A/N: So, stuff is about to get intense again in this chapter. I narrowly avoided body horror or character death ... barely.
Stevonnie is weakening and the Diamonds are nearing.
Honestly, I think this deserves an Achievement ... Achievement Unlocked: You were somewhat nice this chapter - good job!
But seriously, I apologize. However, I want a show of hands, after reading this chapter, of people who "called it" and how early it was called. Earliest so far is Chapter 15, called by a regular to the stream. You'll understand after this chapter.
Either the next chapter or the one after that will be the end of Part 2, beginning of Part 3. It is also my crossroads moment. I'm not sure if I'm going to take this a completely dark route or not.
(Also, I'm going to be going back and making some minor edits to earlier chapters - mostly formatting stuff)
Thank you for all of the reviews, faves, and follows and thanks for sticking with this so far! We aren't done yet!
-Four Faces
It didn't matter how many times she saw them. She would probably never get used to them.
Peridot had called from Steven's phone saying she needed to come to Beach City and check on Connie. It had been an hour of fighting through traffic, but Priyanka and Doug arrived to the Beach House to see a strange, dark green gem seated on the steps. She was shoveling a bag of Chaaaps into her mouth.
"Steven must have healed the Crystal Gems' army," Priyanka mused.
"Would Peridot have called us to come and see that though?" Doug asked as they began to walk up the steps.
When they walked into the Beach House, Priyanka gasped, watching Stevonnie as they sat, curled up and sobbing. Garnet sat next to them, rubbing circles on their back as Peridot watched helplessly.
"Connie?" Priyanka started as she rushed over to the pair of fusions. Doug was not far behind, concerned for his daughter.
"They're trying to help each other through this. There is a chance that something might be going on with Connie, but there won't be a way of knowing for at least a week,"Garnet started. "By that time, the Diamond Authority will have arrived."
"What happened?" Doug started, kneeling near the fusion.
"I feel so sick ..."Stevonnie whimpered. "And weak ..."
"Steven fused with Connie to keep some of the strain of whatever is happening off of her," Peridot started, "But it seems to be getting worse."
Priyanka lifted up Stevonnie's head, gently, and looked into their eyes. She could see the pain and sadness in them. She felt helpless, watching what was partially her daughter suffering. Garnet sighed and rose up from the couch.
"I will be right back."
She was gone before anyone could ask her why she was leaving. Instead of retreating to the burning room, she went outside and up onto the roof. She huddled, hugging her legs close to her body.
You can't know that this is certain.
It is 80 percent probable.
But ... I can't let this happen to you. I can't lose you …
We won't lose them, though.
There has to be another way.
The fusion split with a pop.
"I can't see a future where we exist. I can't. It's either Connie - and by proxy, Steven - or it's us ... There's a slim possibility, but I can't see it!" Sapphire cried. "And I don't want either of us to lose Steven."
"But ... with 80 percent, that still means that there's a 20 percent chance that something else will happen ... Maybe this can still work!"
"I don't know …"
"We need to tell them! None of the futures showed us telling them! If we do, then maybe it will all work out!" Ruby started. "We have to try!"
Sapphire considered this. She went over all of the possible scenarios.
"We can let the rest of the gems know ... but I don't want to over-burden Connie and Steven with are dealing with enough as it is. And like you said, we can't know that this is certain," Sapphire smiled sadly before taking her lover's hands. They twirled around each other, leaning in for a kiss as they phased back into Garnet.
This may be the last time …
She had been concerned ever since her daughter came home talking about the boy she met on the beach. She wasn't sure she was comfortable with her having a male friend. She warily allowed her to hang out with Steven since she had trouble making friends anyway.
She was especially concerned when she met Steven's guardians. Learning he was half gem was difficult, but she slowly came to accept him.
Peridot was the most worrying, with everything that Steven and Connie had told her in the past. It was not surprising that she watched Peridot and Connie like a hawk when Peridot came over to Connie's house one day, ahead of Steven, to hang out with Connie in her room. She wasn't sure yet if this gem was truly safe for Connie to be around (and she certainly wasn't sure on her age - she looked close to Connie's age, but she knew she could easily be hundreds of years old with all of the explanations Steven had given). She had been awkward at first, not certain of proper human customs (and accidentally offended Doug on one occasion), but she kept her mind open, like she did with all things Steven.
Slowly, she warmed up to the gem, even if the gem did call her "The Mom" for several months.
