Spring break was finally here and the group wanted to go to Steven's house for the week. Amber and Turquoise had practiced forming swimsuits and Luca had bought a new one as he had hardly ever gone swimming. The drive was a whopping thirteen hours but Beach City was a refreshing sight. Luca and Amber reminisced the time they spent here, it was either positive or negative, they couldn't decide.
When they got to Steven's house, the group stretched. The caretaker walked to the door and knocked on it a few times.
Steven answered cheerfully, "Hey guys!"
"Hi Steven," Amber smiled, "How are you?"
"I'm fine," Steven looked nervously away from Amber, "How are you?"
"I am alright," Amber said slowly remembering the events that had happened the last time they had interacted, "Hey Steven? It's alright, we are closer than ever."
"Alright," Steven said, walking inside the house with everyone following him, "Okay guys, this is Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. Everyone, this is Luca, Amber, Turquoise and Luca's uncle."
Everyone greeted each other and within ten minutes of talking, Greg arrived. Him and Luca's uncle hugged the second they could. When they broke apart, Greg was introduced to the rest of the group. It was arranged that the four could stay at a house owned by the uncle thirty minutes away.
It was dinnertime at Steven's house so the group helped out. Amber, Turquoise and Pearl made a dinner of lasagna and garlic bread while Greg and the uncle reminisced about their pasts. Soon enough, dinner was served on the table and everyone sat down to eat. Only Pearl and Garnet didn't eat the food.
"Have you two fused yet?" Garnet asked after a bit of silence.
"Yes, we have," Amber said, "We make Tourmaline."
"That's great," Garnet said, excitedly, "Can I see you after you finish?"
"Yes," Turquoise smiled, "Hey Greg what is eating you?"
Greg looked up from his plate to Turquoise, "Nothing really."
"Tell me about your clients then, what's wrong with one of them?" Turquoise asked, innocently.
"Tur," the uncle said, "Don't read Greg's mind, it's rude."
"But you are curious too!" Turquoise argued, "You want to know what's going on with his life."
"It's not my decision to make him tell us what's going on," the uncle said, "Can you get out of my head please?"
"Yes," Turquoise said, frowning.
When the tension had cleared, Garnet spoke, "Turquoise, can you read my mind?"
"Yeah, I can," Turquoise said, "You are thinking about what you are going to do with Jasper. Who is Jasper by the way? Oh she is a friend that the small green gem stabbed."
"Wow," Garnet said, "That's good mind-reading."
"You are a fusion?" Turquoise asked, "That's cool! Steven can fuse with a human and Amethyst? That's awesome!"
"Okay, get out of my head," Garnet said, smiling, "Time for you to two fuse."
"Alright!" Turquoise said, hopping up, "Whoa I forgot how dizzy I get when I look deeply in someone's mind."
Amber grabbed her hand and pulled her outside, "Let us dance?"
"Sure," Turquoise said, taking Amber's hand.
The group watched as the two had a fun time fusing. To complete the dance, Amber jumped into Turquoise's arms. When they fused, Tourmaline twirled around and looked at herself then at the others, waving. Garnet smiled as the fusion showed off its moves, she had always loved seeing new fusions.
Tourmaline pulled out a small knife and formed gloves to touch the sand. Electricity coursed through the ripples of the grains as the blue and orange gem ran around with her now elongated knife. Soon enough, a burning heart was carved in front of Steven's house. It was perfect in shape and after it was done burning, crystals formed around the carving.
"How is that you guys?" the fusion asked fairly excitedly as it started to glow.
Amber and Turquoise fell on their butts in the sand, thankfully they hadn't fell on the crystals. Luca ran over to Amber and Turquoise and immediately helped them up. The two couldn't stop laughing about whatever was between them.
"That was fun wasn't it?" Turquoise giggled.
"Yeah!" Amber said, "I had no idea electricity could do that."
"What are you two going to do with those crystals?" Pearl asked, "They need to be removed lest a person step on them."
