"Aah yes, Era 3. What a time to be alive." Holly Blue Agate beamed, the clacking of her high heels echoing loudly against the deafening silence Homeworld had become. "Well it certainly is…different." Garnet said simply, a shudder shooting up her spine as the group passed yet another statue of Gold Pearl, its eyes appearing to follow them as they went by.
"It truly is. Every change that has been made to this wonderful city has been one that our leader has taken time to plan out. The successful conversion of the Diamond's palace to an injection site, the creation of a home base where our leader oversees production - even the gems that were deemed worthy enough to assist in the creation of Era 3 took time, effort, and energy. Though we will not be here for Era 3, we are lucky enough to play a hand in the creation of it - and I consider that a high honor." the gem beamed.
"And how do the statues help with this creation of Era 3?" Amethyst snarked.
"Amethyst!" Freshwater hissed, shooting the gem a bewildered look as fear shot up her spine.
"Aah, yes. The statues." Holly Blue said, again waving off the gem's attitude problem. "That was actually my idea. While I am honored to be entrusted with ensuring gems don't step out of line with the creation of Era 3, I am simply outnumbered. So, our wonderful leader came up with the idea to use surveillance cameras and place them in each of these statues as both a reminder of her radiance and how if we put a toe out of line she will exact the due punishment. Every night, I review the footage to ensure nothing has gone awry, and if anyone has made the poor decision to turn on our leader I exact the due punishment. We've had a few…incidents, but for the most part, the Ball has made gems quite eager to fall in line." Holly Blue explained as they continued to walk, Freshwater feeling a shudder run down her spine at the matter-of-fact way the gem talked about the shattering of hundreds.
"The strength of Yellow Diamond, mercifulness of Blue, and sheer power of White - plus the know-how of how to get things done. I consider myself to be lucky to be given the opportunity to not only be involved in the steps to create such beauty - but in the process of keeping gems in line to ensure the creation of Era 3 does not go undisturbed." the Agate boasted as they finally came to a stop in front of a beige two story townhome with a wooden front door and rocking chairs on its porch. The sight stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the elaborate, tall, city-esque nature Homeworld had become.
"Aah, here we are. Such a simple structure amongst all of Homeworld's glory, but her Merciful wanted to make you all feel right at home." Holly Blue said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a key before unlocking the door and holding it open for the gems, who each exchanged an awkward look before making their way inside, Freshwater finding herself clutching the ring on her necklace as she walked through the door, Holly Blue at her heels.
As soon as the door closed behind her, Freshwater half expected something horrible to jump out of the shadows or burst through one of the rooms. But no. The home really was just like a townhouse, possessing a couch, kitchen, and a bedroom for each of them, complete with a bed, desk, and even stocked fridge from things from the human zoo.
"I take it everything is to your liking? Gold Pearl was insistent we make this place feel as at home as possible." Holly Blue said, laughing as she watched the gems look around, tension still etched in their faces. "Aah, I see you are still concerned about being attacked here. I can assure you, while you are here, we are under strict orders to not attack any of you unless you step out of line. No harm will come to you here. In fact," she said, picking up a brochure from one of the tables and handing it to Garnet. "Here is a map of the entirety of Homeworld Please feel free to do as much exploring and wandering as you like. Should you need anything, please do not hesitate to let me know via the Diamond line and either myself or one of our many guards will bring you to her majesty. Until then, enjoy your stay here. Feel free to wander the facilities and learn of an Era none of us will be around to witness. For it will be truly beautiful." she said, clasping her hands together before glancing around the room before bowing and making her way out the door.
The tension in the room didn't die until the clicking of the gem's heels had disappeared, Steven being the first to break the silence.
"Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks there's something else going on here." he said, letting out a sigh of relief when the gems nodded in agreement.
"Dude, I don't know what that gem's deal is! She knows we're planning on trying to put a stop to all of this, right? She can't be that cocky that she'd not only let us waltz right in here." Amethyst said, plopping down on the nearest couch.
"She must want something." Garnet said, crossing her arms and leaning against a nearby wall. "It's one thing to be cocky enough to let us come here. It's another thing to build us our own base. I highly suspect it has something to do with this little 'meeting' she wants to set up with Freshwater."
"Probably." Steven murmured. "I just….I wish I knew what she wanted. That way we could at least prepare for it."
