#Ruby and Sapphire's shards are in the bubbles

[axolotluv]

Dude, your art is amazing! I absolutely love it ♥️

I know you haven't done any SU for a while, but the doubt about shattered au eats at me.

If not rude of me to ask... do you think you could give us a little more information about that au? 🥺

AAA Thank you!! And it's not a rude ask at all, it's completely welcome! :D

I don't remember too much about the Shattered AU because I never wrote anything down and most of the things I did with him were branched off aus BUT!! I will try to provide as much as I can! Warning, I did intend for this comic to be dark, so there are a lot of themes of death and bad mental health.

AND WARNING it goes into some internalized ableism territory because I was a stupid 14-15 year old who didn't realize that it's really bad to write a heavily traumatized character with a bad depiction of psychosis as an angry and violent person D: yikes....I'm way better with that now and learned more about mental illnesses and disorders and the stigma they have in media as I got older.

Continue with caution!!

I am about to dump some info

The comic was meant to begin right after the events of the movie and then skip ahead and follow the altered events of Future.

During the movie's events, Spinel had gone a little too far with her hurtful banter during their fight on top of the injector and Steven got a little more injured than in canon. I can't remember exactly what made Steven snap, but at the end of their fight, Steven finally threw a punch that hit Spinel right in the gem, causing it to shatter on impact. Steven then started to calm down and promptly passed out from exhaustion, nearly plummeting to his death off the the injector, but Garnet caught him about halfway down.

Chapter 1 takes place the morning after, Steven having no memory of his fight with Spinel. Everyone is avoiding the topic of Spinel whenever Steven tries to figure out how everything ended. Obviously things seem better than they did yesterday, so what happened? He's encouraged to go outside and help people (avoid the house), so Steven meets up with Bismuth, Lapis, and Peridot to go help with planning out Little Homeschool. They also avoid the topic of Spinel, so Steven storms off, feeling betrayed with all of his friends hiding something from him. He visits the injector and starts healing the ground to try and repair the damage Spinel caused. This only makes him MORE curious. That night he's laying awake thinking about what could've happened, then he gets hungry. There isn't much in the kitchen, but then he remembers he bubbled a slice of Lars' ube roll and sent it home. Steven goes to the bubble room to grab his ube and he spots Spinel's bubbled gem shards. He panics and drops his ube. A little purple spot grows on his hand, which hurts a lot. Steven goes to bed hungry and terrified. Chapter 2 Steven wakes up the next morning and finds the gems arguing. Garnet unfused and Ruby and Sapphire were arguing about how they felt about Spinel. Sapphire argues that it isn't right to ignore what happened while Ruby argues that they had no problem when they believed Rose had shattered Pink Diamond. Pearl sides with Ruby, arguing that it was for the greater good, and Amethyst sides with Ruby, arguing that it isn't right to leave her shattered. Steven starts interrogating the gems, trying to find out who shattered Spinel. He isn't getting a straight answer, but one of them mentions the arrival of the diamonds while trying to explain that day. He leaves the gems to investigate the pain on his hand, and he doesn't quite understand what that growing purple spot is. Ignoring that problem, he warps off to go see the Diamonds. They tell him that when they got to Earth, they were terrified to see him passed out and bloody, along with a destroyed piece of Earth. They all tried to help heal him, but were bickering and fighting over who could best heal him, and they all ended up using their powers on him at once while all fighting each other and worried for Steven. This had a negative reaction, mixing with his horrible emotional state, and caused him to start slowly corrupting. Steven freaked out once he realized the painful purple spot on his hand was actually corruption. The Diamonds try to help him, but he lashes out and runs away. When he tries to warp home it doesn't work at first, but his second try does work. As soon as he gets home he immediately rushes to the bathroom and tries to use the diamond essences to heal himself, but it doesn't work. He's still freaking out and he gets in a fight with Ruby, both parties are refusing to tell each other what's going on. Steven breaks a plate and the sound and feel triggers a panic attack. Ruby helps him calm down, but he starts to space out while thinking about everything and can no longer hear her. He has a flashback to his fight with Spinel and I imagined something like this would happen when he snaps out of it.

Chapter 3 Steven goes to bed and struggles to fall asleep, thinking a lot about the past few days. He doesn't even notice his transition from his thoughts to his dream when he finds himself on the injector fighting Spinel again. Her voice distorts and she asks him why he did it. He doesn't know, but she says:

Steven gets engulfed with butterflies and wakes up panicked. He runs downstairs to the bubble room and grabs the shards, taking them to the bath to try to fix her. He realizes he used all the diamond essence he had to try to heal himself, and couldn't do anything to fix Spinel. He breaks down and begins to corrupt more very rapidly, which again is super painful. When he hears a gem asking if he's okay while he's crying in the bathroom, he decides to wait for them to leave before running to his room and finding things to hide his corruption. He notices his jacket is ripped up after his fight with Spinel, so he wears his puffer and goes to buy another one on the boardwalk. Everyone notices Steven wearing a scarf, puffer, and gloves in the middle of summer. He's confronted by Ronaldo, which goes really awkwardly until Ronaldo notices his wrist is purple, so Steven runs away to avoid questions. Steven buys a jacket closes to his previous one and runs home. Pearl is in the house and asks him why he's dressed like it's winter and he just tells her it felt cold outside, which is such an obvious lie, and he needed a new jacket. She can't confront him on it though because he goes to his room and locks the door. Steven checks over his corruption, which was all the way up his arm and covering most of his shoulder. A butterfly amalgamation of himself appears sitting on the bed and starts confronting Steven on why he's lying and hiding things just like his mom. Steven calls it 'buddy' and continues to call it that going forward. Buddy acts as Steven's confrontational internal monologue.

