Chapter 17: Moving out
It felt like an eternity waiting for Garnet and Citrine to come back. Rose Quartz waited by the edge of the magic barrier, watching the waters in hope that her officers would return.
"Can we hold a vigil for the brothers?" Pearl asked.
"I wish, but they are not of our spire..." Rose explained.
Two gems with air bubbled surrounding them finally emerged from the wall of water. One they were out, Rose Quartz pulled both the gems in for a group hug. Suddenly the pain of loosing friends, didn't sting as much.
"Garnet, I'm so sorry this happened..."
"It's okay, but I need to talk to lady Moon," Garnet flatly stated.
She was more emotionless than usual.
When she reached the top of the Spire, Lady Moon was working on building more gem magic.
"Hey Garnet, how are you?" Lady Moon cheerfully greeted.
"The brothers are dead..."
"What!? Whoo.. Garnet...I'm so sorry..."
Lady Moon was fully aware of the close relationship the three gems had. Garnet was the ultimate gem, but having the twins with her made her even more powerful.
"Why...why didn't you let them come here?"
Lady Moon wrapped her arms around Garnet.
"Oh, sweetie, if I had that choice I defiantly would have. After getting you to the Lunar Spire, Father Moon would have Instantly declared war if I'd taken the Alex brothers,"
"Can't you bring them back?"
"I'm sorry Garnet, not even all lunar power in the Universe could bring them back. A broken gem, is a broken gem,"
Garnet nodded.
"But I do have the power from you to speak with them,"
"Yes, let me see your hands,"
Lady Moon touched the Garnet's on her hand, and then pulled own into a clap. Then lady Moon tapped Garnet's sides, the gem location of the brothers.
"Close your eyes Garnet," Lady Moon ordered.
Suddenly there was a sound, like wind rushing past Garnet's ears.
"Okay Garnet open them," Lady Moon ordered.
In front of Garnet's eyes, stood a red cloud of mist and a green cloud of mist. Garnet dropped to her knees in amazement.
"Boys..." she whispered.
"Garnet! " They both cheered as they floated towards her.
"It's great to see you two, " "We're happy to see you too, but we have important news on the enemy,"
"Wait, you two are solar warriors-,"
"Not anymore we're not," Green explained.
"Our spire has forsaken us. Obsidian was planning on killing you, that's why he took us to the temple with us," Red growled.
"He knew of our friendship, and became jealous, his anger caused him to deceive you, and our anger is what killed him," Green explained.
"He planned this, the only difference is that your not dead Garnet,"
"All three of us can be greatful for that," Garnet bowed her head.
"I'm sorry I didn't stop this...if I were faster...I could have-"
"Garnet, there was nothing you could have done to save us, coming late...was the best option,"
"You still can retain your physical form, giving us a dying wish,"
"The solar spire is after an artifact, the desert glass,"
"Bloodstone is leading an army to find it, you have to get it first or else..."
"I already know, don't worry," Garnet butted in.
The three gems stayed silent for a couple of moments.
"This is it Garnet...," Green trailed off.
"We can't come back, but we'll always be with you,"
Garnet nodded.
The boys pulled Garnet in for one final hug.
"Avenge us Garnet," The boys said in unison.
"I will, I promise,"
The two brothers let go and stood side by side next to Lady Moon.
"You ready?" Lady Moon asked.
"Yes," the brothers croaked.
Lady Moon rose in the air and raised her arms high. The brothers lost their form and turned to green and red mist. The two colors swirled around each other until they reached the sky and disappeared. Lady Moon fell to the ground and floated over to Garnet.
"You going to be okay?" she sympathetically asked.
"Yes, we need to get the army moving," Garnet stated.
She stood up and ran to the stairs. Garnet turned around and looked to Lady Moon.
"Thank you..." Garnet croaked.
"For what my dear?"
"For fighting for me, and letting me see them,"
"No problem sweetheart,"
The red hot desert sun of Egypt burned the heads of the gems below.
"Ugh...how far away is this place," Amethyst complained as she still rode on the butt of her fellow officers horse.
"Close," Garnet stated.
"Turquoise, when are you going to build me a horse?" Amethyst asked.
