Crystal Temple - Burning Room

In this stagnant room, where time seems frozen in place, the bubbles give light to it. With only fours colors and positioned right, one could envision the starry sky just by looking at them.

In their bubbles, corrupted gems and other gems rest in complete bliss, no space for them to reform, no need to take arms once more, no need to suffer anymore.

Yet, today was different from the peaceful days of yonder. An earthquake shook the temple and with it, reverberated the once peaceful room. A piece of the temples stone, aged throughout the years, was let loose and with it carried the key to unleash any of the captivated gems from the peaceful slumber.

As it fell, it bounced through the many spheres, all of them were avoided by the spike that the rock showed with dignity. It had hit on the color spheres enumerable times, yet only its flat surface hit them, making their rest longer, as they should.

It almost reached the bottom, but with no clear effort, it landed on a bubble popping and releasing from its clutches a black gem. Both fell down, like a race, the stone from the temple was the first to reach the bottom, while the dark gem simply bounced for a few seconds making audible sound from the quietness of the room, before completely stopping.

The gem started to rise and light had sprouted from it. A mannequin was created in the middle of the air, the gem situated on the left shoulder and engulfing it with light, yet soon the light was surrounded by a black miasma and the gems body was being reconfigured.

First came the dark hair, only being neck long while its thin long ponytail in the back of the hair, two white hairbands circulated around the head while being covered by the fringe of the hair. Then came the clothing, for the upper portion of its body a long, black, tattered coat surrounded him while the middle section of its body had a black diamond with white on the rest before being covered by the coat.

Its lower body was then forming the remaining of its clothes, consisting of a pair of what looked like black trousers with the ends tattered with patches of white and for its feet would make a pair of black boots.

After the body had been created and being satisfied with the work and time it had in its disposal, the miasma returned back into black oval gem with a white diamond mark in the middle.

The body fell down to the floor and bent his knees to cushion the fall. Black sparks passed through his arms as he opened his dark eyes.

He was suddenly in alert mode as he looked around. Noticing that his weapon wasn't beside him and that the place he resides was unfamiliar, made him more anxious as to what was going on.

He looked on his left pale black hand to notice that it had regenerated. Memories bombarded his head as he recalled what had happened.

The strange melody, the bright light that contained the colors white, yellow and blue, the war. Everything came back in one full second.

Being shook by the overflowing information, he stayed with his knees bent to make sure he would fall to the side.

"Little Pink... Rose Quartz..." He thought to himself as he heard it from the others.

"Why would you... No. Don't think about these things yet, Onyx. We need to find a way out of this.. Where am I even?" He scolded himself in his head.

As he looked up, a mortifying feeling rushed over him. Hundreds, maybe thousands of gems were encapsulated in bubbles as far as his sight could go.

"That's..! There is no way the rebels could've captured so many gems in the short amount of time I've been out!" He screamed in his head as he looked at them with a surprised expression.

"I wish I could set you all free at this instant, but I sure the little Diamonds are waiting for me to call them... I'll come back some other time, I promise all of you little ones." He thought to himself once more as he looked for an exit.

As he went around the circle of boiling lava, he noticed a door, but as he got closer to it, the mechanism to open wouldn't open.

"Hmm... This could mean that it only reacts to the members of the rebellion. Homeworld gems like me can't enter or even escape." He thought as he did little taps with his index finger on the door.

He then looked back at the room and started to look around carefully. A circular room that housed many bubbled gems, on the walls what looked like to be veins gripped them to the point of becoming one with the ground.

At the center of the room a small staircase held active lava boiling with the anticipation of being released yet patiently awaits in this silenced room. As he slowly rose his head to where the veins came from, or grew from, he had the idea to start climbing through one of the multiple holes on the ceiling.

Though his thought was good, leaving would take some time for the veins had formed a complex tunnel system to which many would end in dead ends or would simply fork a path in three ways.