It had been after the interception of the transmission to Homeworld that Priyanka found Peridot standing on the doorstep, dejected and heartbroken. She invited the gem in, letting her know that Steven had taken Connie somewhere on his pet Lion (which was still so strange to her). Peridot didn't want to see either of them. She had wanted to see Priyanka.
She let the gem in and invited her to sit on the couch while she made something for her to calm her nerves. She had started a tea kettle boiling when she heard sobbing from the living room. She returned to see the green gem curled up in the fetal position on the couch.
"Peridot?"
"This is all my fault," she heard the gem's muffled voice say. "I angered Yellow Diamond ... I angered the whole Diamond Authority. If I hadn't called attention to myself, then no one would be in danger ..."
Priyanka sat next to the gem and tentatively placed a hand on her back. Peridot flinched slightly at the touch before relaxing. She had heard a little bit about the current issue with a transmission to some Diamond Authority, but she resolved to not get involved in gem matters. It seemed that her daughter was becoming more than capable of handling herself.
It worried her, though, seeing Peridot, a former enemy, curled up on her couch sobbing. What was her daughter getting into now? Whatever it was, there was no point in stopping her. She would fight by Steven's side no matter what she did. She was surprised that Connie had not reacted in this way. She wasn't sure if the gravity of the situation just hadn't hit her daughter or if there was something more that the gem wasn't saying.
The kettle began to whistle and Priyanka rose to pour the water, soon bringing a tea cup to Peridot who was uncurling from her ball.
"So ... is this what a 'mom' does?" Peridot asked after a long silence. "They care for others? For their offspring or their friends?"
Priyanka smiled and nodded.
Peridot had at first thought that Steven had meant a figure like Yellow Diamond when he mentioned his own mom. Some nebulous figure who planned out their whole life for you. Someone who had total control of your fate. Cold. Callous. Driven by logic. It had confused her when he spoke of his mother in such kind terms. Granted, she was devoted to Yellow Diamond at the time, but it was a devotion of fear - of hoping that Yellow Diamond would react favorably toward anything that she worked on rather than break her.
She was starting to understand.
"I wish I had known ... I'm still learning, I guess," the green gem smiled sardonically.
"Learning is all part of living on Earth," Priyanka laughed, gently bringing the gem in for a hug.
Two years ago, Peridot would have recoiled from any touch from a human. Now, she understood the need for tactile communication in this species. She reciprocated the hug, holding tight onto Priyanka.
When Connie and Steven came back to Connie's house, they found Priyanka rocking the snoozing gem, humming a lullaby that Connie had not heard in ages.
The lullaby echoed through Stevonnie's mind as Priyanka hummed it once again, Peridot remaining at her side to comfort the mother.
Blue Diamond's Peridot felt a thrill of excitement race through her as they dropped out of warp speed, traveling past Jupiter. Soon, they would reach Earth and Blue Diamond would be pleased with her. That was all that any Peridot wanted.
She looked over at the chair that Blue Diamond was seated in. The gem's face was twinged with concern as they navigated through the asteroid belt past Jupiter.
"I hope we aren't too late," the Diamond finally spoke.
"I haven't intercepted any other communications, but I'm sure that if we arrived last, we would never hear the end of it," the Peridot offered, reassuringly.
Blue Diamond smiled. She had forgone formalities the longer that this trip took which had led to quite the rapport on the ship with the other gems. She was learning certain hobbies that the other gems had kept themselves occupied with when there was down time, something that a Diamond would not usually care about.
Her mind occasionally drifted to her Pearl who would stand, mute, waiting for orders.
She also wondered if she would be able to return to the formality of Homeworld after this mission was over.
"When we reach Earth's orbit, I'll put up all of the shielding, just in case there's an ambush set to stop us," the Peridot continued. "Not that there have been any quartz that could take your place back on Homeworld. It would be foolish of the other Diamonds to do anything to you, but you never know with the new Yellow Diamond. I don't think she cares about upsetting the balance of the Diamond Authority. She just wants revenge."
"Just like the Yellow Diamond before her," Blue Diamond chuckled. "Yellow Diamonds always seem to act this way, don't they?"
"They certainly do."
There was silence on the bridge as Mars appeared. The red planet signaled the end of their journey. Soon, they would begin the most important discovery in gem history.
Blue Diamond shuddered in anticipation.
Even in the fusion, Steven had seen the dream of the gem shard that Connie had.
