A/N: A lot going on with this chapter.
Much like the rest of the story, this is still a draft. I wanted to get this up before term ended as well as before my surgery. I'll be having knee surgery on February 24th and will most likely be in recovery for a while. I'm hoping to get Chapter 21 up after that (working on it as well as the edits for previous chapters during my hiatus that starts with this one). At the very latest, I'm planning on putting up Chapter 21 and the rest of the edits by the beginning of March. This can change, of course, but I wanted to warn everyone.
Also, as you will be able to tell by the mid-point of this chapter, Option 2 was the overwhelming winner! Woot!
With regards to chapter one, I'm writing two options (because something came to me when I was working on this one and wouldn't leave my head). I'm going to be seeing if it can fit or not, but there may or may not be a time jump as planned (extending this to a four part story). If I don't feel it works with the flow as much, then the chapters that would take place during the time jump will be posted in the drabble collection instead. Either way, you guys are going to be seeing that stuff. It's just a case of "will it be sooner than later?"
Thank you for the reviews! I'm definitely taking them into consideration as I make my edits (and may expand the last chapter a little more if I can get it to flow like I want it to). This chapter is a monster. The folks on the stream seemed to love it and hopefully you all will too!
Be prepared for Larimar trying to make jokes (and being confused about humans), Peridot being paranoid, Blue Diamonds being sketchy, and a set-up for something far in the future (pay attention to certain characters ...)
Feel free to review and I will see you all post-op!
-FourFaces
She knew, the moment she felt her own thoughts forming, that something was wrong.
She shouldn't be feeling anything. She should be a jumble of thoughts right now. She shouldn't exist anymore.
She wasn't sure if she wanted to reform at all now. She worried for the future and tried to look into it. Everything was blurred. Missing.
Oh no ...
She didn't need her future vision to know that something had changed the path of fate. Only two things could have happened.
Neither was good.
She felt her body start to reform and prepared herself. She could feel the pain in her heart the moment her body was ready to erupt from the gem.
She nearly retreated again.
"Pregnant?" Blue Diamond asked, curious. "Very interesting. I assume that the hybrid mated then?"
Priyanka growled, her grip tightening even more on Steven's shoulder.
"If you hurt my daughter, I swear to all that is holy that you will be smashed."
Blue Diamond was taken aback by the ferocity of the small creature. It interested her greatly that this human would stand up to a Diamond. She most likely was unaware of the heirarchy of gems. It was to be expected from such an insignificant creature. Still, the words it said interested her.
"Daughter ... so the creature you are protecting is your offspring? Interesting. I should really study you as well, from a behavioral stand point. You humans are very interesting indeed."
Priyanka started to grab Steven to push him behind her but he stood his ground.
"Don't worry, I wont hurt either of you. That is not my intention. However, I'm even more interested in studying this creature now. Especially with an incubating offspring. I'm assuming that the gem will still form from her, correct?"
Steven blanched. He looked at Priyanka who grimaced.
"You will need my help then," Blue Diamond smiled. "I assume you know that gems will take energy from any organic forms around them to form. Without my technology, your human mate will die."
The pair looked at each other and then back at Pearl and Amethyst.
"I have a proposition," Blue Diamond started.
Connie rose up on shaky legs, walking through the clouds in Rose's Room. She looked around, unsure of how to get out. She knew that the room would respond to Steven's gem and that, in the past, it had never responded to her. She saw the light glow from her abdomen again and decided it was worth a try anyway.
"I need a way out of here," she started. "I need to get to Steven!"
She felt a sharp pain and curled over before noticing a door form, opening to the Beach House. It took all of her strength to make her way to the door. As she staggered out, she noticed the house was deathly quiet. She looked around, worried that the battle had begun and she was left alone. The silence was suffocating.
"Steven?" Connie asked.
No answer.
She began to stagger towards the door, grabbing onto anything that would help her stand. The pain in her abdomen was great and her heart beat rapidly, making her feel faint.
Just a few more steps, she thought.
She reached the screen door, oblivious to what had happened outside, and began to open it.
Blue Diamond had been interrupted by a familiar, nasily voice. She turned to see Peridot, escorting Larimar through the crowd with a blaster aimed at her head.
"Don't hurt him!" Peridot cried out. "If you hurt him, I kill your science officer!"
Blue Diamond smirked.
"You wouldn't dare, you silicate fool," she chuckled. "If she's gone, who will save your human friend?"
Peridot lowered the weapon slightly.
"You're bluffing."
"No, we need both humans alive. I cannot do that without Larimar's help. I'm certain you do not know how to work the equipment that would keep the human alive. There is no way that you would let a creature you have become so close to perish. If I remember right, my Sapphires even said you two fused. This would destroy the gem you both created. Even though I'm not a proponent of different gems fusing, I can appreciate the use for it. You wouldn't let all of that go, would you?"
Peridot wavered before dropping the blaster. Larimar puffed up, proud of the recognition from her Diamond.
"What are you going to do to her?"
Blue Diamond smiled.
"I'm just going to run a few scans on the hybrid and his mate, maybe take some samples ... but I'm very interested in the creature these two have created."
Peridot looked to Steven and could see the moment his heart shattered in his eyes. He realized it now, what Blue Diamond wanted.
He was stuck. He couldn't say no. Connie would die and he would lose both of them, most likely. He couldn't live without Connie. He had already lost Garnet.
The sound of the screen door swinging open and slamming shut startled everyone. They looked to see Connie grabbing the railing.
"Steven?" She asked weakly. "What's going on?"
PeeDee had introduced the gem to his father quickly as they piled into the van. He sat in the back with her, watching as she fiddled with the weapon.
"So, why aren't you fighting out there with them?" The older Fryman asked.
"I'm not needed," she lied. "My weapon doesn't even work."
"Hmm ... well, we're going to return after the all clear is announced. You should be able to return then.
She nodded and looked out the window. She watched as the buildings passed by, slowly. The march of cars out of the town sent anxious thrills through her body.
