"Ugh, why is Pearl making us come all the way up here. Doesn't she know I got more important things to do," Amethyst complained as the sun shone on her through the mountaintops. She made no attempt to hide her contempt over the situation.
"Like?" Garnet plainly asked as she led the way up the path. She tried to keep her head clear, but she could not help but peer into her future vision. There were many ways this day could go, and she wanted to be sure they stayed on the right path.
"Psshh, I dunno, like, anything else," Amethyst responded with a shrug. While Amethyst's life was certainly much busier now that she was in charge of little homeworld, she did not actually have anywhere to be as it was the weekend. Her indignation could likely be attributed to Pearl's abrupt request. "What about you Bismuth? Don't you got some Bismithing to get back to?"
"Haha," Bismuth replied sarcastically, but she could not hide the grin brought to her face. "All my prep work is done for class next week, and I don't have any more orders for wedding armor to fill, so I don't mind a little hike. Kind of reminds me of the old days. Long marches leading armies of soldiers singing songs of triumph. Don't you think so Garnet?"
"Those are days I would rather forget. Things only got worse after you went missing," Garnet wistfully replied. She kept her attention forward as she continued along the path, taking each step with care. "We're almost there."
The path ended near the mountain's peak, nearly 3 hours away from the nearest warp pad. Up here was a concealed entrance to Rose's armory where Pearl requested they meet. Garnet had seen she was planning something in secret, but she felt no need to confront her.
"Looks like the mountain held up quite well all these years. Not much has changed since I was last here," Bismuth said. After being freed from Rose's bubble, Bismuth was often surprised by all the ways the ways the world had changed, so it was nice to see something unchanged for once.
"You know about this place?" Amethyst asked. "I thought this was supposed to be some secret armory."
"Who do you think built it?" Bismuth proudly replied with a face that made her look almost cocky.
"There waiting for us inside. Pearl will be surprised to see you, Bismuth." Garnet chimed in, cutting their conversation short. Garnet had foreseen Bismuth in many of the day's positive trajectories, so naturally she asked for her aid.
"Got it, anything else I should know?" Bismuth asked.
"Try not to be too rough." Garnet replied.
As the trio walked inside the armory, they could hear Pearl's voice echoing throughout the cave followed by faint laughter.
"When I landed in that cockpit, let me tell you, the look on that nephrite's face was-" Pearl paused as the trio approached, the water splashing beneath their feet. "Bismuth?" Pearl asked, surprised.
"I asked her to come," Garnet interjected.
"Garnet! Amethyst! You're here!" Steven jumped up off Lion, who was still asleep, and he ran to embrace them. After a few moments he turned to Bismuth. "Did you Bismith me?" Steven asked with a chuckle.
"C'mere you" Bismuth said with a chuckle as she pulled Steven in for a hug. "It's so nice to finally have you back. "Beach City hasn't been the same without you".
"Yeah, well, It's good to be back. Let's just hope I don't bring any more trouble with me" Steven replied.
"So, now that we're all here, I think it's time I told everyone why we're here," Pearl's words were shaking as she nervously eyed Garnet. "Garnet, I know I should have told you sooner, and I shouldn't have prepared all this behind your back . . . I didn't know how you would react." Pearl paused again as she took a deep breath. Garnet's shades covered her eyes, but Pearl could swear they were looking into her future, preparing every possible argument against her. Finally gathering her courage, Pearl looked garnet in the face. "Garnet, I want to free the heretic."
The room was dead silent for a moment. Amethyst expressed only pure confusion. Steven and Connie were too enthralled by the conversation to intervene and looked to Garnet, awaiting her response. But Bismuth seemed concerned as she glanced at the heretic's anguish which stood atop the armory.
"I know," Garnet bluntly stated. Garnet had seen she was planning something in secret, but she had felt no need to confront her.
"You do? So . . . so, do you think we can help him?" Pearl asked with a hint of hope in her voice.
"I don't think, I saw," Garnet replied as she gripped her glasses, the light seemed to perfectly reflect across the lens as she adjusted their fitting. "Time is like a river which splits into many paths. We are given options which lead to paths where we succeed and there are paths where we fail. The question is whether what we have to lose is worth the chance of success." Garnet looked at Steven with concern. She did not k want to put him through that risk, but she knew that was not her decision to make.
"Hold up, wait a minute, what are you two talking about right now. Who is the heretic?" Amethyst finally spoke up with just of hint of irritation. It seemed as though she was always the one left out of the loop.
"Yeah, why would they need our help?" Steven added.
Pearl smiled. "I'm glad you asked. the Heretic was a human soldier once known as the Paladin of Rose Quartz. He formed the order of Rose, a large group of human knights. Sometime after the war, he attempted to fuse with the Prism . . . and failed."
Garnet clenched her fists at the thought. "Fusion is supposed to be a mutual bond between two consenting individuals. Whatever they had become, it wasn't fusion. The Prism completely consumed him and acted upon his rage," Garnet's words were uneasy, nearly coming to a shout. She was very sensitive to the topic of fusion, but she quickly calmed herself down before she said too much.
