CHAPTER VIII: THE PLAN

"It's Jasper. Steven wants to cure Jasper."

That was the moment Peridot's expression changed from one of curiosity to an incredulous, terrified one.

"WHAT?! You can't be serious!" Peridot yelled in disbelief.

"I knew you'd react this way." Steven replied, downhearted.

"Wha- h-how did you want me to react?! Do you even remember all the bad things she did?! To Lapis?! To Amethyst?! She would have shattered all of us if she had the chance!"

"I know but… but…" Steven clutched the gem under his shirt.

"Oh… oh no… you think you can convince her to be on our side? Because you have Pink Diamond's gem?! She'll never believe you!"

"But I have to try! All this time Peri, she has been angry all this time because of what mom did. She lived her life only thinking about avenging her, but she's here! I know I can convince her! And… and I now I understand why she acted like that. She lost the one whom she loved the most, and felt the need to crush anyone who'd dare to stand in the way of her revenge… not all of us can be forgiving Peri, but I know I can change her… please help us."

"Steven… I…" Peridot stuttered, trying to look away.

"I know it sounds dangerous but… I think too that's the right thing to do." Connie said, giving Peridot an encouraging smile.

Peridot inhaled deeply, before shaking her head and emitting a short laugh.

"This is crazy… we are probably going to die… but… if Steven thinks it's the right thing to do, than I trust him. You gave a second chance too, am I right? Maybe Jasper deserves one herself." Peridot conclude, the confliction in her eyes vanished, replaced by a determined look.

It hadn't been hard for the trio to retrieve the needed parts. Steven took Connie and Peridot in front of the temple's door, granting them access to his room. From there, they managed to reach Amethyst's room where after some scavenging, they found some of Peridot old ship's debris. Mostly broken parts but fortunately the ones that were still intact were also the ones that Peridot needed to build an improvised containment chamber. Between the three of them, they agreed that the beach would have been the most appropriate place to cure and confine Jasper. They also realized that she would have never stayed put as Steven tried to heal her, so, after a little more searching in Amethyst's room, they managed to find some chains. Peridot would have used them to restrain Jasper while Steven tried to cure her. When they agreed that there was nothing more they could need for their plan, Peridot asked for Connie's help to assemble the cell on the beach, while Steven went to retrieve Jasper's bubble. He felt strangely alone when he entered the burning room. He would have liked Peridot and Connie to come with him, but he knew they had to hurry. The gems would have returned soon, at least he hoped so. It didn't take much to find Jasper's gem, and when Steven finally put his hands around the purplish bubble, he finally felt scared. Of course, he knew it was the right thing to do, he was there because of that, but still, only now he realized that if something went wrong, the situation could get very, very dangerous, not only for him, but for Connie and Peridot as well. But there was no turning back now. He took a deep breath then, clutching the bubble, he left the burning room. When Steven reached the beach, he saw Peridot press a button on a rough assemble of green, metal parts. It immediately lit up, and a wall of yellowish light separated her from the inside of the small cage. They were ready.

"If something goes wrong, I want you to run away, okay?" Steven said.

"We're not going anywhere." Connie replied.

Peridot nodded, closing her eyes and concentrating. The metal chains scattered on the beach began to rise from the ground, ready to trap Jasper as soon as she'd emerge from her gem.

"We're all set!" Peridot declared proudly.

Steven hesitated for a moment. He couldn't hear Connie, he couldn't hear Peridot, he could only hear the sound of his own heart, beating faster and faster as his grip on the purple bubble became more and more intense.

Then…

It popped…

There was a bright orange light, and a bulky silhouette began to emerge from the gem. For a moment, it looked like Jasper was reforming normally, but then, between distorted shrieks and incomprehensible words, her form began to mutate. It became bigger, much bigger. She fell on all fours. Her hands became clawed, her head adorned with a pair of twisted horns and her hair grew longer, covering all of her back. Her eyes disappeared, and her teeth became long and sharp as razors. Then, the light disappeared, leaving behind nothing but a terrible monster.

"Jasper…" Steven whispered.

And Jasper heard him.

The monster turned towards the little boy, releasing a terrifying, bestial roar. Steven covered his eyes, seeing Jasper raise one her clawed hands, ready to strike. Suddenly, a metallic sound rang through the air and all of Peridot's chains tangled themselves around the enormous orange beast.

"Now Steven!" Connie cried.

"She's stronger than I thought! I don't think I'll be able to hold her for much longer!" Peridot hissed through gritted teeth, trying her best not to let Jasper move.

That's when Steven stepped closer to her. She growled and struggled hard against her restraints, but strangely, the little boy in front of her didn't run away. He placed one hand on her gem and… maybe because of her shock, or because of something else, she stopped struggling. Her breathing became more and more relaxed until Steven leaned in. Forehead against forehead, the boy closed his eyes, then…

Steven sang…

Meanwhile, on the Sun Incinerator:

"Captain Lars! I found them!" Rhodonite announced as she fell out of Lars' hair.

"Good job Rhodonite! Now where-" Lars was interrupted by Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst stepping out of his hair, making him lose balance and fall to the ground.

"Oh my stars! You really came!" The Twins said, standing up, both surprised and relieved.