Chapter 4 There is NOT a lot of information written down about this chapter and I don't have a clue as to what "Steven has an interesting expeirience with the corrupted gem" like I don't remember what that is at all. All I remember is they have to fight a corrupted gem and Steven has a bad time. There is also a moment when he's being chased by the corrupted gem and needs to warp to flee. It takes a lot of energy and concentration for him to warp and he barely gets out in the knick of time.

Chapter 5 is when SUF starts, I didn't have much written down for this because the plan was just SUF episodes but they go wrong because Steven's problems keep piling up. He doesn't make peace with the Roses, Steven lashes out at Pearl when they're at the shell and it worries her, Bluebird nearly kills him and he nearly kills Bluebird, Snow Day is just a family intervention, Steven and Lapis actually bond over her lesson about restraint being strength. During Bismuth Casual, Steven acts very passive aggressive toward Connie's friends because he's jealous and the two end up fighting. Steven reveals during the fight that he's corrupting. Connie gets angry about him hiding things from her and they have an awkward car ride home. Together Forever doesn't happen. Growing Pains is about the same except the reason isn't the marriage thing and also it's revealed Greg lost his arm during the events of the movie (Steven knew but we didn't). Mr. Universe Steven actually ends up hurting Greg, can't remember how though D:

Chapter 6 also doesn't have a lot of information (you can see where I got stuck and why it ended up cancelled) but in this chapter Steven ends up fighting really bad with Connie and he accidentally breaks her nose when trying to hit her hand away. Connie tells him to go to therapy and storms out, telling him to not call her again.

This is about the point where I stopped getting ideas for how to move further, I didn't even have an ending planned. All I knew was that I wanted Steven to go Kaiju mode near the end. I'm kinda glad this project went nowhere because it definitely would've added to the already bad stigma around mental illnesses and disorders in the SU community at the time. If you need me to tag this post with anything send me an ask! And I'm giving you a reminder to make sure to be aware of ableism, both within your own works and others!

[scuddle-bubble101]

Asks are opened!

new post comes new name prompt! Please feel free to come on by and say hi!<3

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Achro

Agnus

Allan

Alyssum/Sy

Ashes

Basketball

Barley

Bubbles

Bound

CC-CottonCandy

Callie

Chains

Cherry

Chipper

Classic

Cold-Chills

Color pallet!

Comet

Cower

Crane

Crimson

Crow

Cub

Cynti

Data

Damian

Deeveri

Denna

Dile (Mr. Dile)

Doll

Donnit

Dr. Diyo

Edit

Eli

Etch&Sketch

Evris

Falis

Fire-Cracker

Fractal

Genie~

Glaze-fall

Glimmer

Happy

Hazard~

Hybrid

Hybridus

Hydrangea

Hym'eka

Infra-red

Insignia

I'suim(Isu)

Jakko

Jazmine

Jazzy

Karli

Kippee

Kosha

Lavender

Laxy

Lost

Lorral

Luci/Lucky

Lye

Mackle

Maga/Mags

Malfunction

Mason

Mavery

Minx

Mistyline

Moris

Morticia-Morgue

Papple/paps!

Patches

Penpal

Persimmon

Piers

Pumpkin

Puppet

QuailFeather

Quarry

Rama

Rane

Raven

Rebirth

Reflection

Reeds

Resin

Rose Gold

Ruby

Rust

Rylin

Sapphire

Scatter

Se'mais

Serrated

Shards

Smiles

Splotches

Stalos

Stephanie

Stick

Sun-Screen

Tanjo

Tansy

Tally

Tattered

Teddybear

Teeki

Tenny

Tic-tac

Thomas

Towin

Trial

Tribal

Typhoon

Vase/Vessel

Vision

Whacky

Wicker

Zer'hyah

Zonnel

z'Xavier

[novantinuum]

Fandom: Steven Universe

Rating: Teen Audiences

Words: 6.3K~

Summary: In another world, he doesn’t have his mother’s sword or shield to hide behind when Bismuth lands her strike. The bubble pops.

Steven falls apart.

Chapter summary: In which freedom is a future worth fighting for.

Finally finished this chapter, yay! I promise I throw canon off a ravine entirely next chapter, I just needed to set up some stuff. Hopefully the Ruby POV makes things somewhat fresh.

If you read this and enjoy, I’d greatly appreciate your support through reblogs here, or kudos/comments on AO3. Thank you! <3

____

Chapter 13: system/REBOOT, Part 1

The whole mission is Garnet’s idea. 