"The Prism? You mean the one that Mom took from Hessonite during the war? The same Prism we helped set free?" Steven was asking questions quicker than they could respond. He looked over at the Heretic's anguish. Things were starting to come together, and he did not like where it was going.
"Yes, Steven, after Rose defeated Hessonite, we bubbled the Prism and kept it in a fortress so that its power could never be used again. What we don't understand is why the Heretic had the prism or why he would try to fuse with it. He knew what it had done and he of all people should have known the risks," Pearl replied, beginning to pace around in thought again.
"We need to get him out of there, we have to help him, Garnet," Steven pleaded as he pieced everything together that the heretic's anguish was a prison.
Garnet chose her next words carefully, not wishing to disrupt the path she steered them to. "The truth is not always as simple as history would make you believe. Truthfully, the Heretic was a violent man who was consumed by grief and anger. During the war he was a hero, but there's no telling what he might become in today's world. Not everyone can be so easily changed. I have seen a path where this ends well, but I have seen many more which lead to catastrophe."
Steven looked around at everyone in the room, his family. This wasn't just about him, whatever happens will affect them all. "Are all of you willing to take that risk? If we are going to go through with this, then we should do it together."
"If you think we can help, then I'm in," Connie's words were supportive as she stood beside Steven.
"I'm always up for a fight if it means protecting my friends," said Bismuth, forming her fists into hammers and slamming them together.
"Sure, why not. I got nothin better to do anyways," Amethyst replied.
Pearl clapped her hands in excitement. "Well, that settles it then. Let's get him out of there."
Everyone turned their attention to the heretic's anguish which stood ominously still. The heretic's anguish appeared as a large statue of a gem in a dress made out of various metals which mainly resembled copper and rose-gold. It towered over everyone there, even Garnet, and stood in a t shaped pose with its arms extended outward. Each arm carried three spiked flails which hung down. On its waist were three interlocked rings with a spot of black stone which resembled the shape of a keyhole on the navel.
"First things first, how do we open it?" Steven asked, side eyeing Bismuth."
"What?" Bismuth asked, staring back. Everyone else was giving her a similar look. "Alright, I am the one who built it, but don't always assume everything was made by me. I had disciples ya know! All we need is the person who sealed it to place their hand on the navel of the cell and it should open."
Garnet stepped forward without hesitation. She approached the heretic's anguish with perfectly linear steps. Everything was going well, but this was the moment where everything could go wrong. There was nothing more she could do to push them on the right path. She placed her hand over the navel which responded with a bright light.
Garnet stepped back as the bonds between the metal became illuminated and the components of the cell began to separate. Mechanical mechanisms could be heard whirring as each flail dropped to the ground, one by one. The three rings around the cell's waist unlocked allowing the dress to contract and open in a blinding flash of light. Lion leaped up, perfectly alert as he sniffed the air.
A man clad in plate armor dropped onto the ground with a loud thud. He slowly collected himself and struggled to rise.
Steven cautiously approached as he looked over the man. His armor was a metallic pink and the left shoulder was painted to depict Rose's shield. The right brandished a single silver star, similar to the one they all wore, but several black streaks went down his right arm beginning on the shoulder pad as though something had burned him. He wore a helmet which concealed his whole face, and his surcoat was a mixture of pink tones which resembled the banner he had given Bismuth.
Pearl and Garnet rushed forward and attempted to aid him. When he looked up at them, he became agitated as he frantically pulled away from them. He reached for one of the flails on the ground, wrapping the chain around his wrist as he rose to his feet.
"Where am I? What did you do to me!?" The Heretic shouted, clearly in shock.
"Paladin, please calm down. It us, Pearl and Garnet. What's the last thing you remember," Pearl spoke softly as she tried to defuse the situation.
"Remember? I don't want to remember anymore!" The Heretic yelled, gripping his head as he struggled to steady himself. "Nora. Sergeant Dewey. What happened to them? I have to find them."
"Nora? Yes, I remember Nora. She was fine," Pearl said looking to Garnet who gave her a thumbs up.
Bismuth, Connie, and Amethyst carefully moved forward, weapons in hand, ready to surround the Heretic.
"Stay back! I need to see for myself. Where is she?" He was only getting more skittish as the conversation went on.
"Ehrrmm, well, that's complicated. a lot of time has passed, so If you would just sit down with us a moment, we could explain everthing," Pearl was beginning to unravel as she worked the conversation into a corner.
"I can't. Not until I find them. Not until I-I" the Heretic froze. Lion had moved to him, nuzzling his helmet. "A Lion?" The Heretic said, baffled. He took several deep breaths as he looked at the heretic's anguish and felt the black marks on his armor. "I remember . . . you two put me in there. I'm not going back in."
The Heretic begun violently winging the flail towards anyone who tried to approach him. Amethyst lashed her whip at him, wrapping it around his arm and tugging hard. Bismuth and Pearl rushed in, grabbing his left arm to restrain him.
"What do we do, Garnet?" Steven asked as the situation unraveled around them.
Garnet stared at the struggle which ensued for only a moment before she sprang into action. She reached for his helmet; she needed it off so that she could show him the future. Maybe, if he knew where his path would lead him, then he could make the right choice.