This was the right decision, She told herself, I'm not of any use to the Crystal Gems.
She stared at the weapon. Perhaps she could find something, when they got to their destination, that would shatter her. Then she could avoid feeling this pain. The humans wouldn't know what to do with her shards. She would just be left to join the dust of the earth.
PeeDee distracted her, setting a hand on hers.
"It's alright, we'll all survive this," he smiled. "Steven has this under control. He's got his mom's gem and his mom's shield."
Labradorite politely smiled back. The thought of Steven began to spark something in her mind. Another way out of the pain she felt.
Something that Azurite's broken gem would not try to block her from.
"So, I didn't spend much time with humans during the war," she started. "Tell me about yourselves ... what has your species accomplished in the last five thousand years?"
Connie was not alright with this. None of them were.
They had no choice right now, however.
White Diamond watched, helplessly, as Blue Diamond escorted Steven, Connie, the remaining Crystal Gems, and Pryianka onto the ship. She had saved herself from being poofed by claiming innocence when Blue Diamond approached her, saying she wasn't sure of Yellow Diamond's plans. It was a lie, of course, and Blue Diamond saw right through it, but she had more important things to focus on now. With a shout, she beckoned all of the Homeworld fleet to return to their respective crafts and prepare for departure. She did not want to be in the way of a Blue Diamond operation, especially when the gem still had Yellow Diamond's destabilizer.
In the back of her mind, she was happy that the skirmish had been relatively short, rather than the day long battle that had taken place before - even if the results of the battle weren't necessarily in her favor. There were a few poofed Rubies and a couple of battle-damaged Quartz soldiers, but otherwise, Homeworld had escaped with very few casualties.
As she turned back towards her ship, her silent Pearl at her side, she saw someone out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see a Lapis Lazuli glaring daggers at her, a Chrysoprase at her side. The Chrysoprase seemed to have sustained a lot of battle damage, her arm hanging limp at her side. The green gem was occasionally hissing in the ancient language, gritting her teeth and drooling acid.
That was the price of battle, White Diamond thought. She still felt a twinge of something as she looked at the two gems, the Lapis Lazuli watching her intently. The Diamond had not personally been involved in whatever had occurred to injure the Chrysoprase, but it must have been one of her soldiers. Regardless, she pushed on, eager to hear the stories of the short battle from her soldiers.
White Diamond walked to her ship, noticing the door had been opened. She did not think much of it and continued into the ship.
CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!
She froze. Her Pearl immediately illuminated the corridor of the ship, revealing several shattered gems. White Diamond broke into a run towards the Crystal Heart's chamber, hoping that the worst had not happened.
Meanwhile, Connie and Steven gaped at the wonders inside of Blue Diamond's ship. It was so different from any Gem tech they had been exposed to. Even the Hand paled in comparison. Corridors lead down to several work rooms and images of the victories of the Diamond Authority appeared and shifted on the walls, like a living painting.
"Right this way," Larimar started. "We'll be working in the research wing ... Don't mind the Alloy. It's a Diamond bubble, so it won't break."
Priyanka jumped, seeing the monstrous creature contained in the bubble.
"This is an 'Alloy'?" She gasped.
"Yes. This one stowed away on the ship," Larimar explained. "I was planning on studying this one as well to see how else we can turn the tide of the war in our favor. However, with the latest development, we may be able to avoid un-bubbling this creature."
Priyanka watched as the creature followed Larimar with its eyes. She stood in front of the bubble and waved her hand in the periphery of its vision.
It ignored her.
"Now, we will have to administer a mild sedative for some of the testing, but I assure you, it won't harm either of our subjects," Larimar smiled.
"What sort of sedative?" Priyanka asked. "Human biology seems to be different enough from gem. I mean, just look at how the development of their child is coming along. Just the creation of the gem nearly killed her!"
Larimar huffed.
"Well, what do you suggest?"
"I have access to sedatives in the hospital. Ones that Connie can handle and that are safe for a pregnant mother. You can use that for her and most likely for Steven. A lot of what I've observed with him is still human. You can't just treat them like you would any other creature!"
Peridot squirmed. She worried that Blue Diamond would lose her patience with the human. She had come to care for Priyanka and didn't want to see what the Diamond would do to her. She braced for the eventual destruction, but it never came.
Instead, Blue Diamond nodded and motioned for Priyanka.
"Go then and find some of what they can tolerate. I promise I will not leave this planet or start any testing until you return."
Priyanka nodded and was escorted out by Larimar who began to ask every conceivable question she could think of about humans. Blue Diamond turned her attention to Steven and Connie.
"So, you are the offspring of Rose Quartz," Blue Diamond began. "I assume she was unable to come up with a way to share her gem with you. It really is a pity. She was a marvelous leader, even if we did disagree. She managed to bring an entire faction over to her side, even after renouncing her title. There were even rumors that she had wooed my predecessor over to her side. That she convinced her to give up her title as well ... It was all very interesting, wasn't it, Pearl?"
Pearl squirmed and then gripped Steven's shoulder.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Certainly you do. You were there. Unless you just don't want to remember it."
Pearl gritted her teeth and looked to Steven.
"Whatever happened in the war doesn't have any bearing on you," she forced a smile.
Steven didn't want to think about his mother right now. He couldn't help but think of the sacrifice she had made, just to bring him into this world. He worried that Connie would make this sacrifice anyway. That it would be too late to stop the progress.
"An interesting aspect of Rose Quartz gems is their capacity to heal. I know that she healed many a gem on the battlefield during our wars against the Alloys, as well as during the Rebellion. I assume it does not work as well on organics."
"No. He's healed humans as well," Connie replied, weakly. "I've been healed a couple times, as has his dad. He even healed my eyesight when we were kids ..."
"Interesting ... but of course, it wouldn't work on something like this. Not when so much energy is being taken."
Both Connie and Steven were silent. Amethyst grumbled and crossed her arms.
"So, what are you going to do to save her? Gems take life force to grow and I doubt you have anything in here that can help with that," She growled. "If you were just going to shatter us and take them, why didn't you do it out there."
