Few days later
At the moment, Onyx and Peridot were walking through the course that she had previously selected. Though it annoyed her that she had to take the long route, he was not at all affected, even when she would mutter under her breath.
She would take the lead, as she is the one with the map between the two of them. He would follow her silently, not uttering a single word. This would make the voyage slightly unnerving to her.
Without any real backup from Home World, she had to resort for the Onyx to be her new escort. It put her nervous, but not as much without a brute like Jasper to give her orders.
In hindsight, the lack of orders or supervision from any superior was almost refreshing for her. Though she wasn't made to feel that way.
To her, Onyx was below her, there was no confusion about that. He's not a Pearl nor any gem that was meant to serve their higher up, but it was better than having no one at all, even if he was just a dead weight in her eyes due to his defective state.
Through the days, she had to question very few things, but nothing too important to voice out to the Onyx. A way to make her feel above him.
He on the other hand, was curious of many things. He had knowledge of the world of the past, but with changes, even slight ones, intrigued him. He was interest on Peridot's metallic members, on the human buildings being different from the others around, on why there were tracks in the middle of nowhere that stretched far away.
"This world has changed." He thought to himself while being observant around their surroundings. Through their way to the Prime Kindergarten, he would take point to notice anything that may be a threat to the both of them.
They had to stop a few times, due to Peridot being apprehensive of creatures that could mean harm to them or vegetation. He would observe them and then see if it was harmful through direct contact. So far, everything seemed docile for them with no repercussion.
Through this exchange, Peridot subconsciously started to think why would he put himself in danger instead of her. Any gem weak gem would avoid confrontation if they have the option to, but he would go despite being the same as her.
"Is he really weak?" She thought to herself. She ignored the fact that he was fighting with Jasper hand-on-hand combat and enjoying it, for no weak gem could beat a veteran soldier like her.
"What am I thinking? He's defective and below me, of course he's weak." She continued with her mentality, the only one that she has known for so long.
"How long do you think we'll take to reach our goal?" He contacted her with a smoky message. She got used to talk with him this way, though she would greatly prefer if he used his own voice more often than this useless way of using energy.
"We should arrive in 3 hours, if there won't be anymore stops against any unseen threats." She calculated while continuing to walk forward.
With his answered question, he kept quiet once more.
Often, during their travel, she would record her discoveries or simply to voice out her thoughts to later remind herself that she's still stuck on Earth.
"I want to ask her how long I've been away, but I think she wouldn't answer me. Until she's done with her mission, I'll wait." He thought to himself while looking around, being the lookout that he is.
Not two hours later, they could see the canyon that the kindergarten in the far distance.
"There it is!" Peridot yelled while running towards it. Not wanting to leaving her behind, he ran behind her until they reached the entrance.
A memory that was so long ago, made Onyx remember when the kindergarten was being made. The land was vibrate with color, with life. Gem injectors were at work back then and Home World was colonizing this planet for the making of new gems.
But that was in his memory, looking at it now, it was depressing to say the least.
The earth was dead and in it's stead was now a canyon, claimed with numerous holes carved out of the dark, dull purple rock faces, the 'birthplace' of many gems. The injectors dot the landscape, some of which have fallen to the ground and been destroyed. Not only that, but a misty fog was placed, which gave the feeling of dread in place of the joyful reaction from back then.
Following Peridot, they reached a square hole with a green elevator on it.
"From this point on, only followers of Yellow Diamond can operate. You stay here and look if those clods appear." She said while projecting her screen and giving it indications.
But he grabbed her shoulder to stop her. Looking at him, he shook his head.
"What now?" She asked annoyed.
"There's a strange air coming down there. It's best if I go with you down there, for your protection." In his eyes, there was something very odd. The hole was never there before, in the past.
"But I can't operate with you snooping around on my Diamond's business. Wait here." She reinforced her point while trying to leave, only without realizing that he was on top of the elevator already. "I told you to wait outside!"
"I'm not budging, Peridot. I don't trust this place one bit. A flux of negative emotions are coming from down there, that is never a good thing." He argued back not wanting danger to struck her.
She was very annoyed by this. This was official business that her Diamond had bestowed onto her.
"You touch anything and I'll be sure that you'll get the highest regard of punishment." She warned him. So long as he stays away from her work, she's fine. Plus, in case they are violent when coming out, he would be a good distraction for her to escape.
Meanwhile at the beach house
"We need to track down Peridot. We found her pod, we know she's out there somewhere. She came to Earth with a job to do and odds are she still gonna try to do it. That is why I've gathered you here." Garnet said while folding Steven's laundry.
"I thought it was so you could help me fold all of this laundry." Steven asked while putting away a folded star t-shirt.
"That too. The chore wheel idea you had fell apart fast." She explained.
"Wasn't me." Amethyst said while reading a magazine.
