(Jarek's House - - 322 Dover Street)
(A/N - Now this ain't a real address, this is only just for the story.)
"Oh phooey!" Jarek said, snapping his fingers.
Black Diamond was standing in front of his porch, with Magma Amethyst, and Tundra Amethyst standing beside her. Neither of them looked pleased to see him.
"Before you go off, trying to hide from me, pick a better place to do so." Black Diamond said.
"Uhh, that doesn't make sense. You found my house, so what?" Jarek said.
"You're not leaving me that easily." She said.
"And why not? I gave you my castle, why don't you just go and live there!" Jarek said.
"Because we have children, I don't believe in this separation shit you're trying to pull!" Black Diamond said.
"Well it wasn't my idea to make them!" Jarek said.
Magma Amethyst, and Tundra Amethyst gave him an appalled expression.
"You knew I wanted to do that." Black Diamond said.
"Um, no I didn't. And I didn't say I don't love them, I didn't say 'they were mistakes, I think you said that to them. Because I never said that." Jarek said.
"Don't try and blame this all on me. Magma chose to go with you, and I have a right to know where you and her are staying." Black Diamond said.
"At the cost of hearing some more out of you? I want you to leave now." Jarek said.
"... You know what? It's not worth it. I'm out of here." Black Diamond said before she walked away followed by a hmph from Tundra, who was more sad than angry.
Orange Aquamarine didn't respond.
"I'm sorry, dad." Magma said.
"Don't be. This isn't on you. Get inside, I have to get ready." Jarek said.
"For what?" Magma asked, following him.
"I'm gonna help Steven, and I want you to stay here at home." Jarek said.
"Hell no." She said.
"What did you say?" Jarek said.
"I said hell no, I'm coming with you." She said.
Jarek took a moment.
"(Sigh through nose) Okay, but I want you to follow my lead on this. For starters, you're gonna take a bath first, and then I'll go next." Jarek said, opening the front door, allowing Magma to enter, and then him.
"Alright." She said.
The front door closed.
(Fruit Stand)
Jarek, and Magma walked to the merchant, who was wearing a brown robe.
"Hey Teddy. How goes the sales?" Jarek asked.
"Hmm." Teddy the merchant said.
("Good, pretty good.")
"Well that's nice. Can I get some bananas?" Jarek said, pointing to a bunch.
"Hm hm." Teddy said.
("Sure, 4 bucks.")
Jarek paid the required amount, giving him 1 extra dollar since he used a $5 bill.
"Keep the change." Jarek said.
"Hm." Teddy said.
("Thanks.")
Jarek, and Magma walked away.
"Dad, how do you understand him? All he's saying is hm." Magma said.
"He's from a distant planet, another story for another time." Jarek said.
"Okay." Magma said.
(Crystal Temple)
Sapphire picked up the paper that Ruby had left behind just before Jarek had left the house.
"Sapphire, you were right. I need some time to think, so I'm leaving. Don't blame Jarek for not stopping me, he had nothing to do with it. This is my choice, Ruby." Sapphire read.
"Ohh. This isn't good." Steven said.
"How can she run away, and where did Jarek go? He was here before we left!" Pearl said.
Jarek came back into the house, with Magma following behind.
"Where did you go? Where's Ruby? Hi Magma." Pearl said.
Magma waved.
"I couldn't chase after her, she was that hell-bent on leaving, all I told her was not to fall. People who leave usually fall, and I mean it literally." Jarek said.
"Ugh, Jarek." She said, shaking her head and facepalming.
"It was technically her decision to leave. I couldn't force her to stay. That'd be like holding her against her will. And she's supposed to be a free gem. Think about it. It wouldn't look right." Jarek said.
"Well did she say where she was going?" Pearl asked.
"No, she didn't." Jarek answered.
"Oh no." Pearl said.
"Well I'm sure she's fine. She'll probably be back by the time tea time is over." Jarek said.
"Tea time?" Pearl said.
"Yup." Jarek said.
Pearl made a cringed face.
"Sapphire, do you see Ruby coming back in your future vision?" Pearl asked.