By this point, they’ve known about Homeworld’s rushed Beta Kindergarten project for about fifty years. Frankly, its composition leaves much to be desired. The area is rich in the iron and silicon deposits necessary to produce a strong batch of quartzes, but the foundation they incubated all their new soldiers within is red clay cemented sandstone; it’s soft, and in constant danger of erosion. According to all the rebellion’s peridots, many of them top Homeworld kindergarteners before their eventual defection, this type of stone is critically unfit for Gem production. It can’t compress the inclusions of injector fluid at the correct pressure, can’t reliably bar the excess from draining through the porous material. As a result many of the individually incubated sites are predicted to ‘weep’ and lose critical volume, which will inevitably cause the emergent quartzes to be ‘off-color’ in some fashion. Some may be under regulation height, some may exhibit crystal twinning, some may be incapable of standard abilities like shapeshifting or weapon summoning, so on and so forth.

As a fellow off-color herself, Garnet carries a deep empathy for all those who are forsaken and unwanted. She can foresee the dire fate of these Beta Gems creeping over the dawning horizon even without the benefit of future vision, can foresee that despite all of these soldiers’ loyal programming, they’re ultimately cursed to be eliminated within the cruel machine of Homeworld. One day beyond the battlefield, the so-called Great Diamond Authority will see no further use in their existence, and then they’ll be purged. Harvested for scrap. Trapped within a myriad of Gem-powered objects. Crushed and used within their drop ships for fuel. 

It’s pure tyranny. 

Thus, she refuses to let their cruelty stand without a just fight. They have to give these Gems a chance beyond Homeworld’s rule, because abandoning them would be abandoning everything that their brave rebellion stands for, that she stands for. She refuses to stand powerless and idle in the face of a Diamond’s commands like the Sapphire and Ruby she once was, refuses to let another tragedy slip by without at least attempting to mend its damage. She is Garnet, she is freedom, and she is love.

And deep within her core, she believes these soon-to-emerge soldiers deserve the same opportunity for renewal and hope as any other Crystal Gem.

 __

For all Ruby’s aware, a whole geological era could have passed between that fateful moment she first set eyes on Jasper and the shards-late arrival of Amethyst and the others. All three of them duck behind the low rock formations she’s hiding in the shade of, Steven still breathing heavily from the no-doubt harried and concerned exertion of their sprint towards her. Hard light coursing from the gem in her palm to all other extremities at random intervals amidst crackling cinders of immobilizing terror, (she’s almost surprised her form isn’t flickering at this point), she desperately attempts to babble an explanation. She’ll admit— it’s not a particularly coherent one. Ask her mere minutes later, and there’s little chance she’ll be able to repeat what she said. Heck, she’s not confident about her words now, in the heat of the moment. It’s probably something about holes, something about injector scrap, about all those Gem monsters, a-and—

"Whoa, what the heck!” Amethyst blessedly interrupts, raising her head above the rocks and pointing across the clearing at the orange and red striped quartz diligently prowling the area like a true squadron leader. “Jasper’s here, too? Did everyone decide to skip on over to Beta today, or somethin’?!”

Peridot’s face scrunches in confusion as she regards her former mission partner.  “What is she doing?”

“She’s got all those corrupted Gems in cages,” Steven murmurs with realization, a tiny spark of outrage lighting up behind his eyes on those creatures’ behalf. “They’re not even bubbled, they’re just… trapped, and scared!”

Ruby brings her fist to her mouth, nervously nibbling at her fingers for a moment to anchor herself back to this present. Above all else, ignoring every thread of trepidation and insecurity she bears, there’s one burning question that pulses at her core with an unmatched luminosity about this whole scenario:

“B-but why would she want so many corrupted Gems in the first place? Doesn’t she know she can’t tame them?”

The purple quartz growls, the fringe of her hair casting a dark and menacing shadow over her features as she tilts her head down and glares at her self-proclaimed rival. “I don’t think she knows nothin’.”

And as— instinctively, mistakenly, running off of over five thousand years of deep engrained habit— she attempts to open her third eye towards the winding tributaries of potential futures they may soon find themselves wading through and fails, it slowly dawns on her just how isolated and lost they all are, without Sapphire’s sight. Without her love.

“Neither do I…” she says softly, her stature shrinking in the throes of that suffocating inadequacy. Riding an abrupt wave of frustration, she slams her foot into the coarse dirt, gripping thick chunks of her coily hair between her fingers. “Aughhh, this is a terrible time to not have future vision!” she huffs, spitting out each word staccato.

“Pipe down!” Jasper hollers at the poor corrupted Gem cornered in the distance as she kicks one of the bars of its cage, her booming voice easily reverberating off the cliffs’ curvature.

All four of them can’t help but bite back their gasps upon this clamoring startle. Peeking her head just above the rim of the rocky outcropping, Ruby watches the fur covered quartz visibly shrink back at the soldier’s command. Jasper continues, her unwavering act of confidence currently undeterred by this reaction. 

“You take orders from me now. You used to be a quartz too, didn’t you? What happened to you?”