"Well, no matter what her plan is, we have to put a stop to it." Garnet said, the gems nodding decisively. "First things first - we need to check out that injection site. See what's going on in there, and maybe try to convert a few gems over to our side. While I'm sure Holly Blue is genuinely dedicated to this cause for prideful reasons of kissing the ass of whoever's in charge, I highly suspect the gems who are following her are doing it out of fear. I doubt many of them want this. They might just be scared to stop it with Holly Blue and those statues watching their every move."
"We're going to have to be quick. If we make our move too close to night time, Holly will rat us out for sure." Steven said.
"Well, what if today we check out the facility and scope out any gems who might be willing to help, along with figuring out how to shut this whole system down? Then, when the time's right, we split up?" Freshwater suggested. "While Holly Blue takes me to see Gold Pearl, you guys can get in and take care of the injectors."
The gems exchanged a look. "Freshwater…are you sure about this? What if-"
"She won't." Freshwater interrupted, holding up a hand to stop the gem. "Holly Blue is….very dedicated to her orders. Gold Pearl wants something from us. I don't know what it is, but she doesn't feel like she can get rid of us and kill us. If Holly Blue so much as touches me, that will be her gem on the line, and she knows that."
"What if it's a trap?" Amethyst protested.
"Then we have these." Freshwater said, holding up the diamond lines. "If I get even the slightest inkling something is wrong, I'll ring it on the Diamond line."
"What if she takes you out before you have a chance? Dude, Pearl will be on our ass if we knowingly send you into this situation and you don't make it out alive." Amethyst grumbled.
Freshwater bit back a small snicker before shaking her head. "It won't come to that." she said, glancing down at Steven and ruffling his hair. "Like Garnet said - we'll keep our buddy system. Gold Pearl is clearly desperate to talk to me, so if I make it a requirement that Steven's with me, she'll probably agree on the spot."
The gems exchanged a look, still unsure.
"Freshwater…are you sure about this?" Garnet asked. "This gem has put you through a lot."
Freshwater nodded. "Yes. I know it's risky but….we have to try something. We can't just sit here and plan all day when we have no idea how close they are to finishing this whole experiment and wiping us out anyway." Freshwater said, dropping her matter of fact tone as her voice softened.
"And…I don't like this idea any more than you do." she said. "Honestly…part of me used to dream of seeing her again so I could show her I'm not scared of her. Do that heroic thing you see in movies where you fight your abuser and you get to stand tall and proud and say something cool like 'You don't scare me anymore.' But…but now that I'm here…" she said, her hands finding their way to the ring around her neck and gently squeezing it for comfort.
"I'm fucking terrified." she finally admitted, her lower lip quivered. "I know that gem wants to hurt me. I see it in her eyes despite the respectful front she's putting on. Believe me, I know how dangerous this is, so I just…I want us to put a stop to this as soon as we can so we can all finally go home and celebrate the end of a war. I want to finally start to build a new era where none of us have to worry about any of this and goes down in history as a war that should have never happened. I want to lie lazily on the couch in the temple in a sleepy daze while my fiance plays her viola and lulls me into a deep and peaceful sleep that won't be interrupted by nightmares of a horrible gem trying to beat me for not saluting properly." she said, wiping tears from her eyes. "I don't want to do this. But I know if I don't, none of us will be free of this war."
Garnet put a gentle hand on the gem's shoulder. "I know you do. We all do." she said, offering the gem a tissue as Steven made his way over and hugged her tightly around the waist. "We won't let anything happen to you. You're part of our family, and if she wants to mess with you, she'll have to go through us first."
Amethyst nodded, placing a hand on the gem's shoulder as Freshwater dried her eyes. "No matter what happens, we've got your back, dude. If anything goes down in that meeting, Sugilite will be down there to put a stop to it so fast none of them will see it coming. Nobody messes with our family and gets away with it."
Freshwater took in a deep breath to calm her nerves, gently caressing the ring dangling from her chain and feeling a sense of comfort come to her.
"She'd be so proud of you." Garnet said with a smile, patting the gem's shoulder, who nodded with a smile.
"I sure hope so." she said, wiping the remaining tears from her eyes as Steven and the others pulled away.
"So. First things first." Steven said,picking up the map that had fallen to the floor and taking a picture of it before handing the physical copy to Garnet and Amethyst. "The injection 're gonna need an idea of how many gems are here, a potential way to destroy the injectors before Gold Pearl sets them off and thousands of new, all-powerful gems emerge, a swift escape plan if things get hairy, and a general idea of how many gems we might be able to convince to join our cause."