"We would never abandon gems who need our help." Garnet replied.

"We'll do everything we can to help." Pearl reassured them.

"Yeah, how hard can it be to get rid of some Homeworld pebbles." Amethyst shrugged, not showing the slightest sign of fear.

"They're so cool." One of the twins whispered to the other.

"Us off colors stick together, right?" Lars stood up and extended a hand towards her.

"We certainly do." Garnet smiled, shaking his hand.

"Listen, this is a very touching moment but I want to remember you that the Diamonds themselves are coming to get us, and they can't be that far away!" Rhodonite interrupted them.

"Rhodonite… is… right… we… still… have… to… figure… out… how… to… free… the… ship…" Fluorite chimed in.

"Don't worry, I have a plan." Lars now spoke without fear, a determined look in his eyes.

"Care to explain?" Pearl approached him, her arms crossed. Not that she didn't trust Lars, but when it came to humans, she never thought strategy planning was one of their strong points.

In a matter of minutes however, as Lars explained to both his crew and the Crystal Gems his plan, she had to change her mind.

"Are you ready?" Lars asked, sitting on his chair at the center of the flight deck.

Everyone nodded. The Rutile Twins, Rhodonite and Padparadscha took their seats and tried not to look nervous, Fluorite returned to the engine room while Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst made sure to remain hidden.

"Communication starting in three… two… one…" The Rutile Twins counted down as they began to establish a connection with nothing less than Emerald's imperial warship.

"Trying to convince me to spare your life Captain Lars? I knew you and your crew were pathetic, but I didn't think you were that much." Emerald smiled wickedly showing off her pointed canines.

"Oh you must be mistaken. I didn't contact you to save my life… I contacted you to save theirs." Lars pointed to each member of his crew.

"What?" Emerald's smile faded, replaced by a confused expression.

"You heard me. The Diamonds want Rose Quartz right? Isn't that why they ordered you to restrain us in the first place?"

"What are you trying to say?" Emerald asked suspiciously.

"We'll give you Rose Quartz, and in exchange you'll leave my crew alone." Lars proposed.

There was a moment of silence before Emerald burst out laughing.

"The Diamonds will take her anyway! Why should I accept and put my position at risk? There's nothing you can offer me."

"You're wrong, there's something I can offer you." Lars told her.

"And what would it be, Captain Lars?" Emerald asked in a mocking tone, knowing there was nothing the rebel scum could have ever offered her to make her change her mind.

"Me…" Lars replied.

"W-what?!" Emerald exclaimed, puzzled.

"If you'll let my crew escape, I'll hand over Rose Quartz and I'll give you the pleasure to finish me off yourself. You know the Diamonds will kill all of us, and if not them, they'll commission the work to some executioner, not a Homeworld space fleet's commander. Wouldn't it be nice to take your revenge on the one who managed to beat you so many times, yourself?" Lars showed off a challenging smile.

"You didn't! It was only luck!" Emerald yelled before taking a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. She knew that the sorry excuse for a captain was planning something, and she wouldn't have fallen for it. "This is only a trick, and as much as I'd like to finish you with my own hands, I think I'll let the Diamonds have that pleasure."

Emerald smiled once again, thinking the conversation was over, thinking that in a matter of seconds she would have enjoyed watching the Off Colors' expressions change into terrified ones. But that didn't happen, instead, her smile vanished as she saw Lars and his crew explode into fits of laughter… and this was already a wound for the Homeworld's captain.

"What's so funny?!" Emerald hissed through gritted teeth.

"Oh nothing, we made a bet, but unfortunately we all won. We all said you'd turn out to be a coward." Lars said, trying to catch his breath.

"I'm not a coward!" Emerald screamed in anger.

"Oh, I can already imagine it. I mean, your crew must respect you as a 'captain', but I bet that the rumors will begin to spread anyway. 'Do you remember that captain? Come on, the one who was scared of facing a human being!' I can already hear all of Homeworld laughing at you!" Lars kept laughing, harder and harder alongside all of his crew.

And as they kept laughing, not showing any sign of fear, emerald's scowl grew.

"Stop laughing at me! I'm a great captain!" Emerald yelled.

But no one listened.

Untill…

"Take. Me. Down." Emerald muttered.

"B-but Captain, t-the orders-" It was a Peridot's voice, that suddenly got silenced by Emerald's saber.

"I said. Take. Me. Down." Emerald repeated, before turning towards Lars, that challenging smile still on his face. "I'll enjoy beheading you, who knows what happens to your kind when something like that happens?"

"I guess we'll find out, right?" Lars replied.

The communication ended.

Hi guys! Here we are with the eight chapter! It seems that Lars and Emerald are fated to do more than just chasing each other. How will their encounter end? What about Lars' plan? Did he really have one? Or maybe, just maybe, he's buying someone else a little time? Who knows, anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Don't worry about the cliffhanger, the next chapter is pratically done, just one more scene to write and I'll publish it, so the day after tomorrow expect the ninth chapter to be uploaded and be ready to discover how this fight between captains will end and... something more. As always thanks for all the kind comments, really, the favs and follows. You are making me a better writer and for that, I thank you, from the bottom of my heart, really. Anyway, to next chapter!