Along the way, he would leave a small mark when turning a corner to remind him that he already took that path. Right now, he saw the same sign he put three times in a row and he's been climbing and walking through branched paths for the equivalent of two hours if he took in consideration of this planets time stamp.

To say he was annoyed was accurate. He wanted to escape the confinement of this strange place and to do that he could only go through the path that the vines carved.

"This is getting me nowhere..." He thought to himself as he stopped on the fork once more, this being the fourth time of him coming back. "I guess following this vines was a bad idea after all. Maybe I should force my way out of here.

But if I do that, the rebels could hear me escaping and in that instant get caught." Whatever the options he thought would only make it a clear indication that he escaped from them.

He decided to risk it to make it out of the labyrinth that these branches created and charged through one of the dead ends with collected energy on his body. As he charged forward, he saw that the density of the walls were a little weaker than what the stone of this planet should be.

Stopping on his tracks, he reached forward and saw that it was surprisingly soft and then he felt his hand passed through something. He could feel something that was softer than the dirt and it had a prickly feeling on his hand.

Pushing himself even further, he started to see light and without a thought he passed through. Around him was something that he remembered called 'grass', that must've been the prickly feeling that he felt. Up ahead were basic structures, too basic to be any kind of Homeworld gem creation, so he had to guess humans had built them.

"Just how long have I been out?" He questioned himself in his head.

As he rose from the dirt and climbed the hill, he saw another structure, this one was a small tower that was the furthest away from the rest of the others.

He headed towards it, with the intention to use it as a landmark to find out where exactly was he. Though as he climbed, nothing seems familiar to him.

Only when he reached the top he realized where he was. He was right on top of the Crystal Gems base.

"How did I ended here!? Was I captured and encapsulated while I was in my gem? Nothing tells me where the galaxy warp is! How long have I been out!" He screamed in his head as questions kept pooping left and right.

Looking up on the sky, the star that illuminated this planet was nowhere to be scene. Was this called night as the humans once said?

Just above of the horizon he could see something in the distance that resembled a hand.

"What is that?" He questioned himself as he saw it slowly flying towards the earth. "Is that a spaceship?" To him it looked a weird one, to be shaped out of a hand. He was used to the old one that they used.

Looking down, he saw three figures walking towards the shoreline.

"Members of the rebellion?" He questioned to himself once more as he grew curious. Slowly, he began falling to the statue below, safely and stealthily, making sure they haven't seen him yet.

Once he reached the sandy terrain, he quietly ran from boulder to boulder and was at a decent place to stay both hidden and at ears range to hear them.


Onyx P.O.V

"Garnet, Sugilite isn't going to reach the ship from here. We need Opal for a long range attack!" Is that a Pearl? Is that suppose to be the same one that Rose had with her?

I'm guessing that the tall one is Garnet, but who is Sugilite and Opal? I've never heard of those gems before...

"Ready, Pearl?" The little bright lilac gem with long hair asked the Pearl.

"Let's hope Opal is enough to damage it, Amethyst." So the little one is called Amethyst. But where is Rose? Why are her forces here? Actually, why are her forces so little? A small invasion from Homeworld would completely overtake her base in short time.

Why are they dancing? Wait... Are they? Well, this is a surprise.

With energy flowing from both bodies, a single entity stood there with the gem called Garnet. Actually, if I look close enough, she seems to be a fusion herself with the two gems on the palm of her hands.

Fighting against these two alone would be tough with my weapon, in my disarmed state I could only stall time before being captured again. It's better to wait and see, than to act reckless in my current situation.

At the same time, they look frightened, that'll help me regenerate a little bit of my power. I feel drained since I reformed and having some energy will help me, even if it is for a bit.

The big gem, Opal I believe, took out a whip and a spear before fusing both weapons and creating a long bow.

I heard a sound coming from my left and there I saw two strange creatures, one must be a human? Last time I remember, humans weren't like that. Have they evolved? The other is... I'm not sure what it is.

