CHAPTER V: BAD IDEA

"Mind if I join you?" Garnet asked, reaching Pearl's side on the beach.

"O-oh! Garnet! No, no of course not! P-please…" Pearl answered, surprised to see her so soon.

When Garnet saw the pale gem quickly wipe her cheeks she felt a pang of guilt in her chest. She would have told a lie if she said she wasn't sorry for the way she talked to Pearl. Of course, she was angry, and she felt like she had the right to be angry. When Ruby and Sapphire were confused the most about the nature of what they found together, of what they managed to create together, they turned to Rose. They asked her for guidance, and it was because of her that they understood that what they had together wasn't something disgusting, like the gems of Blue Diamond's court had called them, but it was something beautiful. Their union, their fusion, their "Garnet", it was something that Homeworld would have never understood. That kind of love, it was something Homeworld would have never had.

"Who cares how I feel? How you feel is bound to be much more interesting."

Garnet remembered those words. Rose's words. That day, when she fell into her sanctuary, when she met for the first time the fearless leader of the Crystal Gems' rebellion and her terrifying, renegade Pearl, Garnet knew she had found her guide. She followed her, and eventually understood that the only place that could have given her the freedom to be herself, the only place where Ruby and Sapphire could have loved each other… was the Earth. And so, Rose Quartz gained a new ally. A fusion born of love, that would have fought at her side till the end of the war, or herself. But now… Rose Quartz didn't exist anymore. There was only Pink Diamond. Pink Diamond, that choose the Earth to be her first colony. Pink Diamond, that chose not to face her sisters directly, and to create an enemy that didn't exist. How many gems could have been spared if she decided to fight for her planet without hiding herself? If she had stayed herself, all of her gems would have fought to protect the Earth. Instead, she became someone else, someone that only a few gems decided to follow, while many, so many others, decided to fight. If only they knew the truth… But what hurt Garnet the most, was that Rose Quartz, the one who taught her to be herself, one of her closest friends, didn't trust her enough to tell her the truth.

"I'm sorry Pearl…" Garnet finally spoke.

"About what?" Pearl asked, confused.

"The way I talked to you, it wasn't your fault, it was never your fault. I was… I still am angry. I feel angry, sad, betrayed. But it wasn't your fault. It was hers…"

"Oh Garnet, please-" Pearl was abruptly interrupted.

"Why couldn't she tell us? Why couldn't she tell her gems?!" Garnet cried, "So many of them fought for someone whose only desire was the same of her enemy! They… they didn't care about other gems' life, they weren't Crystal Gems. So many of us were shattered Pearl, if only she told them, they would have fought alongside us…"

"She-" Pearl tried to speak, but her hands immediately flew to her mouth, forcing her to remain silent.

Garnet fell silent too, an expression of remorse on her face.

"I know you can't give me all the answers I'm looking for Pearl… I just wanted you to know that this… this hurts but it won't change anything between us, I still trust you and so does Amethyst and Steven. We love you… please don't ever doubt that." Garnet said, taking Pearl's hand and holding it securely.

Pearl slightly sniffed, a single tear rolling down her cheek. She was so scared about Garnet, Amethyst and especially Steven being angry at her. She thought that after the truth was revealed, they would have hated her. But now she realized how foolish she was to think something like that. Pearl held Garnet's hands and looked at her straight in the eyes.

"I can't tell you much Garnet, and I'm so, so sorry about that. But I can tell you that Rose loved this planet, she really did, and… and she really did love you. She loved all of us. She loved me, she loved Ruby and Sapphire, she loved you, she loved Amethyst, the Crystal Gems, Greg but most of all… she really did love Steven. Nothing will ever change that." Pearl gave her a teary smile and Garnet did the same.

"The sunset is beautiful… she loved that too." Garnet said, wiping a tear under her visor.

"She did… she really did."

The two of them remained silent, Pearl slightly propped on Garnet's shoulder, the fusion's arm around her. They needed that, and they stayed there, looking at the sunset, remembering that they fought for that to continue to exist, that the sunset and many, countless other Earth's beauties wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for them, if it wasn't for Rose. That made them feel better. After a while, they decided it was time to let the others know that they were alright. They walked up the stairs and opened the house's door. They were surprised to see Steven and Connie on the couch, looking at each other and then at them worryingly. Amethyst sat beside them.

