A/N: In this chapter, we see what happens to the mouse ...
I sat on this one for quite a while and I'm really hoping this one turned out alright. I'm going to slowly start transitioning away from our previous main characters since some other characters are about to start quite the journey.
This is also starting to turn into a four part story.
Thank you for all the reviews and favorites!
-FourFaces
The western half of the United States had been uninhabited for several centuries. The only life there currently were plants and some smaller animals. Deer had only recently made a comeback, spreading no farther west than about fifty miles outside of Kansas.
The life forms that were beginning to push their way further west tended to be small rodents, snakes, and birds. The Beta Kindergarten had finally had some creatures colonize the area, with a few sparrows and mice skittering about the shrubs that had tried to take back the land.
A little further west, a lush forest had sprung up behind the canyon walls, reclaiming the land for the Planet Earth. Gem activity had ceased there long ago and no one ever returned there. Even the corrupted gems avoided this place, almost instinctively. This area had not seen any sentient life forms, human or gem, in centuries.
Planes and helicopters even viewed this part of the country as a no-man's land. if one were to land there, they would be lost forever in the trees. Hawks and eagles had a hard time navigating through the wild plants that sprung up there, so they mostly avoided the area, making it a haven for smaller animals.
This is why the dark shadow that loomed overhead sent the forest into a deafening silence.
The last creature to frantically scramble for cover had been a small field mouse who had been hastily caching away food. It would have to return for it later.
She had gone up to do laundry when she saw Garnet standing by the dryer staring off into the difference.
She hasn't been the same since ...
"Hey, Garnet," Connie smiled.
Garnet turned and looked at Connie with a weak smile.
"Hello there, Connie," Garnet greeted. "Coming up to do some laundry?"
"Yeah. Steven's working with Reeya on learning how to create things n Rose's Room so I figured I would take the time to tidy up a bit."
Garnet nodded and smiled.
It was unnerving being around the fusion sometimes. She had become even more quiet than normal, no doubt an influence of mostly having Sapphire in control. Connie could feel her heart drop whenever she saw Garnet look at her left palm. Most of Ruby's gem had been fixed, but a small shard had gone missing, no doubt lost forever on the sand of the beach. Somehow, she had managed to regenerate, but she was so quiet now, often forgetting where she was or what had happened to her (at one point, she had even forgotten Steven and Amethyst which broke both of their hearts). Her form often glitched when she was by herself, especially if she tried too hard to remember or focus on what she had been like before.
With Sapphire, however, she could almost remember.
Fusion was a necessity now. She really could not be separated from the other corundum gem. Sapphire worried that if she was on her own for too long, Ruby could easily crack completely. She had put most of her energy into keeping Ruby together now.
Connie watched as Garnet sighed and leaned back against the dryer.
"I can't focus long enough to find a future where Ruby is complete again. I can barely focus on any futures regarding her ... or Sapphire ... I guess it's a blessing. I can focus on any corrupted gems we find or any signs of Homeworld breaking their truce. I just ... I know this isn't how I'm supposed to feel."
Connie set down the laundry basket and sat on the washer, next to Garnet.
"We'll find the shard someday, Garnet. We'll find it and then Steven can heal Ruby's gem completely."
Garnet smiled.
"That's a nice thought ... I hope ..."
She paused and stared ahead for a moment. Connie watched as Garnet's brows furrowed.
"Hmm ... We may need to make a trip out to the Beta Kindergarten. The warp there is broken, so we'll have to take the long way. I don't foresee Lion being much help this time around," she smirked knowingly. A small part of the old Garnet had come through in that split second, but Connie could not focus on that. The sudden interruption of Garnet's thoughts meant that this was something serious.
Connie tilted her head.
"Corrupted gem?" She asked.
"No ... I'm not sure."
Connie nodded and watched as Garnet went to the warp pad and disappeared, no doubt to head into the Burning Room. She sighed and began to separate the clothes to put it into the washing machine. She decided this would be her last bit of normalcy before heading off to defeat some unknown enemy.
She was awakened by the jostling of the ship. She looked around, confused, until she saw Jasper at the controls of the ship, cursing and spitting.
"What's going on?" the small Quartz soldier asked.
"We're making a detour. We just need to get to this one planet, grab some supplies, and then find a way back to Homeworld to report-"
A loud bang distracted both of them, followed by the blaring of alarm bells.
"Shards!" Jasper cursed, pulling up a screen to look at the Crystal Heart. The stowaway Alloy was skittering about the heart, absorbing energy from it. "It didn't get sucked out!"
"You have one of those on board?" the Quartz cried out. "Where were you trained? The Corundum Kindergarten? My stars, you're a mess!"
"Shut it, Rose-" Jasper started before paling.