Hiding myself even closer to the boulder, I saw as the human? I'll call him that for now, staring towards the two fused gems, while the one called Opal aimed her long bow and formed an energy arrow with two of her arms.

"Fire!" Garnet ordered, firing the arrow. It scattered in hundreds of smaller arrows, hitting the ship dead on. The on thing though... It didn't even scratched the surface! If it was one of our ships, then I wouldn't be surprise to have suffered heavy damage from that attack!

"Stay here! If something happens, Dad'll need a new son." Who is this... Dad? And what is that thing?

As I looked at the ship, it was coming faster than I thought. It would need a minute or something like that to crash into the ocean.

"At least Steven is safe..." Who's Steven?

"Hey guys!" The human called as it hurried towards the two fused gems.

"Steven!" That's a Steven? Is it its human name or are Humans now called Steven?

Seeing as the human was coming closer to them, Opal separated back into the two gems they were before.

"You came back!" Has this Steven gone somewhere?

"What are you doing? Get out of here!" Concern? Have the rebellions been talking with the humans?

"But.."

"It's too late! Just stay behind us!" What's so big about a small...

That is not a small spaceship! That's almost twice the size of our spaceships! And its about to crash on the ocean any second now!

As it came down, it started to slow down and hovered on the sea, before the hand extended and crashed its fingers on the sand, lifting a dust.

From the palm of the giant hand, a small sphere rose and landed on the index finger, where it proceeded to open and make the finger tap the ground.

"That's them alright. They're the ones that keep wrecking my machines." What kind of gem is that? I haven't seen it before.

"This is it?" That's a Jasper gem if I remember. Looks like a heavy hitter, a soldier? Why is it wearing a cape?

"Jasper! They keep interfering with my work!" Work? What work would a... Homeworld gem? Do with a planet like this one?

Releasing a sigh of disappointment, the Jasper took a few steps ahead with a discontent expression.

"Looks like another waste of my time." Another? But the war was just yesterday... Wasn't it? "Hey! Get over here."

Wait! Is that... a Lapis Lazuli? What's she doing here? And why is Jasper handling her like a brute? She in turn, yanked her hand of Jasper's grip.

"Lapis..." How come this Steven knows about Lapis?

"This is their base?" She asked while pointing towards the temple.

"Yes..." So I was in the rebellions Base! But for how long?

"You need to leave! Immediately!"

"Yeah! Step off!"

"This is not a gem controlled planet!" Not a gem controlled planet? Were they going to take this planet? Was that their intention?

"Neither of you saw Rose Quartz? What a shame, I hoped to meet her. I was looking forward to beating her into the ground!" I... Can't say anything. Must be a personal vendetta between the two of them.

"What?"

"But this is all what's left of her army? Some lost defective Pearl? A puny overcooked runt? And this shameless display?" I am not happy to how she just judged all of them.

A Pearl that thinks for herself is a feat in itself. A Amethyst that was on the ground for a bit longer can have many other things than what others lack. A fusion between those two can only be done if they trust each other to a new level of trust.

"Hmm. What is that?" That's what I'm trying to figure out.

Noticing that it was pointing towards the Steven, they went into an aggressive stance.

"It calls itself, Steven." Oh... So that's his name. Is he a human?

"He's just a human! He isn't a threat at all! He's not one of them!" Ah. Thank you for clearing that out, Lapis.

"I know what a human is. You don't need me for this. Just blast them with the ship." That doesn't sound very good.

"Ugh. Fine." The Homeworld gem then was commanding the ship and pointed at the rebellion gems and started to gather energy on its finger. Am I in its line of fire?

"Steven! Get out of here!" Listen to the fusion if you value your life, human.

"No!"

"I won't let you risk your life!"

"But this is my home! And you're all my family." ...Family. Why is its torso glowing?

"Firing."

