Chapter 23, war… war never changes… except for the place, the time, the people fighting it, why they're fighting, what weapons they're using… you know what? War always changes! What moron came up with that slogan?
I don't own Steven Universe.
Chapter 23: Wooden
A hundred years later…
The rain was coming down hard, and the battlefield was quiet now.
It was funny.
Only a little while ago it had been alive with the sound of clashing weapons and artillery fire, but now? Now it was quiet. Silent.
Flint sat down on an outcropping of rock and wiped some mud from her chin. The war for Earth had been much of a stalemate. Every time it seemed Homeworld took back another facet from the rebels they'd receive reports about one of their other bases on Earth falling to them. Well, all except the galaxy warp she supposed, which the rebels had destroy beyond recognition, now just a pile of shiny stone and smooth marble. They had taken the site back many time, but every time they did and began to reconstruct it the rebels would show up and return it to rubble.
There had been talks about trying to build structures elsewhere but that had its own problems.
For one, even if they somehow managed to keep it a secret from the rebels, it would have to remain that way for years. Which was pretty much impossible to do.
Rose Quartz, the Rose Quartz. When Flint had first seen her, she didn't really know what to think. She had heard from Peridot that Pink Diamond had requested her creation, the creation of all Rose Quartz, some new gem type, but she wouldn't say more than that.
Flint had done some inspection to the Rose Quartz line, and for the most part they just seemed to be another quartz-type of a different color, no more or less. Except for the Rose Quartz who stood head and shoulders above her sisters. In the following years after her creation, Pink seemed to have taken a special interest in her, taking her under her wing and teaching the gem everything she knew.
Now she was rebelling against Pink Diamond, against them all. Though why she was rebelling was the really confusing part. Rose's usual mantra that was heard was that she wanted for life on Earth to be protected and preserved and for all gems to have the freedom to choose what they want to do, who they want to be.
This was confusing to Flint because, as far as she knew, Pink Diamond wanted the same thing. So why act against her like this?
The grey quartz then considered her own feeling on the subject. To say she cared about life on Earth wouldn't be untrue. They had their charms, and they were interesting beings these organics, in their own flawed way. But would she have fought Homeworld to protect them? Not likely. But if it had been Pink Diamond who had staged this rebellion, would she have then?
Flint shock her head. "No point in dealing with in the 'what ifs'." She thought as an amethyst approached and saluted her. The grey quartz made a waving gesture and she relaxed. "Commander Flint! Urgent call from Pink Diamond!"
Flint nodded, standing up. "Thanks, you can go now." The grey quartz ran her fingers through her hair before walking over towards the portable camp they'd set up.
As Flint walked she watched her troops cleaning up what was left. The battle hadn't been very long but it had been one of the bigger ones they'd had since the rebellion began. Shards of troops from both sides littered the ground, making the muddied field light up and twinkle with each lightning flash.
The grey quartz stepped inside the small portable structure and was met with salutes. She waved them off and they went back to their duties. Since the rebellion had begun Flint had been essentially the commander of Homeworld's forces, only three other gems were given such authority here. The only one with higher authority than herself on this planet now was Pink Diamond.
She didn't really care for it.
She preferred to do the work of regular soldiers, not of commanders. She wanted to fight and win on the front lines not plan and lead from the back and send troops to their destruction. So, that's exactly what she did. When Flint was on the field she lead by example and often rallied her troops to victory. So, while she was the commander she was also one of their best warriors and supposedly that inspired her troops. She didn't know about all that. All she did was fight and lead the best she knew how. Still, the respect she'd gained from it felt pretty good, if nothing else.
On a small holographic table in front of her the image of Pink Diamond appeared before her. Flint saluted to the image, if for no other reason than to make sure the gems around her knew of her respect for the Diamond despite their mostly informal relationship.
"Flint. Report."
"My Diamond, we've managed to route the rebel forces here, sector R7 of facet 2 is secure."
"That's good to hear Flint. I knew I was right sending you."
Flint couldn't hold back a cocky grin. "I aim to please."