"Huh? Oh! Maybe! But... she's so wonderful!.. and spontaneous! I have no idea what she could-why would she be a cowboy?!" Sapphire said before sobbing again while clinging to Pearl's legs.
"There there, it's going to be okay. She's going to come back! She's got to come back! If she doesn't, then.. there would be no more Garnet. And.. what on earth would we do without Garnet?" Pearl said, saddened at the sudden realization.
"Oh Pearl! How will I ever get her back?!" Ruby said.
"I.. I don't know! You two are incredible together! It can't be over! It can't be!" Pearl said as she joined in her sobbing.
Jarek shook his head.
"Sapphire. Look, it's gonna be okay. We'll find her." He said.
"Yeah, it's okay, we'll all go out and find Ruby!" Steven agreed.
"Uhh, where do we start?" Amethyst asked.
"Outside, duh." Jarek said, exiting, Magma following.
Steven and Amethyst followed.
"I don't think Ruby used the warp pad. She said she ran away, not warping away." Steven said.
"Well running away can come in different forms, Steven. She could've swam away." Jarek said.
"I don't think she can swim that fast. If she tried, the whole ocean would be gone." Steven said.
"Oh right, because she can turn the ocean into vapor." Jarek said.
"Yeah." Steven agreed.
"Hey Steven! Check this out!" Amethyst said, sticking her tongue out, and holding a clam pearl on her tongue.
"Ew!" Steven said, blushing.
"Oh!" Jarek said offendedly.
"That's disgusting. I've seen that before." Magma commented.
"Amethyst, spit that out!" Steven said, disgusted.
"Ptooie!" She said, spitting it back at the sand.
"We need to get serious here. Let's split up, and find Ruby." Steven said.
"Magma, and I will go looking." Jarek said.
"Alright." Steven said.
Jarek, and Magma separated from Steven, and Amethyst.
"Uhh, I forgot : how did she emerge?" Amethyst asked, confused, scratching her head.
"She emerged from the lava on another planet. That's why she looks like that." Steven said.
(Boardwalk)
Jarek, and Magma were eating the bananas from the bunch he had bought earlier.
"Mm! I should eat these more often! Where does Teddy get these from?" Magma asked.
"Well he has a farm, where he grows vegetables, and fruits." Jarek said.
"Farm?" Magma asked.
"Yeah, do you know what a farm is?" Jarek asked.
"You mean that one place with that captain who lives in a basement, hiding in a corner?" Magma asked.
"?" Jarek looked at her in WTF.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Magma asked.
"How do you know about that?!" Jarek asked, freaked out.
"I don't know, hey look. A crashed UFO." Magma said, pointing out a crashed space ship with an unconscious Mr. Smiley, at his stand.
"Oh no, come on Lebron!" Jarek said to himself, as he ran to him first.
"Wait up!" Magma said, following. She shoved the entire banana bunch down her throat, and swallowed with ease.
Jarek looked at her in WTF?
"Did you eat the whole damned thing?!" Jarek said.
"Yup! Isn't it cool?" She asked.
Jarek nodded, weirded out.
He equipped a bottle of pink liquid, and poured it in Mr. Smiley's mouth, forcing him to swallow.
Mr. Smiley awoke, fully replenished.
"Huh? What happened?" He asked, looking around him.
"Chill chill, man. What happened here?" Jarek asked.
"Uhh, a strange spaceship crashed into my roller coaster track." Mr. Smiley recalled.
"Hm. Alright, thank you. Look, just go home, don't worry about anything. I'll take care of this mess." Jarek said.
"I have lots to worry about! How am I gonna pay for this mess?!" Mr. Smiley panicked.
"(PUNCH!)"
A package of money hit his face, instantly knocking him back out.
"(SNORE!)"
"Wow, that was pretty funny. (Giggle) How much was in it?" Magma said.
"Twenty thousand." Jarek said.
"Dang. Where'd you get that?" Magma asked.
"Don't worry about it. Let's go." Jarek said, approaching the crashed space ship, where a badly hurt Aquamarine, was coming out of the wreckage. She nearly fell to the floor.
"Wait, is that an Aquamarine?" Magma asked.