She didn't like to admit how close that name was to the former Diamond who she hated so much. Every time the name slid out of her mouth, however, it stung and choked her, reminding her of her failures and of the hybrid that bore her gem on that worthless planet.
"Jasper? Jasper!" the Quartz barked out. "What are we going to do?"
Jasper shook her head and watched as their target destination grew closer. There was a chance that the ship would burn up in the atmosphere now that the heart had been compromised. The shielding was weakened and would soon be completely gone if the Alloy kept up its' siphoning.
She looked over at the small gem hybrid that stared out the view screen at the growing planet.
There was one other option.
"Come with me," Jasper growled.
The pair left the bridge, heading for the farthest facet of the ship. Jasper searched the floor until she found what she was looking for.
"Stay next to me," she commanded.
The hybrid complied and grabbed tightly onto Jasper who smacked the floor with her hand, summoning a Diamond-shaped escape pod around them.
"Alright, you need to stay curled up in case we have a rough landing. You're not a full gem so you could still get seriously injured."
A nod and then Jasper pressed the button that launched them away. She watched as the ship grew smaller as they rocketed towards the Earth. The large, Diamond ship was still coming down after them, glowing red hot as it entered the atmosphere behind them. The ship shook but continued on its path after them, remaining in tact.
"No ... " Jasper whispered.
The ship did not break up completely as it crashed down behind them. She had been hoping for that, for some way of destroying the Alloy.
Instead, it seemed to remain intact. She cringed, knowing what this meant.
They would have no way off of this planet unless they could repair the ship's heart after landing. There was also a chance that the Alloy would survive the landing. Both thoughts made Jasper shudder as she attempted to set a course away from the trajectory of the doomed ship. They would not survive if the ship continued to bear down on them.
She steered the ship towards the ocean in the west in hopes that they would be able to safely land ...
And avoid the Crystal Gems.
Calvin stared at the cylindrical object in his hands, turning it over and examining it. It was simple and sleek, a gem embedded in one side of it.
"This was your mother's," was all that his father had said. He didn't explain what it was or why he had it, but he had given it to him, trying to explain what had happened to his mom before he quietly excused himself and left him alone in his room.
He knew his mother had gone away. Calvin just never knew what happened. It didn't sound like she had just left. It was almost as if ...
He sighed and leaned back on his pillow. He set the object down next to him and stared at it.
His chest ached. He reached and felt his birthmark that sat in the center of his chest. Now, he questioned it where before he had just believed that it was a weird birthmark and that was that.
He pulled out his phone and began to look for Reeya's number. He found it and called.
Three rings in, the phone picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Reeya," Calvin started. "I have a couple questions about gem stuff but ... I think I need to see you in person to ask them."
"Oh! Hi, Calvin! Sure! I can meet up with you! I just got done with some training so I'd love to see you!"
Calvin smiled.
"Great ... Um ... Maybe I'll see you at my dad's restaurant? He works at Beach Citywalk Fries-"
"No way! I love that place! I'll see you there soon then! Maybe my dad will come with me!" Reeya chirped.
"OK great," Calvin grinned. "I'll see you there soon then!"
He heard her cheerfully calling for her dad before hanging up. He smiled and looked down at the object again before jumping off of his bed and running to get his hoodie. He could carry it in his hoodie while he ran down to his dad's fry shop. Then no one would ask him what he was carrying (because he quite frankly didn't know).
He ran out the door, locking it behind him, and headed towards the boardwalk. As he walked, he felt as if the world was opening up to him for the first time. The woman who lived next door, Ametrine, suddenly wasn't just someone who looked like they might have a strange skin condition and two too many arms. She was a gem. The person who assisted with the mail carriers that was an eerie shade of green? A gem.
There were so many mixed in with the citizens of Beach City and he hadn't even thought about it until now.
As he walked past Fish Stew Pizza, he found himself running into Citrine again. The gem smiled to him and ruffled his hair.
"You're the Fryman boy, aren't you?" She laughed. "It's good to see you! You've gotten so big!"
He nodded and smiled up at the glassy-yellow skinned woman. A multifaceted, golden gem sat on her hand, just as he had noticed before. He couldn't help but stare at it.
"Hi Ms. Citrine," he started.
"Ahh ... You must have finally learned about Gems. It's alright to look at it," she laughed, showing him her hand. "I bet you have all sorts of questions, huh?"
He gaped but was quickly distracted by Reeya's cheerful voice.
"Calvin! Hi!"
He whipped his head around and looked back at Reeya and Steven who walked hand in hand down the boardwalk. He looked back at Citrine who chuckled.
"It figures you would have met Reeya. Just don't hurt her," she started. "She's like a niece or whatever you humans call it to me."
The teasing grin sent a chill through Calvin, but he ignored it and ran over to Steven and Reeya. Reeya greeted him immediately with a hug (something that sent a strange feeling through his chest).
"So, Calvin, I hear you have a few questions?"