Utterly failing to comprehend any of her words in this vulnerable, animalistic state, the corrupted Gem merely snaps its fangs at the bars, and then tilts its head sideways to begin chewing on one of them. Jasper scoffs, her lips rising in a mild sneer. Taking the risk to edge closer, she continues to verbally berate the poor thing, talking the same sort of smack Ruby’s former Homeworld commanding officer, Condor Agate, used to dish out. Ruby grinds her teeth together so hard as she watches this display that the pressure and heat alone might be enough to form a brand new batch of Gems. Jasper even finds a moment to rope Amethyst into her insults, which almost has the stone in question summoning her whip in pure unfiltered fury. It’s only Steven and Peridot’s quick clutch on her shoulders that holds her back from steamrolling into the clearing with zero preparation and potentially making a terrible mistake. Still, she’s gotta admit, the temptation to whoop this Homeworld brute’s butt right this minute is devilishly hard to resist.

Ruby growls, one of her gauntlets emerging into existence on her clenched fist with a burst of light. “Oh-hoh, do I wanna launch this baby right into her dumb, chalky face…!”

“But maybe first we should go back to the temple and grab reinforcements?” Peridot whispers hastily, whirling around to face her. Panic visibly tightens its grip on her form with each passing second. 

She pauses a moment to let the logic of this suggestion sink in, gaze hardened, and self-consciously aware of how her fellow Gems are (wrongfully) looking towards her as their leader in this chaos. What options do they even have? They can choose to fight, that’s one. They could disengage. They could retreat to Beach City and seek backup. If they were truly desperate, they could surrender. (Although she’s not confident Jasper would gracefully accept anyone’s defeat, not until it ended with their poofed— maybe even shattered— gemstones littering the coarse sand.)

As the gears are still pirouetting in her mind, she turns towards Steven, who nods in vehement agreement of Peridot’s strategy, his mouth stretched thin.

Sighing with frustration, she loosens her grip, recalling how even Garnet was barely able to match up with Jasper’s might. “Yeah, you’re right. She’d beat us into the dirt without Pearl or Sapphire.”

“Okay, so far we got three votes for retreat,” he says, holding up the appropriate number of digits as a visual. “Amethyst?”

In sync, the trio turn towards where the quartz just stood and find nothing but faint granules of recently upended dust filtering through a beam of sunlight. Both Peridot and Steven let out a fearful squeak at her absence.

“W-where is she?” the former Homeworld technician cries, craning her neck over the top of the rock formation to try and secure a visual.

“Up there!” Steven exclaims under his breath, pointing at a ridge a good ten feet above them that crosses from the arched entrance of this natural amphitheater all the way to the other side where Jasper stands, her back still turned to them.

Following the path of his index finger, Ruby catches a flash of purple, black and lavender stealthily advancing along the narrow rim towards the very soldier who reportedly poofed her with a single strike about a week back. The light sustaining her form nearly drains from all her limbs and rushes back to her gem. 

“Oh, shards no…”

Stars above, what the hell is her problem? she thinks, her mind riding in a narrow track between exacerbated vexation and dread. Does she have a death wish, or something?? Surely the last place a rational person would choose to run is directly into the arms of the Gem who clobbered them into a senseless cloud at their last meeting. Surely a rational person would instead choose to retreat and regroup. However, as she glumly reflects upon the dour happenings of the past few days, Amethyst’s actions prove she��s currently unable to think rationally about Jasper or any other kind of conflict. She’s been markedly sullen at everyone around her ever since she first got her butt whooped. Obsessed with her private training sprees. Emotionally stand-offish. Prone to making rash decisions, like letting her mouth run off at poor hapless Steven about matters that aren’t his fault, or slashing her whip right at people’s feet to push them away, or… or rushing directly towards Jasper in an enclosed space with little to no backup just because she’s desperate to show her up for the sake of her own self-worth, or whatever.

And Ruby gets it, to an extent. She understands how cripplingly powerless it can feel to be written off as ‘the weak one,’ as nothing but an expendable. She understands the vivid temptation to let one’s anger drive such antagonistic confrontations. However, she’d also like to believe that she carries enough self respect in this gem to not throw herself right on an enemy’s anvil. Whether or not Amethyst possesses the same level of restraint is another question entirely. She flexes nervous, twitchy fingers at her side as she watches her dear friend creep further along the rim, ever closer to what she fears will be her unquestionable demise. 

With the corrupted Gem’s racket still occupying Jasper’s undivided attention, Amethyst leaps from the cliff’s edge and into the clearing, pulling her whip from her gem in midair. The moment her toes touch the ground again, she slashes its barbed ends at the bars of the cage, right next to the quartz soldier’s hand. Jasper yanks her digits back. Her entire body snaps tense upon this disruption. Watching from behind their rocky cover, Ruby, Steven, and Peridot bite back the urge to gasp in shock. 

“HEY!” Amethyst yells, lowering on her haunches right behind her opponent. 

Now, there’s obviously no way to prove it without somehow obtaining intimate knowledge of her headspace, but upon external observation, Ruby swears that this big, buff Beta Kindergarten quartz is masking surprise. The sentiment is visible in the alignment of her shoulders, lifted high and tight against her neck. It’s visible in her narrow stance, light years away from the proper form of a soldier expecting battle. Flexing her thick, dexterous fingers at her side, she makes a blatant show of puffing out her chest before she turns to face her challenger, an almost predatory smile curving upwards on her lips as she regards her.

“You back away from her,” Amethyst hisses, nodding towards the Gem in the cage.

Jasper lets out a hearty chuckle. “Oh-hoh, what do we have here? You finally decide to crawl back for a rematch, runt?”