"Far easier said than done." Amethyst murmured, glancing over his shoulder at the map.
"But it can be done." Garnet insisted, ruffling the shorter gem's hair with a smile and giving Freshwater a final reassuring pat on the shoulder.
Freshwater took a deep breath to steady herself before nodding decisively.
"Right. It can be done."
…
"Alright Crystal Gems let's get to-" Bismuth immediately cut her loud and boisterous entrance short, her eyes widening as she stepped off the warp pad and gingerly put down the large crate of materials from the forge she had gathered, grateful her greeting hadn't woken any of the gems and humans that were sprawled in couches, atop mats, or in sleeping bags on the floor around her. Shaking her head, the gem did a quick head count before making her way to the balcony and pushed the door open, surprised to see Tourmaline sitting on the shoreline and staring off into space.
For a moment, Bismuth hesitated, her shame keeping her rooted to the spot as she found herself nearly turning to make a hasty retreat until Jet's words rang in her head.
"I can't speak for how B9 will react to our presence, but I think you should consider this your mess up and move on."
"So. I take it the training was successful?"
Tourmaline jumped at Bismuth's voice, her head snapping back in shock before returning to its neutral expression as she nodded, turning her attention back to the ocean.
"Jet did a good job." the fusion said simply, B9's voice dominating Jet's more than usual.
"Well, I'm sure you-"
"Stop." Tourmaline said, holding up one of her hands to stop the fusion. "Don't patronize me, Bismuth." she said flatly.
Bismuth flinched at the gem's hostility but nodded before sitting in the sand, the gems lapsing into tense silence.
"Look…about what happened at the forge…I'm sorry." Bismuth said, staring off into the ocean. "I should have known you wouldn't be okay with the Breaking Point after everything you told me about how Buckstar's shattering effects you. I was so caught up in shattering a Diamond and trying to end this war that I didn't even think how that might affect you. It was a stupid and rash decision. Not only that…but I shouldn't have gotten angry at you for being honest about how you felt." she said, running a hand through her rainbow colored hair. "All I could think about was shattering all three Diamonds, but I wasn't thinking about the short or long term effects that would have. Even if Rose wasn't Pink, I doubt gems would just roll over and turn to freedom after we killed the Diamonds. It wouldn't solve anything. It would just lead to more pain and heartache. I knew how you felt bout shattering, and I still assumed it would be okay to not only tell you about the idea, but get mad at…" the gem grimaced as she continued, "and fight someone I think of as a mentee." she said, sighing and pulling her knees to her chest.
"It's my biggest regret to date. You trusted me enough to be honest with your emotions andtried to stand up to do what you thought was right. Ironically, the very thing I'm fighting for. I, of all people should have been able to understand that - but I couldnt." she said, shaking her head before turning her gaze back to Tourmaline, who by now was staring at the gem with an unreadable expression.
"But I do now. And….I'm sorry. I shouldn't have behaved that way, and if I could, I would go back and undo that. I'm not expecting us to go back to normal, or even for you to forgive me, but I do feel I owe you a serious apology."
For a long moment, Tourmaline stared at the gem before slowly nodding and turnin back to the waves with a sigh. "It's…it's okay. Well…what you did wasn't okay. Look…I'm not ready for things to go back to how they used to be. But I can say I accept your apology." she said, pulling her knees to her chest as she continued. "It takes a big gem to admit when you've made a mistake and own it. I respect that." she said with a sigh. "Hell, I'm not even strong enough to do that yet." she murmured.
"If I've learned one thing from this miserable existence, it's that I am a very flawed gem who needs to sort her shit out." she said, staring out into the waves. "Buck died, and it's like I became a monster. I pushed away the Famethyst and abandoned Jet and Jonathon. Then, when I came back, I blamed them for it. I was so angry Buck put everything on the line for people she cared about. I…I'm still angry at them. I know how wrong it is, but it's like…there's so much anger in me and it's just spilling into things I used to love." she said ith a sigh.
"I guess I didn't realize how bad it had gotten until Jonathon asked why I hated him so much." she murmured, a pang of hurt hitting her chest as Bismuth gave her a shocked look.