"How many did we lose?" Pink asked.
"Estimates range in the hundreds on both sides, possibly thousands." She replied grimly.
"I see. Was there any sign of her?"
Flint shook her head. "There were reports that she may have been, but nothing was confirmed."
Pink nodded. "Understood. Thank you." The transmission ended.
Flint took a big sigh. She had a feeling this war had only just-
"Commander!" came a voice from outside. The quartz turned to look and saw a ruby saluting to her.
"What is it?"
"We found an intact gem." She informed.
"One of ours?"
She shook her head. "I don't think so." She said producing the stone. It was blue and in the shape of a tear. Flint picked it up, inspecting it.
"A lapis lazuli gem?" She turned it over and over in her hand. Not a single scratch on it. "Where did you find this?"
"Just… did. I was walking around and then I saw it and picked it up." The ruby said simply.
"Looks like we got a prisoner to interrogate later then." Flint replied as she bubbled the gem.
This was an odd find to say the least. Any gem that lost their physical form in the midst of battle was usually destroyed shortly thereafter. But this gem didn't have so much as a scuff mark on it. Almost… almost as if it had been placed there deliberately.
But why?
Pink Diamond rubbed her temples, this was already the fourth call she'd made today and it wasn't even mid-day on Earth. Checking on her commanders and looking over report after report day in and day out was her routine now. She looked past them towards the planet right outside the window. She hadn't been able to walk freely on the Earth in over eighty years, something she dearly missed. She noticed another call coming in. And speaking of routing and calls…
She pressed a single button and the frowning face of Yellow met the weary one of Pink. "Pink, it's been one hundred sixty-eight hours. Any updates?"
"Nothing significant since the last time. We've won a battle."
"A single battle. But not the war." Yellow replied in the superior-to-you tone she was used to using.
Pink narrowed her eyes. "What do you want me to do? We have no idea where the Crystal Gems are hiding."
Yellow considered this. "Yes, it seems like they're always a single step ahead of us."
The young Diamond straightened up a bit. "You think there's a traitor among us."
"Without a doubt."
"How do we find this traitor?"
"I have a few ideas on that." Yellow replied confidently.
"Such as?"
"I'm sending more reinforcements. They have something that may help you with this problem."
"Very well. If there's nothing else-"
"Yes, actually, there is." Yellow said. "You see, I had a thought."
"Just the one?" Pink asked, perhaps a little too snidely.
Yellow sneered at her but continued. "These gems, when we last dealt with 'rebels' all those years ago, we Diamonds all partook in the battles fought and from beginning to end it was all over in the span of several months. I believe we can bring a swifter end if we do the same here."
Pink's eyes shot open at that as she suddenly leaned forward. "What?! Are… are you saying you and Blue are coming here?"
Yellow shook her head. "The situation is not quite that dire yet. No, you are the one who will be doing the fighting this time." Yellow pressed a few buttons on her throne and suddenly a holographic map was in front of Pink, a detailed depicting of a base of some sort as well as a map to its location. "My sources tell me of a large rebel base at these coordinates, you will find it and destroy it."
Pink paused, processing the information. "Very well, I'll assemble a team of my best-"
"No." Yellow said, cutting off her little sister.
"No?"
"Yes. No." Yellow confirmed. "You will go there and you will go there alone."
Pink gave a true look of confusion. "What?! You expect me to assault a heavily-armed base by myself."
"I do."
"The odds would be terrible! I'd be outnumbered a thousand to one!"
"Ten-thousand would still not equal the might of a single Diamond." Yellow said pointedly. "I know of your powers, Pink. The area which this base is located in is heavily covered with those organics you seem to have an affinity with. You should be able to do this. And I will make sure you are."
"How's that?"
Yellow pressed another button on her throne and suddenly from above Pink a small orb descended and from it grew an eye. It looked at her and blinked… or maybe it was a wink, the young Diamond couldn't really tell with only one eye. "This is a wandering eye drone. With it, I'll be able to record and see everything it sees."