Peridot nearly fainted. Pearl gently grabbed Amethyst's shoulder. They braced themselves for the rage of the Diamond but were met with laughter.
"You really haven't been on Homeworld, have you? You poor little quartz. You missed out on so many technological wonders. I know that your kind is usually hardly interested in it, but I am certain you would at least be interested in something that specifically affects quartz production."
Amethyst huffed before Blue Diamond smiled and beckoned them to follow her.
"Quartz take the most energy to form and need to constantly be monitored so that they don't use up all of the available resources or not use enough and end up defective ... no offense."
"None taken," Amethyst growled.
"On Homeworld, we have some experimental Quartz kindergartens. Ones that use recycled gem energy alongside samples of organic energy to create a perfect quartz soldier at an accelerated rate to make up for lost soldiers on our colonies. In this case, we already have our organic host with us," Blue Diamond gestured to Connie, "but that is not nearly enough to fully sustain the creation of a quartz, even a shard of one. We do have one thing on the ship, however, that can produce enough energy to assist."
Peridot blanched.
"Oh no ..." she started. "But ... those were just prototypes when I was last on Homeworld. None of the subjects had emerged yet."
"The second round of prototypes were preparing to emerge when our fleet left. The quartz soldiers from the first round were indeed slightly weaker, but they were a weaker variety anyway. I assume that the second round of prototypes are working perfectly on Homeworld. Now, of course, with this method, there is the chance of accelerated incubation of the gem, meaning that the gem will emerge sooner than the normal incubation period of a quartz soldier, thanks to the energy from the ship's heart, but this will be good in the long run for the human because ..."
"Oh my stars ... I really messed up ..." Peridot groaned as Blue Diamond continued.
"What?" Steven asked before he too realized why she was worried.
They were interrupted by White Diamond's angry shriek.
"Blue Diamond!" The furious Diamond cried out. "The Crystal Heart in my ship is cracked! You need to check yours!"
Larimar felt a little bit of a culture shock as she walked through the hospital with Priyanka. She had gone from only seeing reports about humans to seeing more of them than she could count. She marveled at the diversity of the species and the strange contraptions some of them seemed to be tethered to in a few of the rooms. One in particular amazed her. It was a human that was covered from head to toe in a white casing, leaving room only for its eyes. It seemed to be suspended from the ceiling.
The humans must use that one to attempt to power this building. What a good use of organic energy!
"Stop staring at Mr. Latimer," Priyanka said without looking at Larimar. "He was in a skiing accident and broke most of the bones in his body. He'll probably be back in next year."
"Ah ... so this is what you do with humans who have been damaged. Interesting. We usually just use a Rose Quartz medic if we have one available. Otherwise, gems are repurposed."
Priyanka shuddered.
"We don't do that with humans. Now, what sort of tests were you planning on doing to my daughter? I need to know so I can get the right types of anesthetic."
"Well, we do need to take tissue samples from both of them. I also want to take a sample from the hybrid that is growing inside her. I'm certain that we will need both of them to be asleep for that if human pain tolerances are as you say. Also, I have a plan to see if the new Quartz Production technique works on her. We'll need to use the energy from the Crystal Heart in the ship to offset her own energy. It's risky, but it has a better chance of working than just letting her go through this on her own."
"Maybe if she is asleep the entire time ..." Priyanka mused. "We can put humans into medically induced comas," she started. "It's risky as well, but she can conserve her own energy that way. I just don't know if I want to do that to my daughter ... but I don't want to lose her."
"Humans care for their offspring a lot, huh?"
"Yeah. And she's our only child. We didn't think we would ever have her. She had so many problems as a young child as well. We thought we were going to lose her so many times and we tried to protect her from so much. I think we did more harm than good, honestly," she sighed.
Larimar nodded, unsure of how to feel. This was completely alien to the gem. She wasn't used to the emotions that these humans felt. Love was never a strong emotion on Homeworld and the thought of such a strong love for something one created was odd to her. She watched as Priyanka walked through a doorway.
"Wait here. I'm going to go make sure I can take some things with me."
Larimar nodded and stood outside the door, waiting. She watched as humans were pushed down the hallway in wheeled contraptions by other humans in teal or blue outfits. She wondered if these uniformed humans were the human equivalent to Pearls.
The double doors burst open and Larimar watched as a human was wheeled past her on a white slab, five other humans attending to it. She could see a red fluid leaking out of the human on the slab and shuddered. With the basic knowledge of these creatures that she had, she knew that the red fluid leaking out was not a good thing.
"Get him to the O.R! He's crashing!" Larimar heard one of the humans say.
Crashing? What does that mean?
She followed as far as she could before being blocked by a locked set of double doors. She waited, wanting to see how this would resolve. She sat down, in front of the doors, staring.
"Hi Blue Lady," a small voice said behind her.
She turned around to see a small human clutching a small, fury creature. The creature stared at Larimar with a blank expression, slightly unnerving her. It was a little like looking at a newly produced Pearl. She never liked it when a new Pearl was displayed somewhere, waiting for programming. She looked back up at the child. The child looked to be a female (but she wasn't sure) and had brown skin with blue eyes. She tilted her head, examining her.
So this is a human offspring. Interesting.
"Jamie, get away from the Gem. It's not polite to stare," a voice stated. Larimar followed the source to a human that approached the two of them. "I am so sorry. She hasn't seen a Gem before, so she's going to be prone to bother you. Thank you for all you've done for this state. We heard about the battle in Beach City a month ago. I'm glad that not all of you were shattered."
Larimar gaped. The humans can't tell between a Homeworld Gem and one of the traitorous Crystal Gems?
She almost replied when Priyanka appeared.
"There you are! Let's get back quickly. It's about an hour drive back and I don't want to lose any more time!"
Priyanka grabbed the gem by the arm and dragged her out, Larimar still staring back at the parent and child.
"Peridot, we are screwed," Amethyst whispered.
The gems were gathered around the Crystal Heart of Blue Diamond's ship. A large crack ran through it, sparking and and sputtering. Blue Diamond stared, horrified.