Amber and Turquoise cleaned up the crystals and put them in a pile near Steven's house. The rest of the group went inside to hang out while Luca helped the two clean up. Within the hour, everything had been taken care of and the three went inside. The sun had set by the time Turquoise, Luca, Amber, and the uncle left for their temporary house.
It had two rooms and pictures were hung up all over the walls. Amber picked up one that displayed a man with dark brown hair and a bright smile.
"Who's that?" Luca asked his uncle.
"He was a really good friend…" the uncle frowned.
Amber cleaned off the dust from the picture as Turquoise leaned on the caretaker and whispered something in his ear. He walked off, holding the light blue gem's hand, she must have read his mind and wanted to comfort him.
"Oh… He has on a military uniform," Luca said, "See the badges and ranking?"
"Yeah," Amber said, "Oh look it's a red, white and blue flag."
Luca looked down, "He must have died in combat."
"Why?" Amber asked, tilting her head.
"Some people join the army to serve their country. It's only natural that someone will die every once in a while," Luca said, almost mechanically, "These are probably his ashes."
Amber held the jar and looked inside, "Ashes… He was burned alive?"
"No no," Luca said, "He died and then was cremated."
"Okay," Amber nodded, "Should we ask the caretaker about him tomorrow?"
"If you want to," Luca said, "It might hurt him though. Let's go to bed."
"Alright," Amber said, pulling the covers over so that Luca could get in, "I have had Health Class, want to have the sex?"
"Wrong time, Amber," Luca said.
"Aw," Amber smiled as she placed her head on Luca's shoulder and instantly fell asleep.
In the morning, Turquoise made breakfast for everyone, as she was the first up. The caretaker came out of his room and hugged the light blue gem; they had had a long talk about the man in the picture.
Luca and Amber sat at the table and ate their omelets quietly. Amber kept on making little glances to the caretaker who seemed focused on his meal.
"Can you tell me more about the guy from the picture, Luca says he died," Amber said as Luca choked a little on his food.
"He did die, a little bit before Luca was born," the caretaker said, "We were partners since High School."
"How did he die?" Amber asked.
"His base camp was bombed…" the caretaker frowned, "Everyone died."
"I'm sorry," Amber frowned.
"Don't be," the caretaker smiled, "He was a great lover and person."
"Do you still miss him?" Amber questioned.
"Yeah," the caretaker said, "Very much so."
Luca stared at his plate of food and after a while, continued to eat it. They were going to have a busy, fun-filled day at Steven's house so he needed to get some energy. Amber cleaned up the plates and did the dishes and within the next thirty minutes, everyone had gotten into the car.
Luca had had no idea that his uncle was gay, but he accepted him for his sexual preference. He had always thought he was with Turquoise but it was becoming quite apparent that she was only there for him as a comforter. They agreed not to be together, but to be there for each other. Half an hour later, the car pulled up to Steven's house. Steven ran outside and greeted everyone cheerfully jumping up and down. Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl were waiting somewhat patiently at the table.
"Hey guys!" Steven said, excitedly, "We are going for a hike today!"
"Cool," Amber said, "Where to?"
"Maybe we can hike to the barn and stay there the night?" Steven asked, thoughtfully, "Then you all can meet Peridot and Lapis."
"I think I am going to hang out with Greg today, Steven," the caretaker said, "Is that alright?"
"Yeah," Steven said, "He is at the wash right now. Have fun!"
"I will," the caretaker smiled, "Bye guys."
Turquoise smiled and waved goodbye as the group walked over to the house. Steven put on some hiking shoes and Pearl enthusiastically gave Luca water and a hat.
"Let's go guys!" Steven said.
"Yeah!" the group replied.
Ten minutes into walking, Amethyst sighed, "It's a really long walk… Are you sure you guys want to do this?"
"You are a Crystal Gem, Amethyst, you should be able to walk two hours to the barn," Garnet said.
Amber chuckled to herself while holding Luca's hand. The two followed Steven up the steep hill.
When they got to the top, Turquoise sighed heavily, "I thought it was over."
