A satisfying click echoed against the cold walls of the cave room as Garnet slowly levitated the translucent prism down into it's place in the massive complex system of marble gears on the floor. A low, hollow groan sounded as it, slow at first but then rapidly accelerating, began to shift. Stephen felt dizzy at the convoluted movements, but as quickly as they started, they slowed to a halt.
"Excellent!" Pearl exclaimed. "With the silicate key in place, we won't have to worry about the system for another thousand years!"
"Ideally." came Garnet's reply. "So long as nothing else disturbs it."
The group exited the room into a large cavernous hall, sparsely lined by stone stalactites and crystal clusters. To their right, a massive pit led down into darkness; a pathway carved into the cave wall led its way down from the room at the top to the exit.
As they walked, Steven made note of Amethyst's relative silence. She had hardly said – or done – anything for the entirety of the mission. He walked back to her, leaving Pearl and Garnet in the lead as they talked.
"Amethyst?" Steven ventured. "Are you alright?"
"Fine." she replied curtly.
Her tone of voice and despondent body language made it obvious to Steven that she wasn't, but he didn't press any further. He wondered to himself if she was still reacting to the revelations from over a week prior. It's not like her to be so down for so long.
A deep rumbling cut his thoughts short. As the cave began to shake, clusters of stones and clouds of dust fell from above into the pit below.
"W-what is that?" Steven asked, the shakiness in his voice as much a product of the tremor as of anxiety.
He didn't need to wait long for an answer. The carved wall of the cave erupted in front of him as a pair of creatures stormed onto the pathway. Easily more than thrice his size, their thick, segmented, milky-white carapaces made intimidating forms only accentuated by their rows upon rows of squirming legs and an impressive set of clasping mandibles.
"Look out!" Garnet said, summoning her gauntlets as pearl readied her spear.
Streams of liquid shot towards Garnet and Pearl from the hissing creatures' mandibles, solidifying almost immediately and encasing the pair to their necks in solid pillars of rock.
"I can't move!" Pearl said, struggling desperately against the material.
Amethyst wasted no time in charging forward, whip at the ready. A shot from the foes forced her to the very edge of the pathway, nearly sending her off into the abyss, before she side-stepped back to solid ground. Cutting through the air, her black whip wrapped around the midsection of the creature that had attacked Pearl. Amethyst jumped on the hissing thing's back and held on to it tightly.
"Woo-hoo! Way to go, Amethyst!" Steven cheered from a distance. A shot from Amethyst's monster, now squirming and firing wildly with the gem on its back, landed at his feet, making him recoil.
In a stroke of inspiration, Amethyst summoned another whip and wrapped it around the creature's neck. Grabbing both ends like makeshift horse reins, she directed the still-firing thing to face its comrade. Sure enough, Amethyst's monster blasted the other into the rock wall, sending it into it's marbled-white gem in the process.
Bits of rock flew in all directions as Garnet burst out of her encasement, gauntlets raised. "Amethyst, now!" she shouted, her fist rocketing up to its target's jaw.
Amethyst dismounted the creature just as the uppercut hit. The monster hit the ceiling; only its gem hit the floor. The gems gave sighs of relief.
"Ooh, ooh! Can I bubble these ones?" Steven asked with excitement.
"Sure Steven." Garnet said, approaching Pearl, still immobilized by the rock. "Hold still."
Pearl still winced when the gauntlet hit the rock, but the structure cracked and crumbled harmlessly to her feet.
"Oh, thank you, Garnet!" Pearl thanked her. "Expertly handled with that uppercut, I might add." She turned to her other companion. "And Amethyst! That was very..." she paused upon seeing the gem's downcast expression. "What's wrong?"
Amethyst huffed. "Nothing! I'm fine!" She turned and ran down the path, leaving a confused team behind.
"Oh..." Pearl said, now anxious about her friend.
"Amethyst!" Steven called to his friend as he walked from the house down to the beach. She laid face-up by the water's edge, letting the tide slowly come up to her ankles.
"Hey, Steven," came her tired reply. She did not sit up to look at him.
Frustrated, Steven walked directly beside the gem. "What's going on? You're stressing us all out! What's wrong?"
Amethyst did not respond.
"Come on, this isn't like you!" Steven could feel himself becoming more irritable. He took a few breaths and sat down next to her. "Is this about Pearl?"
Amethyst sat up suddenly. "Of course it is! Did you see her and Garnet on the mission today? They are, like, totally a thing now!"
"What!?" he said, initially shocked, before he cocked his head in confusion. "Really? What do you mean?"
"Didn't you see them? Acting all buddy-buddy and affectionate and stuff?"
He shrugged.
Exasperated, she stood and continued. "I'm telling you, after you told Garnet, I'm sure she confessed her undying love and stuff!" With a glow of light, she transformed her body into Garnet's form, speaking in an only vaguely accurate impression of her. "Pearl, I too am hopelessly in love with you, but I have not been strong enough to say it. Let us ride into the sunset together." Shape shifting again, she took the form of Pearl. "Oh, of course! Let us be together forever because we're absolutely perfect!" By the end of her tirade, Amethyst was no longer trying to maintain her impression, but was shouting in her usual voice. She sat down again, letting out a noise of frustration. "I can't stand it!"
Apprehensively, Steven ventured some advice. "Amethyst, you're making less sense than usual, but if it's stressing you out so much, maybe it'd be better if you told the others and talked about your problems?"
"What!?" came Amethyst's explosive reply. "No! Pearl can't know, that'd only make it worse!"
Steven failed to see how, but he thought back to last time, when he had told Garnet about Pearl without Pearl's permission. "If you say so."
Pearl sat at the trunk of what used to be her favorite tree. It's a shame, she thought to herself, but she was still aware that the tree was not actually what was on her mind. Instead, she thought of her teammate and how... off she had been. She really hasn't been herself lately, she thought. I haven't seen her laugh or joke around or even smile. She's been distant. The thought was disquieting at the very least. No, not disquieting. More like worrying. She traced her fingers around the rings of the tree absentmindedly.
I miss her.
A/N: Sorry for the wait! Writing this chapter was more difficult than I anticipated. I'm still trash at action, but there's only one way to fix that, I suppose!
Again, thank you guys so much for the support. Before I started posting this story, I thought it might be the only fic I would post, but now I'm hooked! This story might come to a close soon, but you can expect more from me! (Mostly shipfics and emotional things tbh)