"Yeah, the same one who almost imprisoned me and Steven." Jarek said, running to her.
"Stop right there!" Jarek said, equipping his laser gun.
Aquamarine gritted her teeth, and threw two shards of glass, one at Magma, the other at Jarek.
"MOVE!" Jarek said, shoving Magma out of the way so she wouldn't get hurt from it.
Magma hit the floor. The shard scratched her left bicep, some orange blood visible.
The shard impaled Jarek's right lung, dealing some damage.
He held whatever breath he had left from being struck.
"Child's play." Orange Diamond said, deteriorating the foreign substance within his lung, and immediately undoing the damage in his organ.
Jarek gasped as he caught his breath, then shot twice at Aquamarine.
"Oh! OW!" She said before hitting the floor, nearly beaten.
"You little shit!" Magma said, before shooting a blast of lava at the gem.
"Aaaah!" Aquamarine exclaimed, suffering little damage from that.
The lava melted the wood.
"Oh no! Magma!" Jarek scolded.
Magma growled as she approached the struggling gem, and held her in her right hand, by her collar.
Aquamarine spit at her face.
Magma began swinging her fist at her.
Aquamarine spit out a tooth, and reached for her wand, which was missing.
Magma tossed her up, and blasted lava at her.
Aquamarine had a swollen cheek, and had lost two teeth during those punches.
She landed on the ground, nearly defeated. She tried to get up, but was held down by Jarek.
"So I see that even my advice back in that ship of yours wasn't enough to teach you a lesson, huh?" Jarek said.
"It wasn't my fault I got stuck here!" Aquamarine said.
"Oh really? Where are your guards? Your Topazes?" Jarek asked.
Aquamarine looked away, not answering.
"Dead?" Jarek said.
She nodded.
"A true shame. So why attack us? We meant you no harm." Jarek said.
"You pointed a laser gun at me!" She said.
"I told you to stop!" Jarek said.
"Okay, I stopped! Now let go of me!" She said.
"If I do, will you run away?" Jarek asked.
"(sigh) no! Now let me go!" She said.
Jarek paused for a moment before letting go.
Aquamarine rubbed her wrists, still frowning at him.
"So how did you crash?" Jarek asked.
"The engine blew up, which is why half of it is missing." Aquamarine said.
Jarek sighed through his nose.
"Well, you really can't be seen around here.. look, get out of here and stay away, it's for your own good." Jarek said.
Without another word, Aquamarine fled the scene.
"At least she'll have a better chance at survival if she stays out of sight." Jarek said.
He looked around the scene, and saw some lava melting through the boardwalk. Suddenly an eruption happened within the melted hole of the bridge.
"You HAD to use your lava, didn't you?" Jarek said.
"Whoops. Sorry, dad." Magma said.
Then another eruption occurred.
"Why does it do that? It's just lava." Magma said.
"Because ice and heat don't mix very well. In this case, lava coming into contact with cool water." Jarek said.
"Huh. Maybe Ruby doesn't need to be found? I mean, if she ran from Sapphire, maybe this is a sign that she needs to just be away from her. Because they're not meant to be?" Magma said.
"That's a completely different thing." Jarek said.
Then a police car pulled up close to them, and out came Doug, displeased.
"What on earth happened here?!" He said.
"Look, some alien came here and started wreaking havoc, but we got her. She's gone now." Jarek said.
"Where?" Doug asked.
"In that crashed space ship there." Jarek said, pointing at it.
"Show me." Doug said.
So Jarek showed Doug the shards that were within the spaceship, though they weren't of Aquamarine's but of one of the topaz gems from a previous chapter.
"I don't get this gem stuff." Doug said.
"Neither do I." Jarek said.
"And what is your name, ma'am?" Doug asked.
"My daughter, Magma Quartz Diamond." Jarek said.
"This is your daughter? When'd you have her?" Doug asked, freaked out.
"3 months ago. Look, if I explain, will you stop looking at me like that?" Jarek asked.
"Uh, sure?" Doug said, confused.