She grits her teeth, tightening her fist around the pommel of her weapon. “That’s right. I’m back, and I’mma wipe you all over these cliffs!”

“Perfect,” her opponent practically purrs, cracking her knuckles in anticipation. “I’ve been needing a light warmup.”

 __

Rose approves her mission without question, when she first brings her the idea. Of course she would, in retrospect— the hidden diamond she was. 

Garnet takes forty of her fellow soldiers and friends with her to the Beta Kindergarten. They don’t wield any weapons. These Gems are brand new, stepping into the light for the very first time. There’s no need to threaten them; all she wants is to peacefully talk, to introduce them to the concept of freedom, of choosing their own path beyond the Diamonds’ rule. 

At the time, all she wanted was to follow her beloved leader’s example and choose peace and harmony over subjugation and brutality.

But with the bitter truths they know now, and reflecting upon the horrid atrocities they themselves participated in amidst the war… despite Rose’s self-proclaimed ‘pacifism,’ despite the shaky justifications of their cause being different than Homeworld’s brand of violence... she’s increasingly unsure if any of them ever had a choice.

 __

Tragically, it only takes mere seconds for the initial triumphant beats of Amethyst’s war against Jasper to devolve into a one-sided thrashing. 

With a mighty, almost frenzied yell, Amethyst moves one foot forward for counterbalance and slings the weighted, barbed tip of her weapon directly at her opponent’s face. Jasper catches it midair, mere inches from her gem. An arrogant smile paints her visage. After winding the whip’s end around her hand, she yanks its user towards her with a snap of her wrist, swings her in a wide arc, and effortlessly slams her into the nearest cliff wall, blowing up a huge plume of pulverized rock and dust. It all happens so fast that the rest of the party barely has any time to react. As the rubble settles, Ruby finally spots her friend amidst the chaos, collapsed on hands and knees in the dirt. The poor Gem’s hands are nearly trembling as she vies to rise to her feet again, vies to stand her ground and keep fighting. 

There’s only one thing she knows for sure, watching all this: if hard light were consumable rather than indelible, she would quite literally be chipping away at her knuckles with her teeth by now.

His expression blown wide with fear, Steven breaks their communal silence to holler Amethyst’s name. Hands flexing in and out of fists, he darts away from their hiding spot. And they tried to stop him, they really did— it’s simply that he’s far too nimble for either of them to catch in time.

“Steven!” Peridot cries, trying and failing to grab his hand to hold him back.

“Steven, no!” Ruby yells, arms outstretched, as he sprints into the clearing— entirely blowing any remaining amount of cover the three of them had, placing his gem at Jasper’s mercy, and causing a thousand living nightmares to flood into her consciousness in but a millisecond. “Come back!!”

“Wait! Wait,” he gasps, waving his arms wildly to catch the larger quartz’s attention as he passes into the center of this natural coliseum, firmly planting himself at Amethyst’s side. “Stop! We don’t need to do this!”

Giving a growl that would rival that of a corrupted Gem’s, Ruby clenches her fingers around thick coils of her hair at either side of her head and yanks. “Aughh, why does nobody listen to me when I’m short??” 

A faint trail of glowing embers marks a record of her path as she leaves Peridot by their rocky outcropping and storms right into the open after him. Oh, hoh, hoh— that boy can disobey her clear, simple orders all he wants, but in his folly he’s forgetting one very important fact: rubies are stubborn Gems. And she’ll fight to protect him from the crossfire of Jasper’s hubris and Amethyst’s self-destruction even if that means braving her deepest terrors to run out there and drag him back to safety herself.

(Ideally, she’d be able to drag Amethyst with her out of the thunderdome as well, but she’s also quite the stubborn one. So try as she may, that’s not likely to happen.)

Ruby strides towards the middle of the clearing and defiantly plants her feet in the sterile soil right in front of Steven, and adjacent to Amethyst. She summons her gauntlets, her features twisting in a scowl. “Stand down and let them go!” she shouts up at that bulky orange quartz with all the Garnet-like confidence she can muster. “This is not a Homeworld controlled planet!”

“Steven, Ruby, get out of here!” Amethyst hisses under her breath, her battle-ready stance solidifying with a strange mixture of apprehension and anger as she regards the two of them.

“No!” she shoots back, tugging at her arm. “Come on, you know I can’t just leave you here.”

Jasper’s molten amber eyes narrow, her steely gaze colliding right into her.

“ You,” she says, enunciated as sharp as a dagger. “One half of that vile war machine.”

“War machine?!” Steven cries, distraught by the very implication. “She’s not a war machine! Garnet fuses for love!”

“Yeah!” Ruby jabs her fist in the air loud and proud.

The Homeworld warrior scoffs, seemingly not impressed by their display of solidarity. She folds her arms solid across the Yellow Diamond insignia emblazoned upon her chest and steps closer to address her directly. “And where’s this love now?” she spits, mockingly stooping to her level.