The four of them then looked at the chore board and saw that Pearl was in all of the chores, while the others were scratched with a red marking.
A moment of silence while Pearl looked at them.
"I just really enjoy doing all of those things." She explained while continue with the folding.
"It's better if we do it together." Garnet said while looking at Amethyst. Seeing that her leader was looking at her, she closed her magazine and started helping as well.
"You men should stop just wearing clothes. It'll be a lot funnier." Amethyst commented to him.
"Hey! I'm a civilified part home, thank you very much. Clothing is a must." He said while continuing with the job.
"Hmm... This is a lot. I bet this folding would go faster if Ruby and Sapphire were here." He commented with the hope of seeing the two gems.
"I'm sure they'll be glad to see you, Steven. But, I'm not unfusing for laundry." She denied him with a gently smile. To this, he groaned disappointed before continuing with his task.
"Garnet, you don't think Peridot would come looking for us, do you?" She asked concerned.
"We weren't her priority, she was sent here to do something in the kindergarten." She informed her.
"Do you think she's still going to try to reactivate it?" To this question, Garnet nodded with conviction.
"If she gets it up and running, the injectors will turn back on." She explained to them.
"In-jectors? What are those?" Steven asked confused and concerned.
"You've already seen them. Well, you've seen them disabled." She said while showing a hologram of one of them.
"If Peridot reactivates them, they'll pick off where they left off, planting gems on the crust of the Earth. Where they'll incubate and suck the life right off the ground." As she explained the hologram showed the process in which a gem is dug in and incubated with particles to reinforce the life being sent to it.
"We can't let Peridot restart gem production here. If we do, the entire planet will become..." She paused on her words, to mask away any ill words.
"Jank'd." Garnet concluded blandly. To this Everyone looked at her surprised.
"Garnet! That mouth!" Amethyst chuckled at her leaders blunt.
"Don't worry, we'll stop her." She said reassuring Steven. "Come on, Crystal Gems." She said heading towards the warp pad.
"Coming!" Pearl said promptly.
"Uh... As long as we don't have to fold anything." Amethyst said lazily while summoning her whip.
Steven sat on his place, continuing to folding his laundry.
"Steven." Garnet called him.
"Come on! That means you too, right?" Amethyst said while giving him a bored look.
Steven gasped with excitement before rushing to the warp pad next to them.
"You're a civilified part gem too, after all." She told him to remind him that he also is their team mate.
"Garnet, are you sure we should bring Steven? This might be dangerous." Pearl asked concerned about his safety.
"Peridot's got nothing we can't handle." She explained to her while they were warped away.
Onyx's P.O.V
"What in the stars..." After the both of us went down. The little Peridot used her own strength and pulled the pillars from the floor and ceiling. In them, there were two pieces of shattered gems forcefully joined together.
"Peridot... What is this?" I asked with a frightened expression, slightly trembling to what I'm seeing.
"I'm not surprised that you don't have any knowledge of this. Only those under the guidance of my Diamond know about it." She explained while continue to examine the data around the machines.
"I won't go into details to you, but to simplify everything, these are gem fusion experiments. Products that came during the past war in this miserable planet." Gem fusion experiments!? Little ones, you were doing this behind my back?
I'm... Speechless. I-I... I can't believe they would go as far as using the warriors that fell for... THIS!
Gems that were shattered are meant to stay buried to give them an homage for the courage that they displayed until the very end, with their weapon on top to signify that they were properly buried with the respect that they deserve.
But this... This is wrong. This isn't what they should do to their remains...
Taking a step back, I turned my back on her and waited on the elevator. The more I look, the more I question what they were thinking back then.
"I'll be waiting until you're done." I messaged her. I simply can't look, I just can't. Chances were that I knew who they were before.
"I won't take that long. Around ten minutes if I want to hurry up." She said, while I stood there looking up the hole that we came from.
"From this... Cluster... Soon..." She mumbled to herself. What is this Cluster even? Don't question it, hope that it isn't what you're thinking.
Kindergarten
Through Pearl's light, they were looking to see if anything changed.
"Well... Nothing looks activated, in fact, nothing seems to have budged since the last time we were here." Pearl said while observing an injector.
"We were right. But just because Peridot hasn't been here yet, doesn't mean she won't come." Steven nodded to her. "Lets do a thorough check on the perimeter." Another nod. "That way we can monitor any future entry." She concluded while he gave a final nod.
"Sounds good to me!" He announced before walking in a funny way.
As he walked, the wind that passed through the crater whistled, in which looked like our little hybrid was in a horror film.
"Log date, 652." Hearing a familiar voice, Steven looked at the source to find a strange square hole. From that same hole, Peridot and Onyx emerged from a green elevator.
"This is Peridot updating status, still stuck on miserable. The fusion experiments are developing properly. A few even emerged early-hyah!" She squeaked, finally noticing that Steven was there.