So Jarek explained how gem cycles work, they come from the ground, being injected by the driller machines using diamond essence, they absorb nutrients, and then come to life once incubated long enough. You get the idea.
"Oh dear. So Steven's friends are thousands of years old? Wow. I thought they just took really good care of themselves. Nice to know. And you said you had two more?" Doug asked.
"Yeah, one's shorter than the other, but they're all twins technically. Yeah. Triplets." Jarek said.
"Where's the mom?" Doug asked.
'Beats me, and I hope it stays that way. She's gone mad." Jarek said.
"Oh dear. Do you wanna tell me about that or..?" Doug asked.
"We actually have to get going. We're looking for someone right now, another gem of ours. Her name's Ruby. Pretty short, red colored, ill tempered, have you seen her?" Jarek asked.
"Now that you mention it, I did see a red person walking with Steven's father. I think that might have been her." Doug said, with his hand on his chin.
"Where were they going?" Jarek asked.
"Well I think they were going to get some pizza?" Doug said.
"Thanks officer." Jarek said before he walked away.
"Anytime." Doug said.
"So that's where she went. We got her now." Jarek said.
"Yeah. So dramatic though, she ran away, and we're out here looking for her." Magma said.
"It's a little more than just that, okay?" Jarek said.
"Is it?" Magma asked.
"Yes." Jarek said.
Then her stomach grumbled.
"I'm hungry." She said.
"We'll get something after we're all done." He said.
"Okay then." She said.
So the two entered the Fish Stew Pizza restaurant, there Kiki, and Jenny were working there.
"Hey Kiki, have you seen a short, red colored gem, she's got a headband on her head, kinda like Bardock?" Jarek said.
"Well I don't know who those are, but I did see Steven and his friend eating pizza over here earlier. They didn't even finish it." Kiki said, looking over at the table where the two had sat just earlier.
"How long ago were they here?" Jarek asked.
"Just a few minutes ago, they left after I said I got a big tip from Mr. Universe." Jenny said.
"Where was he?" Jarek asked.
"At Brooding Hill." Jenny said.
"Okay, thanks." Jarek said.
"Dad, can I get something here? I haven't eaten all day." She said.
"Can I get some breadsticks?" He asked.
Magma was seen holding a breadstick, munching on it.
"That's all we're getting until later." Jarek said.
Just then the two saw a purple helicopter flying around crazily.
"What the hell?!" He said, weirded out.
"Oh my gawd!" She said, laughing, knowing it was Amethyst, and by the way her face appeared.
Then the helicopter crashed into the beach.
"Oh no, Steven!" Jarek said.
As the two ran to the site, they saw Amethyst, and Steven there.
"You wanna know how I feel, Steven?!" Amethyst said.
"I thought I was pretty clear on that." Steven said.
"I thought I was pretty clear too! I feel like I don't wanna say what about me? okay?! And I don't want to be bent out of shape! I don't wanna be stuck in the past. and I'm not responsible for what Rose did! None of us are! Not you, not Pearl,.. and and not Garnet! But I am responsible for me! And right now, I am NOT gonna dump another thousand year old complex on you or anybody else! I'm ending it right here! I am the ding-dong sunshine future, your friend forever! And I'm not gonna fall apart on you." Amethyst ranted.
"Amethyst.. " Steven said.
"So Steven, how do you feel?" She asked.
"Pretty good." Steven said.
"Good." She said.
The two turned to see Jarek, and Magma.
"Did you hear all that?" Steven asked.
"Yeah. You okay, man?" Jarek asked.
"Yeah. You two?" Steven said.
"Better than ever." Magma said before burping.
"Ew!" Steven said.
"Manners!" Jarek whispered to her.
"Sorry." She said, clearing her throat once.
"It's okay. We know where Ruby is." Steven said.
"We do too. Kiki and Jenny told us." Jarek said.
"You were at fish stew pizza?" Steven asked.
"Yeah. Too bad Mr. Stubborn wasn't there this time." Jarek said.
"You mean their dad?" Steven asked.
"Yeah, yeah him. I think we better go see your dad." Jarek said.
"Yeah. Thank you." Steven said.
"No problem." Jarek said.
...