"And I just…I didn't have an answer." she murmured. "At first, I tried to help train everyone, but a few minutes in, Jonathon was helping us with the ship, and he made a beginner's error even I would have made at his skill level. I got angry and snapped at him. I…I don't even remember what I said honestly, but it must have been pretty bad because he teared up and just asked why I hated him so much." she murmured. "I ain't seen that boy cry in hundreds of years, so I must've gone too far because I completely halted any process of learning, and next thing I know, the older human is getting in my face and cursing me out something fierce. Called me a horrible gem with serious issues who needed to get her shit together instead of taking it out on a kid."
The gem chuckled. "Must've looked hilarious. A tall, monstrous fusion like myself standing there while a human teenager curses me out so hard it opened my eyes to how much my shitty actions have affected people." she said, shaking her head. "After that, I had to retreat into the fusion and let Jet take care of it. She comforted him and assured him it was okay, then took over the training. Taught him way better than I ever could, and we should be able to start on schedule tomorrow morning. He's…really good actually. With Jet's help, I'm sure he'll be great." she murmured, looking away.
"I just…I wish I coulda been the leader Buckstar thought I'd be. But instead I turned my back on my crew, and I'm pretty sure I'm all out of chances to make it right." she murmured. "Jet says I need help and I need to change, but I don't know how. I just…I wish there was a place people as fucked up as me could go to sort their shit out. Diamonds knows I can't do that on my own, and I don't want to saddle Jet with that responsibility."
Bismuth reflected on the gem's words before nodding and placing a hand on the fusion's shoulder. "Hey…it's okay. Well, it's not okay now, but it will be. Look…the Crystal Gems are all about change. In fact, Rose once mentioned this idea she had - an actual good idea. She wanted ot make a type of school where gems could go after the war. Had a whole blueprint of types of classes she wanted to offer, and even recommended this thing called 'therapy.' It's…for a lot of stuff actually. For gems who have lost their crew, dealing with the trauma that came with the wa…basically any kind of emotional baggage you're carrying, there's someone who's there to talk to you about it and try to help you through it. She said she got the idea after Greg started going to deal with some family problems, and it really helped him process it. It's a lot of work apparently, but he said it was worth it, and Rose feels like it might really benefit a lot of gems and help them move past the war and everything related to it." she explained.
"Look…I don't know what your plans are after all this mess, but I think that something like that could really help you, Jet, and Jonathon. Even if you're unjustifiably angry at both of them, if the three of you are going to be living near each other for the foreseeable future, you should at least be able to be civil with one another."
Tourmaline mulled over the gem's words before nodding slowly. "I…I like that." she admitted. "I don't like the person I am right now and I…I want to change that." she said, glancing up at Bismuth. "Were…were you going to build the school after the war?" she asked tentatively.
Bismuth beamed, thumping her chest proudly. "It's my dream project. But…" she said, her smile faltering slightly. "I could really use another Bismuth on board."
Tourmaline hesitated, glancing at the ocean before turning back, a small smile on her face. "Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that."
…
The gems gawked at the looming building where the Diamond's homes once stood. Saying the building was huge was an understatement, with the warehouse-like facility stretching out for miles and towering over them at four stories tall.
"How the hell are we supposed to navigate this place in time? We don't even know where the gem injectors are at this point." Amethyst asked, throwing her hands up at the building in frustration as Freshwater fingered through the pamphlet Holly Blue had given them, her eyes lighting up when she found what she was looking for.
"Well, we at least have got a map." she said, unfolding the pamphlet and scanning it, letting out a small sigh of relief as she looked up at the others, holding it up for them to see. "Thankfully, it's a lot more easy to navigate than it looks. The first floor is where the gem injectors are put together and shipped out to be placed, the second is where they actually put together the gem injectors, the third is for storage of materials, and the fourth is…well," the gem said, holding up the map for the gems to see, who gasped when they saw the depiction of a pile of gem shards along with an asterisk that identified the entire floor as 'Correctional Facility'.
"I suspect that's where Holly Blue spends most of her time and where she either shatters gems or looks at the footage from the statues." Freshwater said, feeling a shudder run down her spine.
"We won't be going anywhere near that floor. In fact, we won't be in this building for long. Just in and out." Steven said, placing a reassuring hand on Freshwater's shoulder, the gem closing her eyes for a moment, grateful that she wasn't going into any of this alone.
"Alright gems." Garnet said, pushing her visor up as she stared at the building before them.
"Let's find us some new recruits."