"See? We're stuck here now! Marooned on this planet because of these rebels!" White Diamond growled. "Give me the order and I'll smash them.
"No ... we can't. And we're not completely stuck. There's still one option. I assume you didn't think to bring any Rose Quartz medics with you?"
"Of course not! There weren't any on Homeworld that we could use and the only few known ones are on other colonies."
Blue Diamond sighed. She was right, of course. She looked to Steven.
"There's a Rose Quartz here," Blue Diamond started. "And we're at his mercy."
Peridot choked back a relieved chuckle before looking to Steven who stared at Blue Diamond before looking at Connie's weakening form in his arms.
"What were your plans for our child?" Steven asked.
"Originally, we wanted to take the child to help us turn the tide of the war against the Alloys. There is a strong chance that they would be able to slip in, undetected, and destroy the enemy on all of our former colonies. We knew that you would have to agree to our terms so that you did not lose your mate. Now, however, it seems you are the one with the most leverage."
Steven looked back down at Connie. She weakly stared up at him. A silent agreement passed between them. Steven kissed her forehead lightly.
"We need to be able to raise our child. They would be mostly human and probably wouldn't survive on the surface of most of those planets. We can't risk losing our child like that. You can study us all you like, but don't harm our child. Don't take our child. We need to be the ones to raise them. You don't understand how humans work. You wouldn't be able to provide for their physical needs."
"And leave the Earth alone, too!" Amethyst added, angrily.
Blue Diamond nodded. She looked to White Diamond who looked as if she was about to explode with anger.
"We have to agree to his terms," Blue Diamond started. "We're never getting off this planet otherwise."
White Diamond sputtered, barely quelling her rage.
"Fine! But we get to do whatever we want with those samples from studying them! We need to have an edge over the Alloys and we won't have that until we know how these two are able to be almost undetectable."
Steven nodded, gently squeezing Connie tighter before handing her limp form over to Pearl.
"Understandable. But you promise to release us after you are done?"
"Of course," Blue Diamond affirmed.
Steven sighed and licked his palm before placing it on the Crystal Heart. The warm glow filled the room as the cracks filled in. He looked to the Diamonds and then to Connie.
"I'll heal yours as well," he started, gesturing to White Diamond, "but you have to promise to never try to use Earth as a colony again. This is not a gem controlled planet. This is a planet with sentient life that needs to be allowed to flourish."
White Diamond growled and stormed out of the chamber. Blue Diamond chuckled.
"She'll come around eventually. If she doesn't, I'm sure she'll enjoy being stranded on your planet. Now, let's head back to the lab and wait for Larimar and the human to get back. We'll start preparing your mate for the procedures as well."
Steven nodded, taking Connie back from Pearl.
"I'm scared, Steven," she whimpered.
"I know," Steven replied pressing a kiss on the top of Connie's head.
The ride in the car had been silent. Priyanka had stopped at a grocery store to buy food to take onto the ship for Connie and Steven, should they feel up to it after testing. She didn't want to put Connie into a coma unless she absolutely had to. She held onto hope that whatever technique Larimar came up with would be enough.
She looked over at one point to see Larimar staring out the window. She could not tell if the gem was interested in the landscape or bored. She sighed. She would never get used to these aliens, no matter how much she was exposed to them.
"So, what are the chances that Connie will survive?" she asked.
"Why are you asking me?" Larimar started, "I'm a Larimar, not a Sapphire."
Priyanka glared.
"A little humor," the Larimar explained. "Anyhow, I am confident in my ability to keep her alive."
Priyanka was still not soothed.
"Have there ever been any other experiments in creating hybrids?" Priyanka asked. "Or was Steven the first?"
"Well, I'm not too certain because most of the planets we colonize are devoid of creatures with anything resembling sentience. Earth was one of the first and most of the notes on the colony were destroyed after the Rebellion. We have basic notes on the endemic species, but that is all. A lot of information during the Rebellion was heavily censored. I hadn't even been created yet." Larimar paused and then added, "However, I know that there were reports of gems experiencing strange emotions on this planet and then acting on them. There were also reports of attempts to create a super weapon using the endemic life of the planet. Any possible records or data was likely destroyed. I don't think that the route that Rose Quartz chose was ever experimented with during that time and I don't think any hybrids were successfully created using any other methods. We would have definitely known about that then."
Priyanka nodded and then stared back out at the road.
"So, love is not a common emotion on Homeworld?"
"I should say not!" Larimar chuffed. "Perhaps if we weren't so preoccupied with the wars against the Alloys, we might have time for odd pursuits like that, but even still ... It's hard to feel that sort of feeling, especially for someone of a different gem type. The higher class gems might be able to afford that occasionally, but it's never talked about."
Priyanka pressed her lips into a thin line. She barely listened as the Larimar continued on. It was disturbing to her to hear what Homeworld was really like.
She worried that her grandchild might end up on this planet without anyone to truly care for them or love them.
Or worse. They may not learn to love at all.
Steven lay back on the examination table, watching as Connie was hooked up to several alien machines. He wasn't sure why he still expected the machines to resemble those in an Earth hospital, but he was shocked to see how alien everything was. A sleek probe, not unlike one of Peridot's robonoids, hovered above Connie's body, beeping and reading off numbers that Steven could not comprehend.
"She's stable," Larimar stated as Priyanka entered the room. She nodded and hooked up the IV drip to Connie's arm, Connie barely reacting to the sting of the needle.
"Ammi?" she whimpered, weakly.
"Shh. It's alright, I'm here," Priyanka replied, gently stroking her hair. "I'm going to put you under, alright? That way you don't feel anything during the tests."
Connie nodded weakly.
"I love you," Priyanka smiled sadly.
"I love you too mom," Connie whimpered before she turned to face Steven. Their eyes met and Connie tried to smile.
"I'll see you after this is done," Steven smiled, trying to reassure himself more than Connie. "I love you ..."
"I love you too," she replied.