Onyx looked at him for a few moments, before looking around with caution.
There was an awkward silence between the two.
"Are the other ones with you?" She asked with fear on her expression. At first, Steven shook his head slowly, but then nodded with his shoulders shrugged.
"Of course... Why not?" She said while reforming her hand and face palming herself. To say she was upset, would be correct.
"Peridot!" From a few feet away, Garnet called out her name.
"There she is!" Pearl said, the three gems were already armed with their weapons as they rushed towards her.
With a gasp, she moved behind Onyx while pointing at them.
"Don't let those clods get me!" She ordered before running away behind him.
To this, he took a fighting stance. Eyes sharp, hands relaxed, feet ready to kick the dirt and mind focused.
This made them stop on their tracks, caution was now installed in the area that they were.
"I'll go get Peridot!" Steven announced trying to pass the Onyx, only to be blocked and lightly pushing him to the side.
"Steven! Why you!" Amethyst said angrily before casting her whip on this left arm.
Using his strength, he yanked her current position and threw her to the side. She rolled a little on the dirt before getting back up.
Pearl was the next one to attack him. Using her dancing moves with her spear, she was able to avoid getting grabbed or attacked, but as she was about to inflict some damage, he grabbed her spear and launched her towards Garnet.
Looking at her spear, thought that it would be a replacement for his weapon for now. If she doesn't recall it, that is.
But the most surprising thing was that Steven was able to push him, distracting him for that split moment, enough for Garnet to get up and punch his gut before sending him towards the nearest wall.
Amethyst and Pearl were ready to attack him, but Steven yelled at them.
"Guys! Peridot is escaping!" This made them ignore him for now and rushing towards the fleeing gem.
"You've got nowhere to go!"
"You're cornered!" Amethyst and Pearl said while seeing her someways running towards a wall.
But the most surprising thing, was that she was actually running up the wall.
"Hey! I can't do that." Steven said with a hint of envy.
"Neither can she!" Pearl yelled as she threw her spear up in the air, where Peridot was running.
Sensing danger, she lowered her head and escaped with her head intact.
"Hah! Missed!" She said mockingly, without realizing that the spears original purpose was to hit the injector up above.
Feeling that something had disturbed its slumber, the machine fell towards the green gem.
Looking up, she was shocked to see the machine so close, not giving her time to dodge it.
Yelling with a fear she fell down on the bottom part of the machine.
"Onyx!" She called him for help.
"Little one!" He yelled back while rushing towards her. As the world seemed to slow down, he jumped to her aid grabbing her and safely getting her out of harm, but the landing was too rough and he needed to roll around for a bit.
As the injector fell, a cloud of dust arose from its contact point.
"Do you think she's hurt?" Steven asked concerned to them.
As the cloud settled, they saw that she was safe on his arms.
"Ha ha! Nope!" Amethyst said while lashing her whip again. Getting the both of them stuck on her weapon.
Peridot being the only one that can move her limbs, made a finger of her to electrify the whip. This had a small backfire as Onyx was there too, so he had to suffer through it.
"Oh-ho! Hot whip!" She exclaimed while releasing her weapon and seeing it flail with the electric current. When whip stopped, Amethyst growled at them before noticing that they were actually running away.
"You Crystal Clods! Go ahead! Wreck this place, see if I care! I already got what I needed!" She announced as they ran.
"Get back here!" Pearl ordered while tailing the both of them with Amethyst.
Seeing the both of them being tailed, Onyx pointing up with his fingers to Peridot. Not knowing how, but she understood him and she made her fingers to become five propellers spinning in rapid motions.
With the amount of speed, she started to elevate and took refuge on the sky. She then started laughing hysterically with the newly found safety of the clouds.
Onyx on the other hand, continued to run, at a faster pace, in order to stick close to her.
"I'm going to pop her good!" Amethyst announced with anger present on her tone.
"I will help!" Pearl assisted with her team mate as the both of them ran after them.
During the chase, Onyx noticed that only two gems were rushing towards them, meaning that the other two were probably exploring where they came from.
The shock from early still lingered, making him trip on the ground. To this, Amethyst smirked as they got closer to him.
"Gah! Onyx get up, you clod!" Peridot yelled while still in safety. But as she took her time to look at him, she noticed that sparks came from his right leg.
"Oh no! This is my fault!" She mentally blamed herself as her one and only bodyguard is on the floor.
"Go!" He yelled at her. "I'll slow them down! Just run, Peridot!"
"But-" She didn't want to leave her only companion.
"We'll meet again! Just be safe until then!" He reassured her while his right arm was caught by Amethyst whip.
"Uh..! Uh..! Don't you dare leave me behind! You know where the hub is, right!? DON'T go there!" She yelled while fleeing from the scene.
