Guys, I know, a note at the beginning?! Why?! But hear me out, I wanted to try something new. When you'll reach this symbol "(Farewell)", try and listen to this while you're reading: watch?v=3oIz_PXu9gw
If the link doesn't work, look up on youtube for the ost "A WAY OUT – Farewell"
Trust me and tell me if you liked this little idea. This is just an experiment, and if you don't like it, then I'll never use this method again during the narration of my story. However, if you'll like it, let me know in the comments, because I could use it again, not much I think, but I've got an idea for the finale that you'll probably like.
CHAPTER IX: SHAKING HANDS
"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.
And the Sun Incinerator started to move.
Emerald's ship landed, bringing it to the ground. Lars and his crew looked outside and saw that there were at least a dozen patrol ships and another one of shattering robonoids around them. They were surrounded. The zero point energy field around the Sun Incinerator suddenly disappeared, and Lars knew that it was time to face Emerald.
"Okay guys, everybody sticks to the plan." Lars whispered, making his way towards the exit door panel.
"Captain Lars… a-are you sure about this?" Rhodonite's tone gave her away, she was frightened, she was worried about him, just like his all crew.
Lars looked around. He looked at every and each one of them, with the same mixture of hope and fear he saw in their eyes. They believed in him, and he believed in them. That's why they were a better crew, that's why the plan would have worked.
"Bingo Bongo." Lars winked, pointing at them, trying his best to smile.
That got a little, nervous laugh out of them. Little, but encouraging nonetheless. Lars turned around and stepped out of the ship. Emerald was already there. Boy, the communication screen made her look smaller. She was tall, taller than Lars of at least ten inches. She was thin, but her armor made her look even bigger. Her eye was wide, Lars saw madness in it. Her smile, with those pointed fangs made his skin crawl and that saber she held tightly in her right hand… man, that saber made it really hard to remain calm and collected.
"You know, I really thought this would have turned out to be another of your tricks. For once you proved you're not a coward. It's a pity this moment won't last long. Take out your weapon and at least try to die with honor." Emerald seethed.
"I don't think I'll need a weapon to take you down, I actually imagined you'd be taller." Lars crossed his arms, showing off a mocking smile.
"You know… I would have spared you the pain to know the truth, but I think that you really deserve to suffer till the end. When I'll be done with you, I'll take Rose Quartz… then I will pulverize your pathetic crew, I'll make someone clean the flight deck from their shards and take back my ship. Does this make you smile?" Emerald revealed her true intentions, certain that it would have destroyed Lars to know what she would have made of his crew.
It didn't go as she planned, as Lars kept smiling.
"I knew you'd say that."
"W-What?!" Emerald took a step back.
"That's why I brought them." Lars said.
As he said those exact words, Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst appeared from behind him.
"W-who are those gems?!" Emerald cried in disbelief.
Her shock grew as she saw the three gems start to dance. She realized too late what they were trying to do. A bright light engulfed them, and Alexandrite appeared.
"Destroy her!" Emerald commanded, before turning around and running towards her ship.
The patrol ships and the shattering robonoids surrounded her, but those little machines were nothing for the immense fusion. Alexandrite summoned her hammer and started smashing them, one by one. Some of the patrol ships tried to fire their blasters, but their shots didn't even graze her. When the gigantic hammer rested on her shoulder, Emerald's ship was the last one standing. It rose from the ground, its zero point energy cannon ready to immobilize her, but Alexandrite summoned her bow faster. She inserted an arrow and with one, single shot, she destroyed the machine. At that point, Emerald realized there was no way she could have won the battle. She commanded the peridots on the flight deck to move away, to flee from the formidable foe she called monstrosity. The ship rose above Alexandrite, ready to escape, but the fusion wasn't going to permit it. She pulled out her last weapon, her whip, and slashed it through the air. Emerald's ship moved towards the sky for some moments, seemingly unaffected… then… exploded into debris.
"Rest in pieces." Alexandrite muttered before unfusing.
Lars' crew reached him outside the Sun Incinerator, and the Crystal Gems did the same. When Garnet gave him an applause, they all started cheering him, and Lars felt his heart start beating again. He let out a long, calming breath before starting to laugh. They had done it. Lars' plan had worked. They defeated Emerald and now, they were ready to leave, and to return home.
But it wasn't really over, not yet.
(Farewell)
"L-Lars." It was Emeral'd voice, it came from the mass of debris that fell down to the ground after her ship exploded.