Soon, Connie was in a deep sleep, unaware of anything happening outside. Steven watched the robonoid hover over her, continuing to relay numbers to Larimar who would simply nod and record them.
Priyanka walked over to Steven next.
"I'm going to do the same for you. It sounds like you're both going to be having a lot of testing done and I don't think you should have to be awake for all of it. I'll hook you up to an IV like we've done for Connie. She's also going to have a feeding tube to make sure she gets nutrients. I think she'll need to be under for much longer than you will," Priyanka explained. "She also seems to have not been getting enough nutrients normally, so I want to make sure she does and this feeding tube will be the best way to ensure it ... Have you ever had anesthesia before?"
Steven shook his head.
"OK. This will feel odd and you will get very tired, very quickly. But you'll be awake before you know it," Priyanka smiled.
As she placed the IV in Steven's arm, Steven hissing at the sting of the needle, Pearl entered the room and sat across from her.
"Is he going to be alright?" Pearl asked.
"Yes. He should do well with this. Hopefully his gem doesn't keep him from going under, but he seems to have human enough biology to keep that from being an issue."
Pearl smiled and ruffled Steven's hair.
"Have a good nap, Steven," she smiled, kissing his forehead.
Steven chuckled sadly, "I will."
Pearl left the room and Priyanka gently hugged Steven.
"I know I was upset, but I am happy that you and Connie found each other," she started. "Thank you for everything you have done for her."
Steven smiled and nodded, a tear rolling down his cheek.
Soon, he was asleep, floating through the nothingness of his subconscious.
"Wow, so that's what his tissues look like ..."
Priyanka watched as Larimar looked through images of the tissue samples taken from Steven. Parts of the muscle tissue still looked normal, but there were some abnormalities. As Larima zoomed in, she could see that the cells were held together by light. She then watched as Larimar brought up Connie's samples.
"Now, this is the curious thing. You can see with Steven that the cells are held together with this pink light. Almost like the light from a Rose Quartz physical projection. I could show you a proper gem projection some time to explain it to you if you like. When we look at Connie's cells ..." She zoomed in. "We can see something similar starting to occur ... however ..."
She went in closer. There was a faint mottling in the light that ebbed in and out. The other light swirled, colorless and faint.
"What is that?" Priyanka asked.
Larimar sighed and leaned back.
"Well ... I have a theory ..."
She had renounced her title by feigning death. She wasn't completely convinced that humans were worth rebelling against Homeworld over, but the more she studied them, the more she started to think that they might hold some key to defeating the Alloys. She had secretly experimented on several and started to come to a conclusion that there was something very interesting about the species. She wanted to present her findings, but she slightly feared the reaction. Rose seemed to have just as much of an affinity for these creatures as she did for the plants that she commanded in battle.
This latest test subject was the scientist's favorite. She was a dark skinned human from one of the tropical regions they had tried to set up a warp pad in. She spoke in a language very different from their light language. She was often huddled in the corner of her cell, uttering words under her breath that the gem couldn't even begin to understand. However, when it came to the actual tests, she was extremely compliant. She let the gem perform the tests on her without shedding a tear, her jaw clenched and her breathing controlled. Even as the gem began to begin the more controversial parts of her testing, the creature stayed obedient ... and alive.
Her tests would be short lived on this subject. She was found out by Rose Quartz' Pearl and told to cease her project. She had been so close, trying to tell Rose how she was working on integrating the information from a gem into a human subject and how this one seemed to have been the most receptive. She soon had to release the human, still keeping some of the samples she had taken.
Occasionally, when there was a lull in battle, the gem would return to her lab to study the tissues. She was pleased to see the blue glow that would occasionally ebb and shift. She often wondered what happened to that human and secretly hoped that she had survived to pass on the newly altered genes. She would be corrupted before she would find out.
Peridot watched as Amethyst paced in their holding cell. Her eyes darted between Amethyst and Pearl as the two gems showed their nervousness in different ways. Amethyst fumed and huffed.
"Why are we working with them? How do we know they aren't just going to shatter us and take them?"
Pearl was unresponsive, staring at Sapphire's gem in her hands. Peridot made her way over to Pearl and gently set a hand on her thigh.
"We have the upper hand. At least, I hope we do ... and when Steven is out of there, we can have him heal Ruby and then we'll have Garnet back," Peridot started.
"I'm just worried about what they are going to find ..." Pearl started. "I'm worried that we've all done something to harm Connie in some way. She may be human, but she feels like she's one of us now. We can't lose another core member of our team," she said, holding Sapphire's gem tight for emphasis.
"It's unprecedented," Peridot started. "I mean, Earth is the first planet I have heard of in Gem controlled space that has life that has this kind of sentience on it ... and before Steven, there weren't any hybrids. Steven's been fine, so Connie has to be OK ... and they're trying the new Kindergarten technique on her and maybe she'll survive it. She's a strong human, Pearl. I know she can do this."
The cell opened up and Blue Diamond's Pearl stepped in. She looked to the trio and then stared at Pearl.
"Larimar wishes to see you. She has some news."
The three gems rushed from the cell towards the lab and were greeted with a horrified look from Priyanka and a giddy look from Larimar.
"What's going on?" Peridot asked.
"Alright, so I had noticed something odd with the human female's -"
"Connie," Priyanka corrected.
"Yes, Connie's tissue samples. Look here. You can see the light that would signify a Rose Quartz' physical form ... This makes sense because of the fusion that these two had allegedly been able to create several times, however ..."
She showed the parts of the samples that showed the colorless light.
"This was puzzling. Now, I know that your Peridot has fused with her once before, but this does not seem like the energy signature for a Peridot. I began to decode it and search for matches and well ..."
She scrolled to another console. On the screen, a series of gem types were listed. Amethyst watched as Larimar scrolled through the images before stopping on a blue gem that had been faceted with a familiar shape. Larimar pulled up the file and then pulled up another window where she plugged in a code.
"S ... I ... O ... 4 ... R ... S ... I ... L ...5" she murmured as she typed. The group watched a robonoid activate and then hover over the sample tray and begin to manipulate the sample.