Pink looked at it then back to her sister. "When were you going to tell me about this thing? Were you going to use it to spy on me?"
"It hasn't been used before now and I would never use it for such a purpose Pink. Calm yourself." The drone floated down to Pink and hovered by her shoulder. "Simply take it with you and it will do the rest. It has self-preservation protocols so the odds of it getting destroyed before its purpose is complete is low."
"Good to know." Pink said watching it for a moment before turning back to her sister. "I suppose I should get going then."
"Good luck and be safe, little sister. Show them the might of the Diamonds." With that Yellow's picture faded and Pink was left alone.
She looked to the still floating map and sighed. Shutting it off and heading for her personal craft, the eye close behind.
Meanwhile...
The rain was still coming down hard at Echo base. Bismuth had just heard about another battle loss and was assessing the data presented to her. She didn't really like all this commanding stuff. She'd rather be at her forge right now, coming up with some new weapons for her fellow gems against the homeworld flunkies. But Rose trusted her to watch over Echo for now, at least until she could find someone suitable to replace Bismuth there. "Pfft." Thought Bismuth "Good luck with that."
Suddenly an alert went off on Bismuth's console. She quickly assessed the situation it described. An unknown object had just triggered their outermost perimeter sensors. It had landed several clicks from them to the west. Bismuth accessed the intercom, it might be the enemy had finally found them. "Crystal gems! Listen up! Looks like somebody wants to crash our party! We going to let them Echo base?!" A series of whoops and hollers could be heard from all over and the multi-colored gem grinned. "That's what I thought! Let's show them what happens when you fight on our turf!" Echo base had top notch fortifications, Bismuth had made sure of that personally and over twenty-four hundred gems here. Whoever had just come was in for a world of hurt.
Suddenly a voice rang clear cutting through the night and rain. One that Bismuth recognized instantly. "Crystal gems! Give up this place! Flee or surrender peacefully now! I promise if you comply none of you will be broken! But to any who stay, be warned, you will lose this base and you will lose your lives."
Bismuth gave a cocky grin, cranking the volume on the intercom. "Well, well, well! Would you look what we have here gems! Pink Diamond herself has graced us with her presence! What an honor! Am I right?!" A round of booing and hissing was heard, echoing through the trees. She watched as most of her fellow gems were starting to get into defensive positions, on turrets and watching from the walls. "Tell you what Pink Diamond, you want to take this base?! Why don't you come and GET IT?!" she finished as the last of the words echoed through the base and out into the dark jungle.
The drone looked to Pink, the small buzzing voice of Yellow Diamond emanating from it. "You've given them their chance Pink. Show them what it means to challenge a Diamond."
Pink Diamond nodded once and the drone floated off, getting a safe distance away as Pink clasped her hands together in front of her and closed her eyes. "Forgive me."
The multi-colored gem got from her commander's office and walked out to one of the inner ramparts of the base. It was two stories one lower to the ground and wide, its perimeter being the outer rampart and the inner rampart in the middle of it, taller and a bit more defensive than its counterpart. She looked west towards the source of the initial disturbance. "That's where she'll strike from, I bet." She said to one of the gems standing next to her.
Suddenly the sound of wood bending and scraping against itself began to be heard from all across the dark jungle, the vague outlines of trees even just outside the base in the pitch blackness could be seen moving. Many of them looked like they were twisting and turning. Others looks like they were vibrating violently, and more still seemed to be moving back and forth or gaining and losing height.
Then just as suddenly, it went quiet. The sound of rain now the only thing in the darkness that could be heard.
WHAM
Bismuth and her gems looked towards the west door.
WHAM
Something was beating against it and Bismuth smiled. "See? Just like I-"
WH-WHAM
The multi-colored gem and others now looked towards the east door. The slamming on both doors was happening just out of synch and this confused Bismuth. Did Pink Diamond have extra forces? She was sure she saw only one signature and it was a small one at that. Maybe she somehow lead a few hundred gems there from far off so they couldn't properly see the numbers? But then why-
WH-WHA-WHAM
Now the north gate was pounding too. This didn't make any sense, there was no way Pink had brought enough gems for a three-door siege. What was going on here?
