CHAPTER 7: LIVING NIGHTMARES
"Peridot… what are these pillars?" Garnet asked as she looked around the room and spotted several pillars scattered on the ground.
"No… no… they shouldn't be here! They should be inside the walls! T-they can't have gotten out on their own!" Peridot said, as she took a step back.
"You are right little traitor… I took them out…"
As soon as Steven and all of the gems heard a voice coming from behind them, they immediately turned around. In front of them stood a humped figure… completely covered by a black cloak.
"And now… you have all fallen into my trap…"
The dark figure began to titter as a long, thin arm emerged from the black mantle. It all happened in a moment… the figure stretching its arm towards the gems… a bolt of energy springing from its hand… and Steven jumping in front of everyone.
"STEVEN NO!" Pearl screamed trying to grasp him, but failing in the attempt.
A cloud of dust was raised in the air as the humped figure chuckled maliciously… but it stopped as the cloud began to dissipate revealing a bright, pink light. Just a moment before the bolt of energy could hit the gems, Steven managed to get in front of them and summon his shield, preventing all of them from being burnt to ashes.
"Your will to protect the others instead of you doesn't make you stronger… it'll be your ruin…"
The figure murmured as it turned around and began to walk up the tunnel. Garnet tried to run after the mysterious assailant… but she stopped as she heard a noise coming from behind them. The group turned around and noticed that the pillars were trembling.
"What is inside of them?" Pearl whispered as they all stepped closer.
"The reason why I have been sent here… w-we must run…" Peridot said as she began to step back.
But it was too late… the pillars exploded as many, little agglomerates of gem shards began to raise in the air. As they began to glow… multiple limbs and faces began to emerge from them and, as their screams of agony began to fill the room, the gems summoned their weapons, ready to face the nightmares that were slowly approaching them… all except Garnet, who seemed to be petrified in front of what, sadly, was exactly what she thought these monsters were.
"It… it can't be…" Garnet whispered as one of the clusters approached her.
"Garnet!" Pearl said as she summoned her spear and threw it towards the screaming monster.
As the others kept fighting against all of the abominations, Garnet collapsed on her knees, unable to move, as tears began to stream down her face. Steven noticed another cluster which was going to reach Garnet, he began to run towards her and as he reached her, he enveloped both of them inside of one of his bubbles.
"Garnet! Garnet, please! What is happening to you! Look around you! We need your help!" Steven shouted as he took her face between her hands.
"S-Steven…" Garnet whispered as she looked at him.
She turned her gaze towards the monster who was pounding furiously on Steven's bubble and as she gritted her teeth, she stood up and summoned her gauntlets. Steven dropped his bubble and as the cluster tried to assault them, Garnet blocked it. For just one moment, she hesitated, as it looked like if in the eyes of that abomination there was still a glimmer of conscience… but now it didn't matter… that monster tried to hurt her family and she wasn't going to forgive that. She punched the beast and as it stepped back and hit the wall behind them, it disappeared into a cloud of smoke.
"Garnet? Is everything-" Steven tried to ask, but as he saw Garnet walking past him he stopped.
Garnet kept walking without saying a word until she was in front of Peridot. Needless to say, no one expected what came next. She grabbed the green gem by her neck and pinned her against one of the room's walls.
"THOSE WERE CRYSTAL GEMS! ISN'T IT! SAY IT!" Garnet screamed as Peridot shut her eyes.
"Garnet wait!" Steven said as he tried to reach her, but was stopped by Pearl, who grabbed him by his arm and held him close, she knew that when Garnet was enraged, it wasn't a good idea to interfere, even if it was Steven the one who was trying to stop her.
"P-please! I-I-" Peridot begged as Garnet raised her fist.
"SAY IT!" Garnet screamed furiously.
"Y-yes! H-Homeworld used t-the shards of the hostile g-gems w-who died during t-the rebellion in order to verify the p-possibility t-that artificial f-fusions c-could actually exist!" Peridot screamed as tears began to stream down her face.
"All those who we couldn't find… they have always been here… buried underground… forced together…" Garnet whispered as a small tear streamed down her face.
"P-please… I… I have nothing to do with this!" Peridot said as she began to tremble.
"Garnet… she is on our side… she saved Steven… don't you remember what she did for us?" Pearl said as Garnet lowered her fist.
"I… I'm sorry…" Garnet said as she let Peridot go, who fell on her knees, and began to pick up and bubble all the clusters scattered on the ground.
"So Homeworld sent you here in order to check the progress of their… experiments?" Pearl said as she helped Peridot to stand up.
"No… these were just prototypes for their final experiment… the cluster…" Peridot said as she wiped her cheeks.
"What is that?" Amethyst asked as Peridot formed her holographic interface.