The light between the tissues began to glow a bright blue.
"I think I know what really happened to the previous Blue Diamond," Larimar chirped as Pearl's face matched the horrified expression on Priyanka's face.
"So ... what does this mean?" Amethyst asked.
"I would need to take a sample from the human mother to confirm, but I think that some early experimentation on the native species of this planet yielded a change in the DNA structure of several humans. This doesn't make them gems ... not at all ... but plugging this particular gem's information in can definitely affect the tissue in some way. I need to run more tests to see just how. Now, I want to try something, but I need to wait for Blue Diamond to return to the lab for me to do it ... I need to see how the Alloy would react to the different samples to know if I should try to activate this sequence in the hu- Connie or not - it would most likely affect the development of their offspring. Regardless, activating this might just save her."
"I don't think I want to know if I carry this," Priyanka started. "And how is this even possible? I mean, we're completely seperate species, as far as I know. You're not even made up of the same compounds! How is this even still in the genome?"
"To be fair, you humans have a lot of junk DNA. Just think of this as a retrovirus."
Priyanka gaped and continued to look at her daughter and Steven as the other robonoids in the room finished their check on their sleeping forms.
The chime of her phone pulled her out of her daze as she reached into her pocket.
She knew she would have to tell him eventually.
Doug wasn't sure who he was more angry with.
He couldn't believe that his daughter was pregnant, much less with an alien hybrid's child. He should have been more adamant about not allowing her to spend so many nights at Steven's house. It was bound to happen. Yes, she was an adult now, but she would always be his little girl. It was even worse, knowing that this could kill her.
He was upset at Priyanka for not telling him immediately. He had tried to stay composed over the phone with her, but he knew that she could hear the anger in his voice when he talked with her. And now his daughter was involved in some experiment because this pregnancy was literally killing her? He was seething the entire drive, barely focusing on the road.
He nearly hit the large, pink lion that bolted in front of the car.
"Oh boy," he growled as he slammed on his breaks. "More magic stuff."
The lion paused and turned to look at him, as if he heard the man in the car. His eyes glowed.
Doug pulled to the side of the road and got out, walking up to the big cat who seemed to bow down, as if to allow the man onto his back. Years ago, Doug would never have climbed onto the back of a lion, but now he felt he needed to. He knew that this animal was deliberate in everything he did. If he was stopping to gesture for him to ride him, then he knew he should probably listen.
He grabbed onto Lion's mane and slammed his eyes shut as Lion created a portal and leaped through. They were inside of Blue Diamond's ship in moments. Lion skidded to a stop, jarring Doug out of his tense state.
"Where are we?" he asked Lion.
Lion did not reply but started padding down the hallway, Doug following close they walked down the corridors, Doug could feel a sense of dread spreading through his entire being. This must have been the Diamond ship his wife had been talking about. He knew that these were the leaders of the Gem Homeworld. He knew that they had only one goal in mind for Earth.
He worried about how his daughter and wife were playing into it.
He placed his hand on the holster of his taser. He wasn't sure if that would work against Gems, much less a Diamond, but he had to at least try if things went South.
Lion paused, suddenly, and growled. Doug braced himself and then watched as Lion took off down a corridor. Doug followed and found himself in front of a door, a bristling Lion at his side.
The door opened and Doug was greeted by a towering, blue woman. She looked down at him, curiously, and smirked. The blue gem on her chest and her regal stature immediately let him know who she was.
"You must be the male parent of the subject we are studying. Come with me. I was just about to check on the progress of the tests."
Lion let out a low rumble. Doug looked at the cat who glared at the Diamond.
He had no choice, however. He needed to see his wife and his daughter.
... And possibly kill Steven.
He was drifting through an ocean of calm. There were no monsters to fight, no regimes to overthrow.
Everything was peaceful.
His peace was broken by a blue glow. He wondered at first if he had somehow drifted into Sapphire's subconscious. He banished the thought when he felt curiosity instead of sadness.
"Rose?" He felt someone ask him. He looked around, wondering where the feeling was coming from.
"No ... I'm her son, Steven ..."
The feeling wrapped around him and then began to materialize. She was tall. Extremely tall. A long, plain yet elegant dress covered her body and her eyes were obscured by the cloak she wore. She seemed to stare at him, examining him distantly, before she reached her hands up to remove her cloak.
Steven watched as she revealed her face. She was a dark blue with piercing, intelligent eyes. Her lips were full, like his mother's, and her hair reminded him a lot of Connie's - long and dark. Her blue gem rested on her chest in a very hastily shaved cut that barely resembled a square.
She smiled.
"So, Rose's experiment was the successful one ..."
Steven froze. He tilted his head.
"Experiment?"
The blue woman mirrored his actions, like a child pacing with a tiger at the zoo. She smirked.
"So, where is she?" She asked.
Peridot sat on a chair in between Steven and Connie's sleeping forms. She was curled up in the chair, holding herself tight as if to keep herself from flying apart. She didn't usually like to partake in the human activity of sleeping, but she felt that she needed it now.
A gasp shook her out of her barely awake state. She jerked her head around to see Steven's eyes wide and darting around.
"Steven?" She asked him.
"I ... Where ... Connie!" He cried out, weakly grabbing at the IV.
"Steven!" Peridot cried out as she went to hold him down. "She's sleeping still. She's not going to wake up for quite a while!"
She braced herself as Steven struggled before winding down, panting and wild eyed. He slowly relaxed and Peridot released him. He pulled himself into a cross-legged position on the table and looked over Peridot's head to Connie.
"She's doing fine, Steven," Peridot started. "She's being monitored."
"But ... I think I saw another gem ... one of the bubbled ones that Pearl refused to let us un-bubble on the first battle on the beach ... I think she knew my mom ..."
"Of course she knew her, Steven," Peridot started. "I mean, most of the gems in the Temple were part of her original rebellion-"
"No, I mean she was close to her. Like a second in command or -"
"Ah, you're awake!" Larimar chirped as she walked into the laboratory. "There were some interesting readings that your robonoid was giving and I felt I should check on you. How are you feeling?"