And despite the faint, triumphant memories of her last incursion with this quartz, (well… Garnet’s last incursion), she can’t help but cower in her presence, can’t help but crumble like the deficient sandstone of this very kindergarten under the cruel, personalized precision of her blunt words. Because... she’s right. Because that’s the whole problem, the pulsing heart of life’s cruel game. Fusion offered her a tantalizing taste of freedom, a glimpse of a reality where, together, a lowly guard and her sapphire could achieve literally anything through the strength of their love!— but that world feels like nothing more but an unobtainable mirage now. She’s absolutely useless on her own, just some pathetic waste of resources! No authority, no power, no wisdom of foresight— she brings nothing to the Crystal Gems’ cause. She never did. It was always her. Tears bead at her widening eyes, her gauntleted fists already beginning to tremble at her sides. 

“I-I…”

“Where’s any of your power now?” Jasper continues as she raises back to her full height, lifting both open hands towards the empty, cloud-streaked skies. She throws her head back as she offers them all a bright, boastful chuckle. “To think I used to view you traitors as a threat, but now even your disgraceful cause is falling apart, isn’t it… Rose?”

Still standing a step behind her, Steven’s immediate reply brims with tones of frustration. “I’m not—“

“But you’re wrong!” a high, familiar voice urgently calls out from behind them all. 

This whole messy confrontation breaks to a halt as everyone turns to gape at the lone Gem poking her head out above the rocky outcropping. Peridot gasps at the sudden influx of attention, and hastily ducks for cover again. 

“What are YOU doing here?” Jasper growls with annoyance, grinding one of her feet in the dirt as if inwardly hoping she could shift the very earth they stand on and finally gain the advantage of surprise once more.

“I-I…” the green Gem stammers, slowly creeping out from her hiding spot, summoning newfound confidence as she lays her eyes on each and every one of her friends. “I’m here because our cause hasn’t fallen apart! We live on Earth to be free, to learn new things about ourselves. Like how I can bend metal to my bidding!” she exclaims, tossing enthusiastic fists into the air.

On the cliff face over twenty feet away, a skinny length of metal from one of the injector’s legs slips from the device, falls straight down, and noisily clatters as it collides against the rocky soil. Amethyst facepalms. Meanwhile, Jasper appears so underwhelmed by this display that in any other circumstance, her glazed-over expression could be comedic.

Peridot briefly scowls at her botched handiwork. “And sure,” she shrugs, nodding towards that shard of metal, “nothing’s ever perfect here, but together, we work to help and support each other, just like we’re supporting Amethyst now. Isn’t that freedom worth fighting for?”

A few beats pass as the heart of this proclamation sinks in, the ticking seconds seeing Steven beam in pride at his friend’s progression since the beginning of her stay on Earth, and Jasper’s features scrunch inwards in an almost sour manner. Between the stifling roots of her own despair, even Ruby herself can’t help but feel a little uplifted by this hopeful sentiment. It’s a well-timed salve to an old burn, a naive yet ultimately truthful promise of lighthearted days to come. After all, hasn’t her time as a Crystal Gem taught her by now that no circumstance is permanent? That a single unifying cause can collapse empires like a wildfire, can continually reshape one’s entire understanding of existence? Her gauntleted hands shift at her side as a new spark of timid confidence ignites at her core. What was she thinking, letting this brute of a quartz tower over her and define the very pillars of her own story? She’s better than this. For the very sake of her friends she has to be!

But alas, before this newfound bravery can see its hour of triumph on this secluded battlefield, she finds herself once again cast aside by one of the very friends she’s vying to protect.

Amethyst growls in frustration at their continued presence, and summons her weapon. “UGH, you GUYS!” She slashes its barbed tips against the cliff face right above Peridot, not close enough to hit her, but certainly with enough force that it spooks her into diving behind the low rock formation again. Scowling, she then turns and plucks an actively protesting Steven right off the ground. “Get out of here!” she yells, tossing him back towards the clearing’s entrance. “This isn’t your fight!”

Ruby gives a sharp yelp as she just barely leaps backwards to dodge the business end of her whip, swinging low in a vain attempt to tangle up her feet. “Hey—!”

“It’s just you and me, Jasper,” the purple quartz breathes heavily, and abruptly whirls around to jab her finger towards her opponent. “ONE-ON-ONE!”

Silently, a consenting smirk riding over her lips, the taller Gem summons her ramming helmet in a glittering flash of light.

 __

The mission is— in the terms of the brave humans they sometimes fight alongside— a bloodbath. 

When they first warped in, Garnet only expected to find a small handful of disoriented jaspers, citrines, and carnelians roaming about. Gems they could talk to. Gems they could reason with, just as Rose reasoned with her fellow quartzes at the very start of this bold rebellion. Instead, what emerges soon after their arrival is more shocking and unpredictable than any future Garnet could’ve ever visualized.

Bursting from the very heart of this slapdash, rushed Kindergarten, despite every single locational and structural disadvantage this place stacks against one’s favor, is Her.

The strongest, most perfectly formed jasper she’s ever laid eyes on. She’s seven feet tall, built as solid as diamond, her flawlessly faceted gemstone gleaming bright and proud in the rising sun. She wastes no time in following the miserable orders the Great Diamond Authority cruelly embedded deep within her soul, immediately calling the hundreds of scattered and confused off-color Gems surrounding her to action.

Garnet and her squadron simply don’t have enough time to intervene, to try and settle this skirmish halfway peacefully. They don’t have the numbers. 

Twenty three Crystal Gems are shattered that day. Numerous more on both sides are cracked or poofed.