Several times in fact.
She was almost in a dormant state after fusing, barely contributing to the conversation that was Stevonnie. He worried, wondering what could be causing this.
A jolt of fear went through him, but itwas quickly tamped down.
There's no way …
He had to keep Stevonnie going to save her. He wondered if this was what it felt like for Lapis, holding Malachite together with the weight of the ocean.
This was different though. He wanted to hold this together to keep Connie together.
He wasn't sure how long this would last or how useful they would be in battle.
They would have to try, regardless. He felt some relief in knowing that, if the worst happened, they would truly face it together.
Stevonnie's gem seemed to glow brightly. They weren't sure why, as normally this would signify a weapon being summoned or Rose's Room opening to them, but this was different. Priyanka had stayed at the Beach House overnight, tendingto the fusion. She often wondered if this was safe (when she first saw Stevonnie, she nearly had a heart attack), but now she knew this was the best option. She was due to leave in the morning, but she didn't want to leave her daughter and her friend. She wanted to be there for them.
Before she left, she cradled Stevonnie on Steven's bed, singing a lullaby to both Steven and Connie, hoping that they heard as well.
She turned to look at them one more time before leaving. She was not sure when she would be back, needing to pull a double shift at the hospital.
She hoped that the Diamonds would not arrive before she could return.
Peridot watched as Priyanka left and made her way up to Stevonnie. She could sense it now. She knew.
"I'm so sorry ..." Peridot whispered. "We didn't know this could happen. You need to fight,Connie ... Please ..." Peridot whispered.
"Wha?" Stevonnie asked, delirious. Peridot wasn't sure if Connie was finally in control or if Stevonnie was asking her, but she smiled sadly.
"Garnet thinks if you know, then it will affect you even more negatively ... that you won't be able to handle it. But I won't be able to handle losing either of you,"Peridot whimpered, holding onto Stevonnie's hand. "She said it's only a possibility, but it seems to be more certain now ..."
Stevonnie couldn't hear the next thing Peridot said, drifting into unconsciousness as the fusion started to fall apart.
"We're almost there," White Diamond's Peridot announced. "I predict landfall in one cycle."
"Excellent. We'll stay in orbit until we get confirmation that Yellow Diamond's fleet has arrived. Then we can begin taking back this planet and its resources. We'll be that much closer to winning the war against the Alloys," White Diamond preened.
The Peridot smiled, happy to have been praised by her Diamond. She watched as they jetted past Mars, Earth's moon and the Earth slowly coming into view.
She was glad to be on White Diamond's ship. She never did like the other two diamonds. Blue Diamond was too cold, too secretive ... too caught up in her own studies. While a Peridot could relate, with Blue Diamond, it was almost overwhelming. Yellow Diamonds were always too brash and violent for her tastes. She enjoyed a good battle as much as any other gem, but she did not enjoy the temper that seemed to run through every Yellow Diamond (and indeed through any gems under her employ).
White Diamond was a perfect balance for her. She wasn't too easily angered and she wasn't always tucked away in study (or expecting the same of her). She occasionally longed for the days when a White Diamond had been in full control of the Authority. It had been thousands of years, long before any Peridots were even researched, but she longed for those days just the same.
The Peridot busied herself with the reports from Yellow Diamond. A Gem hybrid was among the ranks of the Crystal Gems and there were only five actual gems left. A Peridot (easy to handle), a fusion (a destabilizer would work fine), an Amethyst who was incubated too long, and a Pearl (barely a gem, but there were horror stories told of her from the War), plus the Rose Quartz hybrid that survived a mortal injury. This should be easy.
She wasn't sure why they needed an entire fleet.
She had heard murmurs from the crew about the Sapphires predicting something. She wasn't sure how true it was, but it was better to be safe than sorry, she supposed.
She turned her attention to the small blue planet that was growing closer.
A thrill went through her. She had never been on Earth. She was excited to finally experience it.
She was beautiful.
He watched her sit on the dock, reading as ships passed in the distance. They were supposed to meet here for lunch, but he was early. He watched her, spellbound. He knew, even now, that he felt something for her. Something more than just friendship.
The sun shone down, creating a halo on the brim of her sun hat. She smiled, turning the page and continuing on, unaware of Steven's presence.
He wanted to remember this forever. He pulled out his phone, turning on the camera.
Click!
She hadn't quite noticed him yet, still engrossed in her book.
He could hear Amethyst's joking tone in his head.