Steven regarded the blue gem. There had been a slight twinge of fear in her voice as well as something else. Concern, perhaps?
He watched her as she made her way over to Connie's form and began to check on her as well.
"She's still stable. There were some interesting findings regarding the samples we took from her ... You might enjoy this, you might not," the gem continued. "You have indeed been leaving a little bit of your own energy signature behind with her whenever you fused, but there was something else we found. Her mother would not let us take samples to see if she also carried this, and I respect that, but your mate seems to be the result of an early experiment ..."
Steven gaped and then turned to look back at Peridot. The green gem refused to meet his gaze.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, we had heard rumors that the previous Blue Diamond had either been shattered early in the war or had also defected. We had also heard rumors of attempts at creating a new, undetectable super weapon during the war. It seems that my findings with your mate have confirmed some of these suspicions, in a way."
Steven looked to Connie who continued sleeping.
"See, I would like to attempt something with Connie that I successfully did with the samples I took from her. If I can do this, it might certainly save her as well as anyone that the Alloys come across. You see, this other energy that she has is dormant. It hasn't been activated in generations. However, we can insert a code that will activate it, giving her that extra bit of energy. She won't be a gem, not by any means, but this will help her. We're not sure what the effect will be on your offspring."
Steven looked to Connie and sighed. There wasn't any choice he could really make. He couldn't imagine life without her, having had her in his life for so many years. He wished he could ask her if this was alright, if she was OK with having this activated within her.
He sat down next to her and stroked her hair softly before pressing his forehead to hers.
"Did Priyanka say it was alright?"
"She told me to confirm with you. She thinks this might be for the best, as did I. The male parent did not quite agree -"
Steven paled.
"Oh no ... He's going to kill me."
"Nonsense!" Larimar laughed. "You're part gem! He would have to be a pretty strong creature to shatter you! And if Blue Diamond was correct, then your heritage alone would mean you are too strong to be taken down by a human. Granted, the male parent did state several threats before the female calmed him down. It was entertaining, to say the least."
"That's why I'm in here," Peridot mumbled. "I didn't find it entertaining ..."
"Regardless, what would you like us to do for your mate?"
Steven gently squeezed Connie's hand.
"Do it," he stated. "If it's going to save her life, then do it."
"Alright. We'll set the robonoids to insert the code and monitor both her and the unborn child. In the meantime, I do want to perform some tests, now that Blue Diamond is available. We'll have to do this in another part of the ship ... and be sure to have your shield ready ..."
"Subject 9509 did not react well to the shards from the Amethyst. I am running out of shards. I still have one more subject."
Blue Quartz paced in her lab as her Pearl hastily cleared away the mangled body of her former subject. She looked to the final human. The dark skinned one that curled up in the corner. She would be the last hope for this experiment to succeed. If she captured any more, then Rose would know.
She continued to speak into her recorder.
"This is risky and I have wanted to do this anyway ... I don't have the tools that Rose had, but this will have to do."
The blue gem sat down at her table and reached for a grinder. It was her sharpest and strongest, but she was not sure if she could do this without causing irreparable damage. She craned her neck down to see her gem.
The Diamond shape had been sickening to her in recent years. She had been in hiding with Rose Quartz and her Pearl ever since the battle where she had decided to defect. It was after a human had arrived to tend to her wounds, the small child that was strapped to her back crying from fear of the giant gems that surrounded them. She had expected Rose to shatter her. Instead, she showed her humanity. Now the former Diamond was obsessed.
She sighed and brought the instrument to her gem and placed one hand underneath to catch the shards that would fall. She hissed as it touched the top of her gem. She nearly stopped from the pain, but continued, feeling the shards and shavings land in her open palm.
When she finished, she stored half of them for later testing before beginning the re-purposing process on her shards. She needed this to work.
She soon had a small vial of the material needed to begin the creation of a new gem. She sighed and walked over to the human in the cage.
"Please don't let this kill you," she whispered to her. "I need this to work ... we need to win ..."
Steven stood, horrified, as the bubbled Alloy stood in front of him. Blue Diamond waited behind a viewing window, ready to reappear to bubble the creature if things got out of hand. Steven trembled, watching the creature snarl and thrash in the bubble.
A Peridot was in the room with him, one of Blue Diamond's (thankfully) and she trembled as she held a large, gem encrusted war hammer. She raised it and swung, popping the bubble.
She did not have a moment to think before the Alloy was on her. Steven cried out, watching as the creature seemed to ooze onto the gem as she yelled in anguish. Her cries were soon silenced as the Alloy seemed to melt before reforming into its natural state with a metallic copy of the Peridot next to it.
Steven could see Blue Diamond's face morph into one of concern as the creatures paced about. Steven shuddered, preparing himself to throw his bubble up or to summon his shield.
The creatures ignored him.
He breathed a sigh of relief as the creatures continued to pace and search. Every so often, the original Alloy would pause and tilt its head in Steven's direction before continuing its search.
Then, the Peri-Alloy discovered the door.
Steven's shield was out in moments and before either Alloy could react, his shield had sliced through the Peri-Alloy, scattering the seemingly liquid metal across the floor.
The original Alloy's head jerked towards Steven, its eyes sharp and trained. It rushed towards him.
Steven leaped out of the way and then towards one of the puddles of goo, bubbling it as he reached it. He did the same, quickly, for as many as he could before the original Alloy could rebound. He turned to see the Alloy charging and threw his bubble up, straining to keep it active as the Alloy pounded against it. He could feel the bubble weakening and prepared himself for a possible end before the pounding suddenly ceased. He looked to see Blue Diamond standing above him, her sword plunged through the Alloy's chest. The creature fell apart and was quickly bubbled. Steven dropped the bubble and looked to Blue Diamond.
"Interesting. It did not notice you until you used your shield. Even more interestingly, the parts you bubbled are not reforming ... You may have solved another problem, Steven."