"Are you two okay?" Steven asked hesitantly.

"Yes… yes we are." Pearl answered, Garnet nodded, trying to give Steven a reassuring smile, but his and Connie's worried glances made her stop.

"What's wrong Steven?" Garnet asked.

"I… I need to talk to you about something. Something I've been thinking about." Steven said, fumbling nervously with his hands.

"Alright." Garnet replied calmly.

Steven stood up, and so did Connie, leaving space for Garnet and Pearl, who sat on the couch beside Amethyst.

"So, I called Amethyst and you here because of what we discovered at the Strawberry battlefield." Steven declared.

"Your power to cure corruption?" Pearl asked.

"Yes… exactly…" Steven answered slowly.

"Go on Steven." Garnet encouraged him, trying to understand what was making the young boy so nervous.

"I think I want to use it to try to cure a gem."

"Oh… well, of course! If it worked we could bring back everyone, isn't it?" Pearl said enthusiastically.

"Yeah Ste-man, wanna try with your old friend Centi? Bet she'd be happy to see you." Amethyst suggested.

"It wouldn't be hard, she must still be inside that old spaceship and I think she might still remember you." Garnet thought aloud.

"I don't want to use it on Centi. I mean, of course I want, but I want to try with someone else first." Steven said glancing at Connie, who gave him a reassuring smile.

"Steven may be right, that Nephrite was one of Homeworld fleets' captains, it might be risky. We should try with a Crystal gem first." Pearl reasoned.

"No!" Steven exclaimed.

"Steven? What's wrong?" Pearl asked, giving him a worried glance.

"I want to try…" Steven stopped himself, but then, as he felt Connie's hand holding his own, he took a deep breath and decided to talk. "I want to try with Jasper."

The room became suddenly silent. All of the gems had shocked expressions on their faces. After some moments, Amethyst talked.

"WHAT?! Are you crazy?!"

"Absolutely not!" Pearl exclaimed.

"Steven, Jasper is a dangerous enemy. She imprisoned us, she was going to take us to Homeworld. She hurt Lapis, she almost managed to shatter Amethyst! Why would you ever want to help her?" Garnet asked, baffled by what Steven had just asked.

"Because she spent her whole life trying to avenge Pink Diamond! She wanted to find Rose Quartz and make her pay for what she did to her Diamond, but her Diamond isn't gone, she's right here!" Steven said, holding up his shirt and showing his gem, "Because of what mom did, she lived a life full of hatred and sadness, it's not right! Okay, she acted like a real jerk-"

"Yeah, no kidding." Amethyst grumbled, crossing her arms.

"But don't you think she still deserves to know the truth?"

Pearl looked worryingly at Garnet, she knew that this kind of speeches always managed to make the fusion change idea. Steven was kind, forgiving, much more than any of them, and she knew that every time they said no to him, he managed to show them that they were wrong. But this time, he was talking about Jasper. To Pearl's eyes, she was nothing more than a brute. A monster that only wanted to hurt her baby. That's why she would have never wanted her to be free.

"No."

Everyone was shocked to hear Garnet's answer.

"B-but-" Steven tried to speak.

"I said no!" Garnet yelled, standing up, making Steven emit a little yelp and take a step back.

"Garnet…" Pearl whispered, puzzled by her outburst. It was rare of Garnet to yell at Steven, and while the idea of freeing Jasper didn't appeal her, she couldn't understand why she would react that way.

"This discussion ends here." Garnet declared, and no one dared to say the contrary.

She was going to enter the temple when suddenly…

Lion's mane lit up…

And someone fell out of it.

And here we are with the fifth chapter! I wonder who's going to guess who's the mysterious person that fell out of Lion's mane… Well, you'll discover soon anyway! I came up with some other ideas for this fan fiction so maybe, just maybe, it'll be a little longer than ten chapters, but just maybe. So, thank you all for reading this chapter, I really hope you liked it. Tell me what you think of the story so far in the comments, I really, really enjoy reading your opinions. If you have any advice be free to write it down in the comments. Also, obviously, thank you for all the favs and follows, you're so manyyyyy! Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. See you in the next chapter! Bye!