"I'm..! I'm a crystal gem too!" You fool! Don't rush head first against a projectile!

Then a large sound erupted from where the human had ran into. It sounded like a bell.

As the smoke cleared, a pink shield was in front of the rebels with the symbol of..!

"That shield! That symbol!" Rose!? Is that human, Rose Quartz!?

"You! You have the power of Rose Quartz!" I'm as surprised as you Jasper.

"Now do you believe I needed an escort?"

"Fire barrage! Wide spread!"

Doing as told, the Homeworld gem ordered the ship to shoot out a beam that the space between the three gems and human. Separating the party into two. The fusion jumped first and pushed the human away from the blast radius, while being thrown to the sea.

"Rose! Why do you look like that? Why are you so weak?" A question that I'm having as well.

"Don't hurt him!"

"You knew about this!"

"It wasn't relevant to the mission!" Mission?

"Forget about the mission."

"What?"

"Yellow Diamond needs to see this." Little Yellow!? Maybe this Jasper could take me back and-!


The colors, the light and the melody.


Is going back an option to me? Maybe I should ask this Jasper to answer me a few questions before I jump to conclusions.

Jumping out of the sea, Garnet went headfirst against Jasper with a pair of gauntlets that she summoned.

"Good." You're awfully pleased for a fight.

With a single clash of a gauntlet and a protective helmet, the shock wave between them made them both slide backwards with Steven getting sent flying by it as well.

"Steven, run!" She yelled before rushing again towards Jasper.

"Private gem destabilizer." Private gem what? Is that the name of that electric stick?

With a swift strike, Jasper hit Garnet with the stick and electricity jolted through her before she started to fall backwards. Multiple lines started to form on her body as her limbs were severed in what felt like a minute.

With her last strength, she looked at Steven before poofing and dropping two gems in each hand.

"I was there, you know. At the first war against this garbage planet. I fought against your armies. I respected your tactics." So at the start of it all... That's why she had that pleased expression for a fight. That's what she was made for.

"But this... ? This is sick!" Whatever you're planning to do Jasper, don't you harm that human. He may have something to do with Rose

"Unhand him!" Pearl yelled as she and Amethyst ran towards Jasper.

"I don't get what you're planning Rose, but look! Your base is taken, your armies are ruined, you have failed!" With a single headbutt, she knocked the human out.


"Steven!" Pearl cried his name as she tried to stab Jasper with her spear, only to be grabbed by her hand and kicked away. Amethyst then tried to stop the hulking gem with her whip, but that proved also not that effective as she was spun around and to collide with Pearl.

"Prepare the ship! We're leaving with these as prisoners. They'll be shattered by the hands of Yellow Diamond." She said while throwing Steven to the ground.

"Wait... Who's that?" Peridot asked as a figure walked through the many boulders. He wore strange clothes for a gem and he possessed much more male appearance than the other gems.

"I don't know. I've never seen a gem like him before." Lapis responded while looking at him with an indifferent expression.

"..." He didn't say a single word, only gestures to them.

"Uh... What?"

He blinked a few times, they didn't understand his gestures? But all gems knew he would only speak when needed.

Thinking for himself he got the idea of using the small energy that he got from the rebel gems and talk with them using that.

"I asked, are you three from Homeworld?" A shadow had formed the phrase next to him, using Homeworld's language.

"Can't you tell that we are?" Peridot asked with an inquisite expression. "Wait, how are you even doing that? And why can't you talk?"

"Who cares. He's just another defective gem. An Onyx to make matters worse."

"Why do you say that?" Lapis asked.

"Onyx are only made as a support unit. Healers to be precise. They are weak and don't have any combat skills. If they don't have that, then they are wasted space and energy." Peridot informed while touching her screen, inputting commands into it.

Amethyst looked to the side while hearing that.

"A defective gem, isn't a waste of space or energy." The shadow text had some weight into it, to express his discontent on how they viewed the defective, since he was one as well.