She then turned to Larimar.
"Study one of the bubbled Alloy pieces. I want to know everything we can about them. And Steven?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you for all of your cooperation."
Connie had been mesmerized by the faint glow of the forming hybrid in her dream state. She watched as the light continued to figure out a form and pattern that it wanted to take.
She was excited and nervous. She had sometimes thought about starting a family with Steven (though much later, after everything had ended) and wondered if their child would be human or gem.
A part of her wondered if this was even real. She was dreaming, after all.
She tilted her head when she saw a change to the light. A blue tint started to appear. She soon realized this was leaking into her entire vision.
"What's going on?" She asked.
She could feel a twinge of strange instinct as the blue flooded her vision. An instinct that was completely alien and indescribable. She nearly panicked as she physically grew colder. She watched as the color of the gem changed from the bright pink to a very soft lilac. She could see the blue fade away from her vision, slightly, and continued to study the form of her child as the shape began to change slightly. The light mannequin shifted and changed, as if it were experimenting with a new form. Connie watched and barely noticed the increase in her own strength as the gem developed further.
Soon, she watched as her child began to physically develop under the bright light. She wondered if this was how Rose felt.
She wondered when she would be able to wake up.
Peridot and Steven watched, nervously, as Larimar buzzed around the lab. Peridot did not like those bubbled alloy parts being in the same place as Connie, especially after seeing it assimilate a Peridot, but she couldn't say much to dissuade Larimar from her studies.
Steven watched as Connie seemed to look more lively than she had since the pregnancy began. He had been watching her abdomen grow as the gem started to develop. He had to admit that this sort of thing always looked odd and somewhat frightening to him, but he continued to watch her anyway.
Doug had forgiven him, reluctantly, and made him promise to stay with his daughter, something Steven did not have a hard time doing. Doug had gone home, but Priyanka stayed behind to make sure that Connie's physical needs were being taken care of during her comatose state.
"I almost want to try taking her out of the coma," Larimar had stated once. "We can monitor her and make sure that she can sustain herself and the growing gem without help from the machinery. If this were to happen again without us here, we would need to know."
Priyanka was less sure of it and wanted to wait a little longer. Larimar had relented and busied herself with taking apart the Alloy.
"Oh my stars!" Steven and Peridot heard the gem exclaim from inside the lab. "This is amazing!"
Larimar rushed about, cleaning up the lab before reaching for her communicator to hail Blue Diamond.
The larger gem was in there in moments, watching as Larimar excitedly explained her findings. When Blue Diamond smiled, Larimar looked as if she was about to burst with pride.
Steven looked at one of the view screens and saw what Larimar was so excited about.
The Alloys were not singular, liquid metal entities.
They were tiny, colonial machines.
Pearl watched the blue gem glow with dread. She braced herself for the eventual panic that the gem would be in when she fully came to.
Sapphire's eye blinked open after she reformed and looked around.
"What happened?" she asked.
Pearl sighed and gently took Sapphire's hand.
"I am so sorry ... once Steven and Connie get out of here, we'll see if Steven can heal her. She was too quick and none of us could stop her ..."
"No ..." Sapphire whispered.
"She wouldn't have wanted to lose you. She must have been certain that she could protect you ... and she did."
Sapphire froze to the floor, ice crystals forming and spreading out from her.
"How is Steven?"
"He's been subjected to some tests and is waiting for a decision to be made on Connie ... They found something different with her that might have affected a large part of the human population. They've activated it and want to see if Connie can survive without being attached to everything."
Sapphire nodded and tried to warm up. She couldn't.
"They're going to do something horrible ..." Sapphire started. "We can't trust them."
"They gave their word that Connie and Steven can keep their child."
"They will ... but they're going to try something. I know it ..."
Pearl grimaced.
"Do you know what it is that they're going to do?"
"Yes ..."
"What is it?"
Sapphire was silent, watching the future unfold. She covered her mouth and gasped.
"So, they're defeat-able?"
"Yes!" Larimar chirped. "This is such wonderful news! We can win this war and maybe get rid of those pests once and for all!"
Steven smiled.
"So ... are we going to try and take Connie off of everything and wake her up?"
"In a few days ..." Larimar stammered. "I mean, we have to do it slowly. We can't just take her off in one go and expect her to be alright."
Steven nodded, understanding. Peridot raised an eyebrow, not completely trusting the Larimar at this moment.
"Anyway, you should retire to your sleeping quarters and rest up. We have a couple more tests we need to run and I want you awake for them."
As Steven and Peridot left, Larimar released the breath she didn't realize she had been holding. She walked over to Connie's sleeping form and pulled her tray over, removing a sharp instrument. The smooth, silver handle was cold in her hands. She sighed and began to make an incision, preparing a few more needle-like instruments. She stopped when she reached her target and dug in the instruments, taking several samples from the unborn hybrid. Soon, she pulled out a vial and looked about the room, making sure no one was observing her before emptying the vial onto her abdomen, healing both the mother and child.
She took one sample and placed it near the sample she took from the Alloy. She had noticed that the individual machines would continue to wriggle and react with a gem in close proximity. She watched, carefully, waiting to see the machines overtake the sample and integrate it.
They ignored it.
She hurriedly went and placed the samples into vials and watched as they reacted with the substance inside, glowing brightly. A smile spread across Larimar's face.
"Did you do it then?" she heard a voice behind her ask.
"Yes, my Diamond. We'll place them in the auxiliary lab and use the new technique to grow them."
"Wonderful. Take them in. I'll begin preparing her for awakening."
Larimar nodded and rushed out of the room with the vials. Blue Diamond strode over to Connie, sitting next to her. She smiled. She did slightly resemble the previous Blue Diamond, as had her mother. She wondered how many other humans shared this same mutation. How many more could have it activated and serve as living kindergartens. While Blue Diamond had created this mutation, she had never made it into something that could be activated by simply a human presence.
No. Rose had provided the final catalyst with Steven.
She smiled.
"Congratulations, Rose. You created a new species ..."