You like her.
Yeah ... I think I do ...
He went to take another picture as he came closer to her.
Connie looked back and saw Steven. She grinned in surprise.
Click!
She turned and made a face.
Click!
The pair laughed, Connie greeting Steven with a hug before flipping back through the photos.
"Oh, I look awful in that one," she laughed.
"I think you look pretty in it," Steven blushed as Connie looked at one of the photos on his phone.
She blushed in return and raised the phone above their faces, pulling Steven close.
"We should take one together. Then you can send it to me!" She laughed. "It's only fair since you have so many of me."
Steven had these photos saved to a separate folder that he backed up every time he got a new phone. He looked to them whenever he needed to remember what he was fighting for. He remembered flipping through these photos when he thought he would have to stop seeing her to keep her safe. She insisted that they stay friends. That she wanted to be a part of his universe.
He never wanted her to be hurt ...
Especially not like this ...
Steven was awakened by a pink glow. He wasn't sure where it was coming from, but it hurt his head as his vision returned. He shook his head to bring the world into focus, looking down at his gem to see if it was glowing, trying to show him some unseen power.
There was no glow coming from him. This brought reality back to him. He was no longer fused. He and Connie were separated.
He didn't want to look.
You have to, eventually ...
He groggily turned around to see Connie. Next to her was a horrified Peridot, staring down at her abdomen.
"Steven?" the green gem began to ask.
He followed Peridot's line of sight to see the source of the glow and gasped.
"Oh no ..."
Greg remembered Rose talking to him before she told him she wanted a child. He remembered her saying that she could have a completely human child, that she was capable of it. He remembered that she wanted to create a hybrid. A bridge between the species.
He had argued with her for days on end, trying to convince her to change her mind. In the end, nothing could be changed about it. He instead started asking what their child would be like.
She had wanted a son. Someone who could continue to pass on the gem but without giving up his form. She wasn't sure how it would work, but she had consulted Garnet and there had been a forty percent chance that her son could pass on the gem without any casulaties. Garnet had warned her that forty percent was still risky. Rose was confident. Greg was not. He knew he was going to lose the woman he loved more than anyone in the world. He didn't want to risk losing his son as well, either in death or to grief.
As Greg listened to his son crying over the phone, he felt that horrible feeling all over again.
Rose had restarted the Kindergarten with Steven.
He was listening to Steven the entire way to the Beach House, keeping him on the phone as long as he could. He thought of any possible way to help out the couple and came up empty.
When he arrived and ran through the door, he was greeted by Steven, wrapping his arms tightly around his shoulders, sobbing into his dad's hair.
"I don't know what to do! I didn't mean for this to happen!" He cried out.
Peridot watched, helpless and still grabbing tightly onto Connie's hand. She hadn't witnessed the death of a planet with sentient life on it, but she knew what the creation of gems tended to do to a planet. She didn't want this to happen with her first fully human friend.
"Have you tried Rose's fountain, bud?" Greg asked.
"I don't know how it could work. My spit hasn't done anything for her and I don't think that it is the same sort of injury. I would never have ... I didn't know ..."
Greg held his sobbing son tightly. He tried to not remember his own sadness in losing Rose. He knew how hard this had to be.
He went up to the bedroom with Steven, helping him into a sitting position next to Connie.
"Whatever happens bud, we'll do this together ... If every pork chop were perfect ..."
Steven didn't reply, head bowed as his shoulders heaved with sobs.
"I should have noticed ... I should have realized ..."
"There isn't much of a precedence for this, Stu-ball," Greg started. "I mean, yes you're a hybrid, but we don't know that this will really kill her ... right?"
"I don't know, dad," Steven whispered. "She's creating a gem ... and gems tend to use up all of the life force around them when they incubate ..."
Greg sat next to Steven and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.
"You said though that she was acting different ... feeling different. That had to be before, right?"
"... Yeah ..."
"Just be here for her, bud. She needs you to be strong for her. And I'll stay here until the rest of the gems get here ... and longer if you need it."
Steven nodded, hugging his dad before turning back to Connie and planting a kiss on her lips. He leaned in to whisper in her ear.
"I love you, Connie ... I'll be here when you wake up ..."
Greg, Steven and Peridot waited around Connie's bed, Greg and Steven eventually succumbing to exhaustion and falling asleep while Peridot stood watch, waiting for Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl to return.
Connie, meanwhile, was starting to slowly regain color.