And yet one of the greatest tragedies, in her mind… is that these emergent Gems never got the proper chance to consider any purpose beyond their assigned station. Never got a chance to glimpse the promise of their own freedom. 

Everything happened so fast. 

She took this place for granted— thanks to her own preconceived notions about the kinds of Gems that could emerge here, utterly failed to foresee this potential turn of events— and in the end it cost lives. Both those of her fellow Crystal Gems, her friends … and those of the Beta quartzes she failed to save from Homeworld’s damaging influence.

That night, as she bitterly weeps for the recovered shards of the beloved they lost, clenches her gauntleted fists tight around her gemstones, she vows to never let such a harrowing tragedy escape her vision again. No more.

A leader like her is not allowed to fail.

 __

With the mighty roar of a lion, Amethyst stamps her leading foot to the ground to center her balance and rears her weapon-wielding arm back, wholly intending to defend her pride from this boorish bully. The first and second slashes are fruitful, one striking Jasper in the face, and the next hitting her chest with such intense force that it slams her into the cliff wall a few feet back, but Ruby can’t help but dread the litany of unknown possibilities haunting their future as she watches, powerless in her lack of second sight to influence their present. Could Amethyst win this fight? Sure. There’s gotta be at least one river of time where that occurs, where Jasper is so wrapped up within that facade of insufferable hubris that she fails to take her seriously as an opponent and pays the price. But on the other hand, she senses so many chinks in Amethyst’s armor that she can’t help but fear the opposite. She’s blinded by her anger, unable to consider consequence rationally. Her form in battle— compared to her usual performance— is notably sloppy, as if she’s throwing herself at this fight with such an explosion of tangled, raw emotion that her years of training and refinement have all but melted away in the inferno. Her fingers are trembling as she tightens her grasp on the whip’s pommel.

All of this stated, Ruby may not possess the gift of Sapphire’s future vision, but she has more than enough experience on patrol and on the battlefield to recognize a soldier who is woefully unprepared for a fight. Something terrible is about to happen, she can just feel it.

“Be careful!!” she cries, cupping her hands around her mouth.

“It’s fine, she’s totally rocking this!” Steven says with a huge grin, seeming uncharacteristically calm, given the circumstances. He whoops, and punches his fist in the air. “Go Amethyst!”

Ruby and Peridot briefly match eyes, the noted concern in their gazes pointing towards the fact that they both think that Amethyst’s insistence to fight is reckless and naive. In retrospect, of course her friend would agree with her. She spent a lot of time cohabiting with Jasper on their journey to Earth, so she’s bound to be well aware of her fundamental nature.

At the moment however, given the shorter quartz’s tunnel vision, she’s certain that any of their valid concerns would fall upon deaf ears. 

“Who’s weak now, huh?” Amethyst spits from across the clearing, flicking her wrist to activate the triplet spiked balls at the ends of her whip, an upgrade gifted by Bismuth she surprisingly hasn’t seemed to have abandoned. With a holler, she swings her leading arm back and around to build up momentum and then slashes at Jasper’s chest three times in succession. The last hit comes with enough force to push her backwards in the dirt a few feet. “Who’s powerless NOW?!”

Then, just as Ruby fearfully predicted, the winds shift. 

The firestorm doubles back upon them, Jasper merely swatting the flail ends away like they were nothing more but a momentary nuisance. Her expression narrows into a scowl. Emergent shock mingles alongside the dark cloud of Amethyst’s anger like wayward lightning bolts as she growls in frustration, the side-swept fringe of her hair shadowing her features. In retaliation she summons a second whip and immediately slashes them both against the soil, endowing them with a crackling, purple-tinged energy, almost a fire of her own making. She tucks into a ball and literally hurls herself at the quartz warrior, her form only recognizable in the heat of that moment via a dazzling blaze of light.

The resulting collision throws up so much dirt and smoke that Ruby has to throw her small body in front of Steven’s to shield him from the worst of the debris. 

When the thick curtains of dust finally part, the consequences of this overly-impulsive move are revealed. Jasper still stands proud and tall, her mettle unaffected by this attempted show of strength. Barely a scuff even marrs her uniform. Meanwhile, Amethyst lays hunched over on hands and knees, hacking up fragmented remnants of sandstone she likely swallowed amidst the impact. (Alas, that’s the price she pays for choosing to always reform with an semi-operational digestive system.)

“Is it sinking in yet?” Jasper queries pointedly, advancing towards the trembling Gem on the ground.

Amethyst is so exhausted she can’t even muster the strength to respond, her arms quivering beneath her as she vies to hold up the simulated weight of her hard light form.

Her foe roughly kicks her in the chest, her foot striking mere inches under her gem. Ruby visibly cringes at both the shallow huff of distress that this hit elicits from her, and Steven’s cries of fear in response. 

“It doesn’t matter how long or hard you fight,” Jasper boasts, her imposing figure hovering like a bad omen over her quartz sibling’s, “because I’ll always be stronger! Runts like you never had a chance. Runts like you are worthless.”

Angrily, she grinds her teeth together, cradling the vulnerable gemstone on her hand. 

Worthless.

Worthless.

Who the hell does this square hunk of stone think she is, slinging such heavy-handed words around like the blunt end of a mallet?

