other gems, they won't stand a chance. Okay, let's do that tomorrow. Alright."
The fusion was ushered into a room and set on fire. Red flames raged around, Amber had never seen such things. Fear trickled through her but she was inspired to stay together by her new blue friend. She narrowed her eyes at the researchers and smiled widely, her sharp teeth glinting.
"A fusion hasn't been able to withstand this much heat without shattering yet," one of the researchers said, "Let's examine both parts of it."
"Are you okay?" Amber's side asked, "Yes, while I am Tourmaline, I feel so powerful. Same, by the way what is your name? Turquoise… That's pretty. Don't worry, we will get out together. If you say so…"
They were forcibly separated and each of the gems were put into different rooms. Amber was torn apart several times over as the researchers tried to figure out what made her heat resistant. She could only assume that Turquoise was being torn apart too. Tomorrow would be the day they fought back and escaped with the other gems.
Amber was prepared to hurt humans as she was too far gone from the side of light. The pain had finally persuaded her to want to escape at all costs. She was experimented on the whole night until the researchers left the room. Her body was still open, the one human organ she had bleeding out. Amber closed her eyes only for a second but she didn't wake up for a few hours. When she did, the peaceful images of Luca floated away.
The tan gem was shoved into the fusion room as Turquoise quickly communicated to all of the other gems. Instead of fusing, Amber walked to a researcher and formed a crooked knife from her gem. He tried to back away but the blunt object was plunged into his stomach.
"Do you like how that feels?" Amber asked, ripping the object out and kicking the researcher against the wall, "That was nice, right gems?"
"Yeah!" the gems in the laboratory started to fight against the researchers.
Amber ran down the hallway unlocking all of the doors, "Take them all out but don't kill them!"
She finished her rounds and walked back to the fusion room, the researchers had all been lined up against the wall and were being brutally beaten, "Stop! Don't kill them, we will be in much bigger trouble if they are killed!"
All of a sudden, the researchers fought back, hitting the gem's gems with metal baseball bats. Shards littered the room, and after five minutes, only Turquoise and Amber were left over. Three researchers were left standing. They ran at Turquoise who didn't want to fight them.
"You won't be performing those experiments anymore," Amber said while using her sword to injure the researchers.
"Amber! Stop, they are already gone…" Turquoise hugged the tan gem as she fell to her knees.
"I killed people… Humans…" tears rolled down her cheeks that had been injured the night before, "Did they deserve this?"
"Yes… They did deserve this," Turquoise stroked Amber's short hair, "Let's just get ourselves out of here and see Luca, okay?"
"Okay…" Amber stood up, "No. I am not going back to that life. Other gems need my help."
"But, maybe they will rebel too…" Turquoise said, "I won't fight the humans anymore."
"Then you can go to Luca," Amber stood, her hands were blood stained, she couldn't go see Luca now, "I am a murderer…"
Before Turquoise could say anything, Amber ran out of the room with a list of locations. The blue gem found Luca's hospital and visited his bedside.
He just woke up as she placed her hands on his chest, relieving some of his pain, "Thanks for the heal, who are you?"
"My name is Turquoise, I was at a laboratory with your friend, Amber…" Turquoise frowned, "She went crazy from all the blood we spilled to get out."
"Oh… is she going to come back?" Luca asked.
"I don't know but she took a map and wants to free the other locations. I decided to go to you instead of killing more people," Turquoise put her hands to her face, "It was horrible there… Amber got the same amount of torture as someone who has been there for a couple weeks in one night… They hurt us so much, we couldn't take it."
"I understand…" Luca took her small light blue hand, "Thanks for taking care of her. Do you want to stay with us until she comes back?"
"Sure," Turquoise looked into Luca's chocolate eyes, "She really likes you, you could change her…"
"I just need to recover first, I was kind of stabbed a few times…" Luca felt sleep calling him, "I am going to go to sleep, okay?"
"Alright," Turquoise noticed another human man in the room.
She walked over to him, "Hello, are you his uncle?"
"Yeah, how did you know?" the uncle replied.
"You don't look like his father or his brother…" Turquoise sat next to him, "Your nephew is the only person that can help Amber."
"I know, we just have to get him to her before she goes too far," the uncle saw how Turquoise only wore the bloody gown, "Do you want to change that?"
"I have forgotten how…" Turquoise responded.
"Just imagine what you used to wear and it will come to you," the uncle watched as Turquoise found her memories of what she was.
She returned wearing a sleeveless V-neck that let the gem on her chest be exposed and long black leggings, "You look great."
"Thanks…" Turquoise hugged the uncle, "You are so warm, I haven't felt this warm since I was made."
The uncle smoothed her black bangs out of her face, she only had one big yellow eye, "You are warm too. We can fix up Amber when the time comes."