"At the very center of this planet a single, massive agglomeration of gem shards is now incubating, that is the cluster… and when it will take its physical form… it'll destroy the planet…" Peridot said as Pearl, Amethyst and Steven's eyes became wide.
"W-we must stop it!" Steven said as Garnet approached him.
"B-but how?! I-If what Peridot says is true… t-than we'll need some kind of machine to take us to the center o-of the Earth… and… e-even if we could manage to reach it… how could we destroy it?!" Pearl asked frenetically.
"First of all… let's return to the temple… then we'll discuss about this cluster and how we could stop it…" Garnet said as she gently placed a hand on Steven's shoulder.
"Ehm… guys?" Steven asked as all of the gems turned towards him.
"What is it Steven?" Pearl said as he looked around.
"Where's Lapis?" Steven asked, unable to see the blue gem anywhere.
"Did she escape?" Peridot wondered as they began to walk up the tunnel.
"We don't have time for this… we have to go back to the temple…" Garnet said as she kept walking towards the warp pad, all of the gems following her, except for Pearl, who stopped walking as she felt someone pulling the flake of her dress.
"Pearl… I know this is really important but… could you help me find Lapis? She would have never left us in danger… but… if it happened… it must be because something bad happened to her…" Steven asked with a worried look on his face.
"Of course Steven…" Pearl said, she knew that Garnet wanted them to come up with a plan to stop the cluster, but she also knew how important Lapis was for Steven, just like the other members of his family, how could she refuse to help him?
All of them stepped on the warp pad and disappeared into the beam of light… not noticing that… as soon as they went away… something began to crawl out of the tunnel. As the gems warped back at the temple, Garnet, Amethyst and Peridot began to discuss about the cluster. Steven and Pearl instead, went out and began to look for Lapis. Steven decided to look for her in the city, while Pearl decided to reach the cliff over the temple, in order to have a better visual… and while she approached it… she began to hear muffled sobs.
"Lapis?" Pearl asked as she spotted the blue gem, sitting on the ground, with her face hidden between her knees.
"I… I'm so sorry…" Lapis said as Pearl approached her.
"Lapis… what happened?" Pearl asked as she stood behind her.
"I…I couldn't take it… th-those gems… forced together… they were trapped… Homeworld couldn't just let them rest… they had to use them! Why… why Homeworld have to be so… cruel… a-and why… why couldn't I be stronger… I'm… I'm just too weak…" Lapis hissed as she clenched her fists.
"Lapis… you aren't weak… you are one of the most powerful gems I have ever met… you suffered so much but instead of giving up… you decided to fight for the ones you care for… that isn't something that weak people do… believe me when I say that you are strong… stronger than you think…" Pearl whispered as she walked in front of her, kneeled down and raised her face with her hands, giving her a sweet smile.
"Thank you… Pearl…" Lapis whispered cracking a little, sad, smile.
"You know… when I'm sad… I try to concentrate on the things I enjoy very much doing…" Pearl said trying to cheer her up.
"Like what?" Lapis asked.
"Oh… I like to meditate… to practice with my swords… to dance…" Pearl said as Lapis sighed.
"I… I enjoyed dancing very much too… but it became something that scares me…" Lapis said keeping her gaze low, as the thought of Malachite came to her mind.
"W-well… c-could I change that?" Pearl asked, standing up and offering the blue gem her hand, indeed, she had always thought that Lapis was one of their most powerful enemies, but now that she was one of them, she could see how Lapis really was, she was scared, scared of being unable to protect the one she cared for… just like Pearl… and just like her she needed someone to reassure her and show her how much strong she really was.
"I…I'd like it very much…" Lapis said smiling, as she stood up and took Pearl's hand.
Steven began to walk back towards the house, sadly, he couldn't find his fried, but he still had hope that Pearl managed to find her, so much had happened during those days, he began to think about the cluster, about the strange figure that attacked them in the Kindergarten's control room, but his train of thoughts was interrupted when something caught his attention… a bright light coming from the cliff over the temple.
"Pearl… did… did we?..."
"O-oh… Lapis I-I'm so sorry! J-just let me-"
"No! No… wait… it's… it's… really nice… I… I had forgotten what it felt like to do this with someone you trust…"
"Y-you trust me?"
"Of course… you know… we are more similar than I initially thought…"
"I'm… glad we can finally get along…"
"Me too… thank you… for what you said to me… you are one of the few I can really call… friend…"
"I-I… well… you just needed someone to show you how much strong you really are… I… I didn't do something really amazing…"
"You're wrong… you did something extraordinary… and you did it for me… so… let me repay you…"
"L-Lapis why are we walking towards the cliff?!"
"Feel what real freedom is Pearl!"
And that was it, real freedom, when Angelite stepped off the cliff and hovered in the air.