Lars reached her. She was covered in scratches, the pads on her shoulders broken, and made exception for the higher part of her body, she was trapped under her own ship's debris. Her saber lied a few inches away from her hand. Lars moved quickly and snatched it away.
"Emerald." Lars' tone of voice didn't carry any mockery, just… compassion.
"Go on, finish what you started."
But Lars didn't do anything, he only grimaced at those words, his gaze softening.
"I said do it! Shatter me!" Emerald cried, desperate.
Lars turned around, looking at his crew, at the Crystal Gems. They were all holding their breath. Emerald would have returned if he wouldn't have done something about it. But as much as he wanted to see a monster in front of him, the same monster that mocked and threatened him and his crew so many times, he just couldn't do it.
"No… I won't."
"You're that much of a coward?! You can't even do something as simple as this?!" Emerald asked in disbelief. She couldn't understand, but it wasn't her fault.
"I'm not a coward. I'm a better captain. I'm a better person." Lars declared, before turning away.
He stopped when he heard a sniffle.
"Please… please do it… t-the Diamonds… they'll shatter me for this… I don't want to die that way… I want to die by the hands of a worthy foe…" Emerald tried to hold back a hiccup.
It was then that Lars fully grasped what kind of leaders Homeworld had. He turned around and reached Emerald, kneeling in front of her.
"Listen to yourself Emerald, are those the kind of leaders you want to follow? To pledge yourself to? Leaders who would kill you over a failure?"
Emerald didn't answer, she just lowered her gaze.
"Wouldn't you rather be free of them? Wouldn't you rather live knowing you could do and be anything you want without having to fear a punishment? Wouldn't you rather… wouldn't you rather come with us?"
Emerald tried not to give it away, but Lars noticed the conflict in her eyes. A world without punishments, without fear. The freedom to go wherever she wanted, to do whatever she wanted. Ah, the sweet dream that animated Rose's rebellion, and made her win.
But she couldn't. She wasn't brave enough. She wasn't strong enough.
"No… now leave…" Emerald whispered.
"Emerald…" Lars pleaded.
"I said leave!" Emerald shrieked, the saber in Lars' hand vanishing into thin air and another one appearing into hers.
She slashed it through the air. Lars jumped back, but when he touched his chest but noticed there was no wound. She missed him on purpose. Astonished, he watched her for another moment before the Twins' voices brought him back to reality.
"Captain! Two mega class imperial dreadnoughts are approaching!" The Twins yelled from the entrance panel of the Sun Incinerator.
"It's the Diamonds!" Rhodonite cried, visibly terrified.
"We have to go!" Garnet yelled, reaching the ship alongside everyone else, except for Lars.
"Go, I'll accept my fate." Emerald muttered.
"It didn't have to go this way Emerald." Lars shook his head.
"Yes, it did. I'm glad that at least it ended with the best captain still alive."
"You never stop bragging, do you?" Lars gave her a sad smile.
"I wasn't talking about myself…" Emerald extended her hand towards him.
Lars did the same, and before their last encounter came to an end, the two captains shook hands.
"Where's Captain Lars?!" Rhodonite asked as she reached her position on the flight deck.
"Right here." Lars answered, appearing on the entrance panel's threshold.
They all noticed the sadness in his eyes. Garnet was the first one to talk.
"Don't blame yourself, you did all you could, you must focus on saving your crew now…" Garnet said, putting her hand on Lars' shoulder.
"Right." Lars replied, taking his seat.
The Sun Incinerator rose up into the sky. This time, when the stars became visible, there was no one to stop them. Rhodonite put in the coordinates for Earth while Fluorite rerouted the power from the gravity engine to the nova thrusters.
"The Diamonds! Their ships are only two quads away!" Rhodonite yelled in panic, as multiple red warning texts appeared on the inner wall of the Sun Incinerator
"Twins? Let's get out of here!" Lars said.
And so they did. The Twins activated the nova thrusters and the Sun Incinerator disappeared just before the Diamonds' imperial dreadnoughts reached the asteroid mine. They did it. They were safe.
"We… we did it?" Rhodonite muttered in disbelief.
"We did it!" The Twins cheered.
"The Diamonds are coming!" Padparadscha exclaimed.
"Thanks Paddy, but we already escaped." Lars chuckled.