"I'm not doing it, my students are. Call it a final exam. I'm working on a light cannon for Rose," Turquoise explained.
"Don't worry Captain Amethyst, we'll make your horse the coolest one ever!" Amber bragged while sticking her head up. "Rose, lets stop and camp at those two rocks," Garnet suggested.
"Yeah, good idea,"
When the gems reached the rock, they all set up camp, but this time, everyone shared the same tent.
"We should have done this the last time we deployed, this feels... More united," Citrine observed.
Since Emerald is still sick from the poison, the five officers went after the desert glass. They all hunched down over the map of the desert.
"So, from our sources, and scouts information, the desert glass seems to be hiding in an oasis, underground, in some kind of network of tunnels," Garnet explained. "It's too bad your boyfriends weren't more specific," Amethyst teased.
This got her a swift slap in the back of the head by Citrine and Pearl, simotainiously.
"Shut up, she still may be hurt," Pearl hissed.
Garnet ignored her comment and turned to Rose.
"Once we reach the Oasis, we should split up into groups, to cover more ground,"
"Great idea Garnet, and we can all use the new stuff that Turquoise has made for us," Rose suggested.
Suddenly, Turquoise and her students busted through the gem shard wall that was separating the officer room. "My fellow officers! Do I have a treat for you!" the blue gem beamed.
"We, the engineer gems, have came up with a device that allows us to communicate without us being in the same place!" Amber explained.
Angel Quartz held up a device that looked similar to a watch, except with every alive gem known to the spire on it.
" Tourmaline and Amber will be demonstrating the device, " Turquoise announced.
"To contact a gem, lets say that Amber wants to talk to Tourmaline, " Angel Quartz explained.
"All she simply has to do is tap the gemstone, "
"And wala! We have communication!" "The only hard part is, everyone is going to need custom devices, "
"Since we've been in our way here, we've managed to build them for the officers to talk to everyone else,"
" Mm...I may have a solution to your lack of help," Rose said.
"Anything Rosey," Angel replied.
"Well, since we're grounded until we figure out how dangerous the area is ahead, why don't one of you conduct a class on how to build a gem communicator?"
"Great idea Rose, but who will keep watch?" Amber asked.
"We'll rotate guards every 6 hours," Garnet decided. "Okay so, Angel will start the first class in 30 minutes. We'll judge how fast this one goes to determine how much time. the next class needs," Turquoise concluded.
"Oh yeah Captain Amethyst! I'm almost finished with your horse!" Amber exclaimed.
"And I've taken the liberty to upgrade everyone else's," Tourmaline beamed.
"Wow Turquoise, your new students are getting so much stuff done," Pearl complemented.
"Thanks, go on girls, me and the officers need to talk," Turquoise ordered.
Her students nodded, and took off to do their jobs.
"They've been working so hard lately," Turquoise mentioned.
"I think they deserve a promotion, " Pearl suggested.
"But before them, I think you should be promoted to General," Garnet pointed.
"Wow, really guys?" Turquoise squealed.
The officers nodded.
"After we find the desert glass, we'll gladly ask Lady Moon to make you an officer badge," Garnet explained with a smile.
"Thanks guys, "
the order to move out, under the cover of the moon.
"Finally! I got my horse. Oh Pearl look at mine, it's so much bigger than yours," the purple gem bragged.
Pearl rolled her eyes.
Amethyst's horse was a violet purple, with midnight purple eyes. The horse' s hair was long and faded from dark purple to light purple. The saddle came with packets filled with candy gem shards, Amethyst's favorite snacks.
"So Turquoise, whats her special ability?" Amethyst asked.
"When your in trouble, her hoofs are able to secrete purple liquids, that are able to make your enemies be stuck in one place. She also has snack pouches, that was Amber's idea," Tourquoise explained. "Your welcome!" Amber yelled over to Amethyst.
"Gems, we're here," Garnet stated.
Turquoise started to hand out different colored pieces of chalk.
"Okay gems, we split by color! Red gems with Garnet, Yellow and brown gems with Citrine, Purple and Green gems with Amethyst, Blue and White gems with Pearl, everyone else, follow me!" Rose ordered.
"Engineer, we stay above ground and guard the hole," Turquoise added.
"Gems, move out!" Garnet said.