Suddenly the whacking stopped. The metal now a little indented from where it had been struck. A tiny piece of wood slipped in each of the doors and then quickly bent the metal even more until it appeared as if two wooden hands were grasping each of the doors and pulling them apart. The crystal gems sprang into action, slashing or beating or shooting, but to little avail, the wood was far too thick for any weapon to cut it all the ay through and eventually the doors on each side were fully open. All the crystal gems tensed, expecting Homeworld gems to start pouring in, but a moment passed than another, still no charge from the outside.
Then off in each distance a figure approached. When they were near enough to see Bismuth looked at them quizzically. They looked like the trees from around the jungle, but they were much different. For one they moved. Bismuth had never seen them do that. For another they had bodies, as in body bodies. They moved like other moving organics especially the "gorillas" or the "humans".
One of the crystal gems approached one of the trees and it watched her curiously. The quartz then however side stepped it and cut the tree creature's hand from its wrist. It looked to her and then lifted its stump up, eyeing it, then without even looking the tree smacked the gem away, hitting her across her mid-section and sending her flying.
As if on command a whole bunch of these creatures began to pour in from every direction, all of varying sizes and design. Bismuth jumped down from the inner ramparts and transformed her hands into sharp blades. She fought fiercely as tree after tree kept pouring in and second after second more and more gems were getting poofed. But after fighting ferociously, the last creature fell and Bismuth raised her arms in victory.
"Whoo!" she called out. "Is that all you got Pink Diamond?! A few trees?! We are the crystal gems! You're going to have to do better than that!" Other called out in agreement, more than half of the original gems still standing.
THOOM
A sound echoed in the distance and all turned towards the west gate again.
THOOM
"GET READY!" Bismuth called out again entering a battle stance.
THOOM
Some of the gems on the outer walls froze, others dropped their weapons and jumped down.
"What is it?!" Bismuth called out. "What do… you… see…"
All gems were suddenly silent and frozen as a large silhouette towered before them all. It was one of the tree creatures like before, but almost three times the size of the outer ramparts. A sudden flash of lightning and Bismuth spotted Pink Diamond on its shoulder.
The Diamond raised her hand and the creature did the same, Bismuth's eyes widened as the Diamond then brought her hand down. "GEMS! MOVE! NOW!" But it came a bit too late the mighty and think wooden arm of the creature smashed apart the ramparts with absolute ease and continued on until it hit the metal plates of the floor below it. The metal floor easily gave way and launched gems into the air as the metal was bent inwards. Hundreds, if not thousands of bright lights shined as gems lost their physical forms, many shattered instantaneously while others were smashed against walls or the metal floor.
The multi-colored gem stared in shock and awe but was able to shout out a few words to all remining gems. "GEMS! RETREAT! RETREAT!"
The remining gems headed south towards where they were keeping their aircraft but the creature was advancing quickly, knocking apart the remaining rampart and now working on the upper ramparts. Once it got past that, it would be upon the landing pad. The first of the gem pilots got to the landing pad and quickly did engine checks as the massive wooden creature ripped apart Echo base's command center, throwing it through the air and into the darkness of the forest where it crashed somewhere off in the distance, some poor unfortunate gems likely still within.
The first aircraft managed to get airborne but as it began to take off and away, dozens of thick vines shot from the creature's body and tethered it. The engines began to burn through them but not fast enough as the great wooden arm came up again and smacked it out of the air, sending it spinning towards the ground a few clicks away before it exploded.
There were only three more transports left that could leave and Bismuth was getting on the last one as the other two simultaneously rose to leave. Pink eyed them and reached out with the vines again and grasped them. They attempted to pull away going in opposite directions, but with a single and mighty yank of the creature they were suddenly pulled closer together, colliding in the air and exploding. In a shower of metal and shards.
Bismuth passed a dozen and a half gems before she got to the pilot's seat. "Can't this thing go faster?!"