"Stay safe, little one." He thought to himself as he was sent flying towards a wall from Amethyst's part.
"Amethyst, I'm going after Peridot! Keep him busy!" Pearl said while trying to tail the fleeing green gem, but she was stopped by a path of dark flames.
"I won't let you." He messaged them, the electricity stopped coursing his leg, letting him rise.
The two of them were feeling vibes of danger coming from him. This made the purple gem grip her whip to make sure he wouldn't move that quickly.
She soon regret it as he flailed his arm and black flames rapidly reached her. An explosion engulfed her, pushing her so fast and hard that the wall behind her started to crack. Her whip was completely gone.
"Amethyst!" Pearl called her out before rushing towards him. The two of them parried each strike, both proficient with their current weapon in hand, the spear.
But then, she made the spear on his hand disappear, making him unarmed. A spear almost struck his chest, but with a open palm he redirected it to the side and he used his other hand to move his attack with the flow, making her lose her momentum and then punching her stomach with a closed fist, coated with a black smoke.
Pearl grunted under the attack, almost gagged from the sheer pressure that one simple attack carried on her physical form.
Not letting her have a second to rest, Onyx started to round up strikes on her body. From her arms, to her torso and to her legs. Weakening her in the process.
Two whips lashed around his hands, binding him strikes. Looking back, he saw the purple gem already letting loose purple flames towards him.
In a split second decision, he did the same, though this time the explosion was met closer to him, hence he suffered the aftershock.
Using his now freed arms, he blocked the winds that carried dust with his arms, to avoid being blinded. But that gave him an opening that was seized.
Pearl kicked his chest before using the blunt side of her weapon to hit his chin. Stunned for a moment, Onyx was trying to figure out how to escape the situation.
Two gems against one. He was disarmed and the best he can do is fighting with his knowledge of fighting with his body, no escape from what he could see. The only way to actually escape was if he could make them retract into their gem.
If there was any way for him to survive another day, he needed to be violent, he needed to go back to the war. Back into fighting, the only thing that he knew for sure.
Grabbing the Pearl by the throat he made her rise, her feet were off the ground. He then slammed her against the wall and let herself fall down.
Amethyst was surprised by the sudden action and lashed her whip at him once more, but he was moving too fast for her to get him and such he was already towering in front of her.
Pulling his left hand back, he punched her gut, but didn't let her go with that, with the momentum of the attack, he moved her whole body and slammed her on the floor. Pearl seemed out cold while Amethyst was grunting in pain.
She tried to grab her whip that was close by, but he stepped on her hand. She screamed in anger while still trying to get her whip.
"Argh! Come on! Get closer to me!" She yelled towards her weapon, while containing the pain in her hand.
Looking at her... He was reminded on how he started out. He was beaten at the beginning, judged by how he was different and treated below any gem. Everything is repeating to this Amethyst. She was small, she was weak, but she had one thing that the others didn't had. From the look of how she always looked at Pearl, it can be assumed that she has feelings. Something that Peridot has failed to show him.
He rose his foot and she closed her eyes, fully expecting that he would stomp on her and causing more pain.
"Uh?" But what happened was that, the pain was going away. She looked at him and saw a small ember on his hands, hovering her hand that he had stepped on. "What the... Why are you healing my hand!? We're fighting right now!"
...
He didn't answered and kept healing, making the pain go away and the scratches that he caused to regenerate. After that, he went over Pearl and did the same process on her.
After he had done his healing, he started to leave the area.
"Wait!" Amethyst called him while being in front of him. "Why!?" She questioned him again.
"You remind me of me, when I started." He messaged her with the same black smoke as before.
"Oh! Because I'm defective, right?" She asked with anger towards him. If there was something that she hated to acknowledge was that. But he shook his head.
"You have something that the other gems lack." He responded back while passing beside her.
"Oh yeah? What do I have that they don't!?" She questioned again, yelling with anger.
"Emotions for another." He responded with his pained voice. Questions rose from her mind as he walked away, she grabbed her whip and tried to catch him, but for some reason, she couldn't.
She looked at her hand and saw some small black embers floating on her. They soon disappeared and healed the last remaining of her pain.
"Amethyst?" Pearl called her name while holding her head. Her voice sounded tired.
"Pearl! Are you okay?" She asked her partner while helping her to her feet.
"I'm... Fine." She said while looking around. On the distance he could see the faint silhouette becoming blurry before disappearing. "Where's that Onyx at?" She asked while summoning her weapon.
"He's... Gone. He beat us up really good." She said while looking to the side.
"What?" She said while sounding surprised.
"I guess he isn't called 'Big Brother' for nothing. A super gem like you called him." She said while looking the way they came from. "Come on, we need to report to Garnet."
Though, Amethyst questioned why he healed them if he was their enemy. It just didn't made sense to her. Something she would question Garnet when she could.