"Same," Luca said.
"Oh well," Amber smiled, "Looks like there is another couple hills."
"Yep," Steven said, smiling.
When the group got to the barn, Peridot and Lapis waved hello. Amber stared at the barn; it was similar to hers except for the fact that hers was much smaller. It was a little bit awkward for her to talk to Peridot as she remembered her as being weak.
"Hi Amber," Peridot smiled, "How are you?"
Peridot was strangely nice to the tan gem, "I am good, how about you?"
"Fine, thanks," the light green gem had to look up to Amber, but she seemed fine with it, "How are things going with Luca?"
"I am trying to have the sex with him, but he keeps on putting it off," Amber said.
"What's the sex?" Peridot asked.
"Never mind," Amber said, "Luca looks tired, do you have water?"
"Yeah," Peridot said, "Here you go."
"Thanks," Amber said, taking the bottle from Peridot and walking over to Luca.
"What were you talking about with Peridot?" Luca asked, "You look guilty."
"I was talking about the sex," Amber said.
Luca put his hand to his face, "She doesn't even know what it is."
"I know, here have some water," Amber said, sheepishly playing with her hair.
"Thanks," Luca said, "Sorry for talking to you like that."
"It's okay," Amber smiled, "I just never know what you are thinking."
"Me either sometimes," Luca said.
Lapis stayed where she was in the barn, watching some weird show. She preferred Peridot's and Steven's company the most out of everyone that was there. The blue gem saw Turquoise and was reminded of her past, as one of her kind had broken her gem. She flew over to the light blue gem and looked at her for a second. Her eye was covered by short black hair.
"Hello, Lapis," Turquoise said, "You have a very nice house."
"Thanks," Lapis said, staring at the tall gem.
"What are you worried about?" Turquoise asked gently, "I am sorry if one of my kind hurt you."
"Get out of my head, it feels weird," Lapis said slightly angrily.
"Sorry about that," Turquoise said, "It's just a horrible habit that I have. I will remove myself."
Lapis' eye twitched, "Just stay away from me for a while."
"Okay," Turquoise said, walking over to Amber, "Maybe I shouldn't have come."
"No, I am glad that you did," Amber said, "She is probably just a little bit stressed because we are new visitors."
Steven introduced the three visitors to the pool. He put his feet in the pool along with Luca while Amber was taken around with Turquoise to look at meep morps.
"These are true pieces of art," Amber said.
"They are called meep morps," Lapis frowned.
"I know," Amber said, "But I learned about how they are classified in an art class."
"Whatever," Lapis said.
Amber took Turquoise's hand and walked outside of the barn to Luca. She sat down next to him and touched the water, pooling it in her hands. The tan gem leaned on her lover as his arm wrapped around her body. Closing her eyes, Amber kissed his cheek while Turquoise lay down in the tall grass beside them. Turquoise accidentally reached into Steven's mind and saw images of Rose Quartz and of Lapis' nature. She released her grip the instant Steven looked to her, staring at him still.
"I am so sorry," Turquoise communicated, sitting up and holding her hands to her face.
Steven shook his head, "No, it's really cool that you can do that, but it's also probably the reason Lapis got mad at you."
"Yeah," Turquoise frowned, "Do you know how to make her feel better?"
"She takes her time with getting used to people," Steven communicated, "I wouldn't worry about her."
"Okay," Turquoise communicated, breaking the connection.
Steven smiled and kicked the water a bit. Amber looked to him and smiled, skipping a rock across. Peridot walked out of the barn to pool with a frown on her face.
Turquoise accidentally reached into her mind, it was strange, full of thousands of years of memories similar to Amber's. However, further back were memories of fun times and scary times with Steven and the Crystal Gems. She saw Lapis looking sad and telling Peridot about how Turquoise looked unwillingly into her mind. Turquoise's eye glowed a bit more as she unintentionally saw Peridot's hidden memories.
Peridot looked to her and Turquoise instantly felt guilty. The light blue gem released her grip and ran off.