"Then prove it!" Jasper yelled as she lunged at him with alarming speed and power.

Putting some dark energy on his right arm, he shoulder bashed Jasper, countering her speed and power.

"Wha!?" She was flabbergasted at the counter the Onyx made on her.

Not wasting any time, he lowered his body and clenched his left fist. Rotating his body to increase the damage and coated his fist with the same energy as before.

His fist buried itself on the torso of the Jasper and staggered her. She coughed violently as she tried to reach her gem destabilizer, only to get roundhouse kicked on the back, making her skip a few feet away from the Onyx gem.

"Whoa... I didn't know we had a gem like that with us! Who is he anyways?" Amethyst asked.

"I-I don't know! I never saw a gem like that with us before!" Pearl answered while trying to release herself from Amethyst whip that was used to bind the two of them.

"You're tougher than you look." Jasper said while summoning her Crash Helmet.

"What a defective gem lacks, can excel at something else entirely." He responded back using his shadow to inform her. "And I've been training myself for more than 3000 years in Nectulone alone to get to this point."

"Impossible! No gem could train in there for more than 500 years!" Peridot exclaimed.

"Nectu-what?" Amethyst asked confused

"Nectulone. A planet in which the gravity poll is much higher than Earth's. It is said that gems that train there increase their physical strength astronomically, but at the risk of their gem being cracked and decimated after a long prologue amount of time." Pearl answered back, still trying to release themselves.

Jasper growled before using her spin dash to give him a quick and painful hit. Onyx simply used her momentum with a bit of his strength to reroute herself towards the temple.

But she surprised him when she made a U-turn towards the sky. Unleashing more power and crashing towards him.

A large shock wave erupted when the two collided, creating a cloud dust.

The gems looked in anticipation to see who won, but as the cloud dissipated, they saw that the two of them where clutching both hands together. Their expressions showed that they were trying very hard to overpower the other.

"For once, I can actually enjoy a battle that isn't a waste of my time!" She shouted with a grin in her face.

"Soldiers that only know how to fight, can understand one another." He messaged her before taking a step in front, pushing her back. "But you're still too young to fight me. I'd give you a few hundred years of training to reach me."

"Strong words, for a gem that is defective." She responded by pushing him too.

"You shouldn't anger this gem, young one." He responded back while pushing her back even further than she did to him.

She then started to headbutt him, though he would do the same with a small shadow on his forehead. Countering the power she was throwing at him.

They then released one another and took a step back.

"They seem to be enjoying it..." Lapis commented as she saw the two of them smiling to each other.

"Not for long." Peridot answered back as she aimed the ship at them. Amassing energy at the index finger once more.

Noticing this, Jasper called her out.

"Peridot! What is the meaning of this!" She yelled.

"We're wasting enough time as it is! I wanna reach Homeworld and report to Yellow Diamond immediately." She announced as she aimed between the two of them. "And it's not like I'm aiming at you, just that pesky Onyx."

The two of them were too close to one another to actually dodge it by themselves.

"This can be considered treachery!" She yelled, but was cut short as the ship fired towards them. Her eyes widened as the beam was coming close to them, but she was more surprised as a force pushed her aside.

Looking at it, the Onyx pushed her with a shadow coating his hands. He gave her a smile before the light beam engulfed him and poofed him in a instance.

"There! Now get to the ship with them already." She yelled back while mumbling something that had clods in it.

Lapis actually noticed on the action that the black gem did, but kept quiet about it. If he was with the Crystal Gems, then he meant nothing to her.

"This isn't over, you hear me!" Jasper yelled at the Onyx gem with anger in her tone. "You better reform soon for a rematch!"

She then grabbed the two captive gems and threw them in their jail cells. She did the same with Lapis, but strangely enough she was gentler on putting his gem on the next cell.

It was probably so that it wouldn't crack when she threw it.