Away from the asteroid mine, away from Homeworld, from Emerald and the Diamonds, finally Lars and his crew felt a little bit of relief. It seemed like nothing else was going to try to stop them. Earth wasn't far, and so was freedom. Even the Crystal Gems looked relieved, each one of them… except for Garnet.
"Garnet? What's wrong?" Pearl asked, a hint of worry in her voice.
"We need to go back…" Garnet whispered.
"What?" Amethyst asked, confused.
"We need to go back! Steven is in danger!" Garnet cried.
Meanwhile, on Earth:
"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…
"You have fought a whole war to defend her
You loved her too
You have traveled the stars to avenge her
You thought you understood
Facing fire and seas didn't stop you
'Cause you held on
But I'm here to tell you can stop now
You want to fight but I don't
I just want you to know
What they told you isn't true
To take revenge you made a vow
But she's really…
still with you."
"Please, remember who you are…" Steven whispered.
Peridot fell to the ground, exhausted. Seeing that nothing was holding Jasper back anymore, Connie stepped forwards, sword in hand, ready to protect Steven. But Jasper didn't do anything. The great beast took a step back, quietly snarling, as if something she couldn't understand was happening to her. Then, after some moments, a bright light engulfed her. The beast began to change shape. Her form grew smaller and smaller until… the light faded, leaving on the beach a fully cured Jasper. No horns, no claws, no spots of green on her skin. Jasper looked at the small group in front of her for merely two seconds, her vision was blurry and before she could do anything else, she collapsed on the ground.
"Well… I didn't think it would go so well." Peridot said in a surprised tone of voice, standing up and using her power to tie one of the chains to Jasper's feet and drag her into the small cell a few meters away.
"We really did it!" Connie exclaimed happily.
"It must have been tiring to go back to her normal form." Steven thought aloud.
"Well, don't worry, I'll remain here and call you when she'll wake up." Peridot declared.
"Thanks Peri, I really don't want to miss the moment."
Evening came quickly. Despite all of Connie's protests, her mom came to take her home, asking her a myriad of questions when she saw Peridot guarding what looked like a cell with a gem inside of it. Steven began to wonder when Jasper would have woken up, before or after the gems returned from their space mission. Feeling tired, he brushed his teeth, put on his pajamas and got under the covers, thinking that the big and probably very angry gem surely would have been up in the morning. As he drifted to sleep, he thought about the gems, about Lars and the Off Colors, about Peridot, Lapis and Connie and about… Jasper. He must have thought about her very hard because at a certain point, he thought he really heard her voice.
"Hello Rose…"
That wasn't a dream. Steven understood it when opening his eyes he found himself looking directly into Jasper's. He tried to say something but Jasper grasped him by the collar of his pajamas and threw him hard against his bedroom's wall. It took a moment for Steven to realize that the orange gem had thrown him so hard that the wooden wall had shattered, and now he was flying towards the beach. The impact hurt, it hurt very bad. Steven was so confused that he didn't even think about summoning his bubble, but now he was awake, enough to roll away as Jasper came down from the sky, trying to crush him.
"Jasper… b-but how did you…" Steven wondered, a terrified look in his eyes as he saw the enormous gem approach.
"That little cell wouldn't have held even that sorry excuse of a quartz of yours, let alone me!"
"Where's Peridot?!" Steven looked frantically around, trying to spot her.
"She's right here." Jasper said grinning viciously, as she showed the green, triangular gem she held in her hand.
"Don't hurt her!" Steven cried.
"Oh, that's going to be a decision the Diamonds will make, but you… I'm not going to wait for their consent to crush you!"
"Wait Jasper! I-" Steven tried to talk but Jasper cut him off.
"I've waited long enough! I don't know what happened, what brought me back, but I'm not going to waste this opportunity!"
Jasper summoned her crash helmet and tried to hit Steven, whom immediately summoned his bubble around him. The collision made him fall on his knees. Jasper hit the bubble a second time, then a third and a fourth. That's when a crack appeared on the bubble's surface. Steven gritted his teeth as Jasper hit him another time. He wouldn't have been able to last much longer.
"J-Jasper… please…" Steven whispered.
But Jasper didn't listen.
She kept hitting and hitting.
The fire of vengeance fueling her.
Until the bubble burst and Steven fell on the ground.
"For my Diamond." Jasper seethed.
"Jasper, n-" Steven tried to speak, but it was too late.
Jasper's helmet came crushing down.
All Steven saw afterwards was darkness.
...