"Tur?" Amber shouted at her friend, "Where are you going?"
Turquoise didn't respond, she just kept running away. The group stood up and started to run after the gem.
"Did she read your mind?" Steven asked Peridot.
"Yeah," Peridot said, "I think so. Gems that can go that far in the mind of another gem usually get very tired. She won't go far, we might as well walk."
Amber narrowed her eyes at Peridot, "Turquoise is stronger than you think."
Peridot shrugged and continued to run. Luca and Amber ran together as they practically had the same stamina while Steven ran just behind them. Soon enough, Peridot caught sight of Turquoise and ran faster than the group.
The tall light blue gem saw the small green gem and knew she had to face the music. Her gem ached; she had never been this deep in another gem before, not even in Amber. She stopped running and fell onto her knees, heaving heavily. Peridot stood still, unsure of what to do with Turquoise.
"Are you okay?" the small green gem asked after a bit of silence.
"Yes," Turquoise said, "I am just fine."
She looked to Peridot and accidentally read her mind. The green gem was confused but she wasn't mad at all. Turquoise couldn't stop herself as she looked into more personal memories, the fusion attempt, the comforting of Lapis, and something she couldn't quite make-out.
Turquoise released the green gem and fell on her side, curling up into a ball. Peridot knelt by her and told her everything was going to be okay.
"You have quite the awesome power," Peridot said, "You don't need to hide it, but I think it hurts you to use it."
"It does," Turquoise sobbed, "And everyone hates it, they just won't tell me."
"We don't hate it but we do hate that it hurts you," Peridot said, she figured she was bad enough at comforting others but she wanted to help out, "Look at me and try not to read."
Turquoise looked at Peridot's calm face and focused on not reading her. She felt relief when she could no longer see into the gem's mind.
"I'm so sorry about this," Turquoise said, "I didn't mean for this to happen."
"I know," Peridot said as the other half of the group rushed over the hill.
"Tur are you okay?" Amber asked.
"I am going to be," Turquoise said, sitting up.
The tan gem hugged her friend and they instantly fused. Tourmaline stretched, putting everyone into her hands. They rode all the way back to the barn where Amber and Turquoise unfused, hugging.
Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were waiting for them with dinner. Luca was hungry, as he hadn't eaten since the morning. The last bit of sun set as he, Amber, Steven, and Amethyst ate their pizza. Peridot and Turquoise sat together, splitting a piece of pizza. Lapis didn't care much, but she was a little bit jealous of Turquoise.
"You guys look like you just went for a nice run," Pearl said.
"Yeah," Steven said, "It was a good run, Pearl."
Amethyst burped and ate the whole pizza box while Luca and Amber finished up. Amber had a dying question to ask Garnet after dinner so she twiddled her thumbs as the plates were cleared. Peridot went back into the barn with a piece of pizza while sleeping bags were set up.
"I am going to go talk to Garnet," Amber said, "I have a really important question."
"Okay," Luca said, kissing Amber's lips, "Good luck."
"Alright," Amber said, walking off to where Garnet sat on a hay bale.
"Hello, Amber," Garnet said, "You have a question for me?"
"Yes," Amber said, scratching her head nervously, "How do I have the sex with Luca?"
"The sex?" Garnet asked, "Oh, well you need to have the parts. Right now you have hardly anything humans use to have it. Rose had to develop those parts so that she could have Steven."
"Oh," Amber said, "How do I get them?"
"You have to envision them and form them," Garnet said, "It might take a while, but you need to get out of those human clothes and form the organs."
Amber did so and with minutes, she had human parts, "Okay what now?"
"Well first off, you need to adjust some parts," Garnet said, "They are a bit too extreme."
"Fine," Amber huffed, "How is this?"
"It's good, now you have to get dressed and sleep next to him," Garnet said, "Don't make him have sex with you, you both have to want it."
"Okay," Amber said, walking away, "Thanks."
Garnet leaned back on the hay bale and relaxed, closing her eyes while Amber went to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be another big day for everyone so she wanted to get some rest too.