The gem turned to her. "If that thing set its eyes on us it won't matter if we're in the air or not!" she called back.
"Just do it! Before we-!" Bismuth turned to the window and saw the creature eyeing them and raising its hand one last time.
Suddenly the side of the creature's head exploded and it turned to see several gems on what remained of the ramparts, wielding heavy ordinance. Pink had blocked the explosion of the rocket with an instinctual guard of thick wood. She began to raise her hand to strike at these gems and the creature did the same.
Bismuth turned to the pilot. "This is our chance! It's distracted! GO, GO, GO!" As the creature dealt with the last of the resistance the remaining ship rose into the air and shot off into the night.
Pink and the drone watched it go. "They escaped." Pink observed.
"Indeed. But perhaps that's for the best. They will spread word of this! And I will spread recordings of this night throughout all the Empire, so all may know the penalty of disobedience!" The drone said gleefully.
Pink patted the creature twice and it lowered itself to the ground. The Diamond stepped from its shoulder and observed the destructions she had wrought. Shards of gems, splinters of wood, twisted metal and sparks of electricity surrounded her. The base had been destroyed, completely and utterly.
Pink then turned back to the creature and touched it once on its massive wooden arm. "Thank you for your assistance. You may go now."
The creature said nothing, only tuned to leave as the multitudes of plant life that made its essence seemed to meld back into the ground of the forest.
"You know Pink, you may have had a point with these organics. This is quite impressive." The drone said.
Pink didn't respond sop the drone continued. "At any rate. This was a wonderful victory! I will be sure to-"
The Diamond suddenly fell to her knees and began a coughing fit. She was hunched over as she heaved and the drone drew closer. "Sister? PINK! What's wrong?!" it asked worriedly.
"The strain of using so much of my power all at once, I suppose." Pink replied a little weekly as she clutched her stomach.
The drone was silent for a moment. "Hmm… that is a problem. A power like this could be incredibly useful, but if it requires so much energy… we'll have to revisit this later. For now, take care Pink. And excellent job." The drone then shot off into the air and out of sight.
Pink was left alone then, with one hand she reached down and picked up a single shard, with the other she picked up a large splinter of wood. She looked at them, not sorrowfully or with curiosity, or with pride or happiness nor anger or regret, she just looked at them and felt… nothing.
It was strange.
She thought destroying fellow gems would be a lot more… sad. She had even coerced the organics around her to fight for her, to get hurt and die for her. She felt like she was supposed to be feeling… sorrow? Regret? Anger? Anything? Just… something at that moment.
But she didn't.
She felt nothing.
And it scared her.
Pink was once again alone, looking over battle reports, her usual routine when she heard someone coming up from the stair behind her.
She turned to look and saw Pearl walk in and Pink greeted her with a smile. "Ah, Pearl, just whom I was hoping to see."
"And why is that?" Pearl asked.
"It's time for another 'meeting'."
"Already?" She asked.
"It's important." Pink confirmed.
"As you say, my Diamond. We'll need somewhere private of course." Pearl informed.
"Of course." The pair walked down the stairs and entered an adjacent room on the second floor. This was Pink's personal and private chamber, it was the smallest of the rooms in the base but still as large as her room back in her spire on Homeworld. Pink sealed it behind her with her authorization and the two found themselves along.
Pearl summoned her sword and her gem began to glow. Towards the wall opposite the door she spun the sword in circles. Over and over again, faster and faster it spun. A hole then ripped itself through the wall, Pink squeezed through, followed closely by Pearl and the hole collapsed.
The pair found themselves in a pink room, clouds of pink hung in the air and they walked through it for a while before, in the distance they saw a gem tending to a pink-hued tree. It was a 'spruce' if Pink was recognizing it correctly. "Well, I certainly wasn't expecting you two this early." She said, turning around to greet them.
"Hello again, Rose."
DONE. Anyways, here's some news. I'm feeling generous, so here's a deal. Ask me questions in your reviews for the next three chapters and in each of the following chapters, I'll see if I can't give you some answers.