"Yeah," he started. "Let's go into my dad's shop and we can talk about it."
Steven smiled and let Calvin lead the way. As he walked in, Steven looked around, wondering which of the Fryman Brother's was Calvin's dad.
He hoped it wasn't Ronaldo.
They sat down at a table and Calvin dug into his hoodie pocket before pulling out the object. Steven looked down and froze.
"Woah! Cool! Where was that from?" Reeya chirped.
"My dad had it," Calvin started. "He said it belonged to my mom, but he didn't tell me what it was ... Since it looks like there's a gem in it, I wondered ..."
"I didn't think I would ever see this gem again," Steven whispered.
"What?" Calvin asked.
"Um ... who was your mother?" Steven asked.
"I don't know," Calvin admitted. "My dad doesn't like talking about her and got really upset after he gave this to me. He only gave it to me after I mentioned you, Steven."
Steven stared at the object.
"This belonged to Labradorite," he started. "She was a gem who I was able to heal, but I wasn't able to heal her companion, Azureite. She didn't deal with the loss very well but asked us to put her gem into a weapon for her. She disappeared not long after that ... I always wondered ..."
"What?" Calvin asked.
"Um ..." he started, "This will sound a bit strange ... Did you ever have anything strange happen to you? Like ... being able to summon a weapon randomly, or heal someone almost magically ... or age slowly?"
"No ..." Calvin started before he suddenly remembered. "Wait! I do have a weird birthmark!"
Steven and Reeya froze, eyes wide. Steven stared in horror as Reeya gasped in excitement.
"Where is it?" Reeya asked.
"On my chest! It's kinda weird looking," Calvin started as he pulled down his shirt, "but my dad said it looks a lot like my mom's -"
Reeya and Steven gaped as they watched Calvin reveal the blue and golden "birthmark" on his chest.
"I'm going to have to tell Garnet ..." Steven whispered.
"What is it, Dad?" Reeya whspered.
"We finally found out where she went ..."
Connie had made her way back to the living room of the Beach House to start putting away laundry when she heard the scratch at the door. She chuckled and walked over, seeing Lion standing there, waiting to be let in. He had shrunk considerably in the last twelve years, going from his previously massive size to about the size of a leopard. His mane was receding and his once pink coat gave way to bold stripes. He was beginning to look like the house cat that Steven had described to her all those years ago. She smiled and patted the large cat on the head as he came into the house. He purred and rubbed his head against her before making his way over to the pile of laundry. She was too slow to stop him as he lay down on top of it.
Even though he was smaller, he was still nearly impossible to move.
She laughed and sat down next to the big cat, stroking his soft fur. She watched as the big cat slept before she leaned back and closed her eyes for a moment. A nap probably was a good idea right now anyway.
She was awakened suddenly from her nap by the banging of the screen door as she heard Reeya's voice clamoring over Steven's quiet mumbles to someone else. She opened one eye and watched as Reeya dragged Calvin in excitedly, while Steven smiled at him apologetically. He turned to Connie and grinned.
"Sorry for waking you up, honey. We've got some ... news," Steven started.
"I do too," Connie smiled. "I figure Garnet can tell you when she gets here if you like." She stretched and sat up. "So, what's your news?"
"Calvin's a gem!" Reeya blurted out excitedly.
Connie's eyes widened as she locked eyes with Steven.
"Well, I'm half gem ... on my mother's side," Calvin mumbled. "I guess ..."
"So, he can probably go on missions with us when I can start going! And he can train with Grandma Pearl! And ..."
Reeya' excited chattering seemed to melt away as Steven and Connie shared a silent moment together, eyes locked on each other. This changed so many things now. Connie instantly knew who Calvin's mother had to be. There was only one Gem who had completely gone missing after the battle. She couldn't think of why this could have happened or how. Now though, Steven wasn't the only truly half gem hybrid. Another gem had obviously given up their form to bring Calvin into the world.
She was certain, however, that this was only superficially similar to Rose and Greg.
She could tell, looking into Steven's eyes, that he must have felt the same way.
Smoke curled up from behind the canyon walls. The creatures of the forest had cleared the area for the most part the moment that the shadow had come too close. There were no signs of movement for several minutes after the impact of the Diamond Ship.
The wreckage was twisted and smoldering, spread about after the explosion of the Crystal Heart that had powered the ship. The forest remained silent, waiting for movement from the wreckage.
A soft sound broke through the silence, growing as the flames began to die down.
The mouse had been the first creature to make the fatal mistake. It approached the wreckage site, cautiously. It had wanted to return to its food cache and had determined that everything was fine.
The sound grew louder as the last flame was snuffed out. The mouse froze. It did not have any frame of reference for the creature that slithered before it.
The creature remembered this energy signature. It was not gem. It was something else.
It was something new that needed to be assimilated.