“Get your worthless, sorry forms back in formation!” wretched old Condor Agate used to scream at her and the others in her squad, back when she spent eternity guarding empty corridors, back before she was eventually reassigned to Sapphire’s personal guard. “You’re an embarrassment to your commanding agates, all of you!”

Ruby growls, finding her resolve. That’s it. No more. She can’t bear to stand at the sidelines gripped in fear while some bully is literally beating her friend into the ground, both physically and emotionally. She can’t bear for Amethyst to fall prey to the same type of unwavering torment she herself experienced all those years ago on Homeworld, torment that utterly deformed her sense of self-worth until recognizing any ounce of good in herself became a gargantuan, near-impossible task. Admittedly, she still hasn’t healed from those days. Not entirely. Sometimes she’s unsure she ever will. But it’s her duty to put an end to this, to what’s happening in the here and now. After all, what’s the point of being a Crystal Gem if you don’t look after the people you love?

“We have to separate them,” she says firmly, turning towards Steven and Peridot. “She’s gonna get clobbered!”

The former kindergartener’s expression warps to despair under her visor. “But how? She doesn’t even want us to be here! And none of us are strong enough to face Jasper…”

“Could we make a distraction?” Steven suggests, his voice tinged with the same sort of urgency she feels thrumming like a frantic drum line at the depths of her core.

Humming in thought, Ruby considers the status quo. To no success, she attempts to ignore her friends’ expectant gazes, trustingly falling upon her exactly like all those fellow rebellion soldiers used to look at Garnet… as their de facto leader. But she’s no leader, far from it. Garnet would barely have to think before coming up with a genius, foolproof plan, but she’s going into everything blind. She can’t weigh out potential consequences before rushing into action. She has no ability to pinpoint the most ideal outcome and work backwards from there. With all this in mind, it’s really no wonder that Garnet passed command of the group to Pearl instead of her. At least Pearl has experience leading missions solo.

And yet desperate times call for desperate measures.

She scans their surroundings for inspiration, considering what options may be open to them. At this point there’s no time to double back to the barn or the temple for reinforcements. (And she strongly doubts Lapis would care to so much as match eyes with Jasper, anyways.) One or more of them could always charge into the fray to attempt and break up this small skirmish by force, but that would risk their safety, too. The last thing she wants is to knowingly throw her friends into harm’s way. No, the best option would be breaking the two quartzes up using something in their immediate environment, something large and heavy but capable of being quickly moved, something like...

Her eyes snap wide. “That injector!” she whispers excitedly, pointing to the hulking piece of junked equipment precariously hanging from the cliff wall, only stabilized by a few legs that still penetrate the cracked sandstone. “It’s right above them. If we knocked it down, then maybe…”

Peridot flashes a hopeful smile, and nods.

“We’re on it,” Steven says, summoning his shield. The two of them glance at each other, perhaps silently coordinating their plan, and then leap into action.  

“Metal powers activate!” she exclaims, and throws her hands up in the direction of that rusted injector. 

Subtly but noticeable, its legs begin to shift and creak under the force of her ferrokinesis, loosening from the eroding stone. Licking his lips, Steven aims his weapon and hurls. It strikes the device directly at its center, clanging against solid metal. The injector wobbles for a moment, its delicate balance obviously destabilized by this force, and then begins to slide free from the porous kindergarten wall. One still-impacted leg snaps under the torque as the cylinder’s immense weight plummets towards the ground.

“Heads up!” Steven calls out, causing a bemused Jasper to flick her gaze skyward, towards the falling object staining the soil with an ever-growing shadow.

The collision of the junky old injector almost appears like a small explosion, flinging dirt a good ten feet into the air and resolutely separating the two quartzes. But Ruby barely has time to high five Peridot and celebrate their success before the kid she’s supposed to be keeping safe darts off into the clearing once more. She hisses a small curse under her breath. Drat, of course he’d run straight to Amethyst’s side again at his first opportunity! She should’ve seen that coming a whole star system away. At least Jasper’s been temporarily marooned on the other side of that busted Gem tech, though.

The real question is, for how long? 

Nibbling at her lip, she hastily sprints towards the edge of the injector to keep a watchful eye on their opponent as Steven attempts to have a mid-battlefield heart-to-heart. (At least, that’s what she assumes he’s doing. Admittedly, they kinda failed to hammer out the fine details of their plan before sprinting into action. Her fault.) Thankfully though, at first glimpse it seems the impact’s force has effortlessly knocked Jasper clear off her feet. She seems slightly dazed, but beyond that remains unscathed. Time will only tell if this strategy was a beneficial one. Briefly turning back towards the group, Ruby watches Steven crouch next to Amethyst. She’s muttering something to him, she thinks— her expression raw with fresh tears— but her words are far too hushed to make out. Whatever she shares, however, it’s clearly enough to elicit a strong emotional reaction from her companion.

“No, no!”  he pleads, hurt painting his features. “My mom- Rose, she doesn’t matter. Whatever Jasper thinks doesn’t matter. She's the only one who thinks you should be like her!”

“But-”

“Stop trying to be like Jasper. You're nothing like Jasper! You're like me!”

“But even you’re different!” she explodes at first, but any anger present in her form immediately evaporates into something more innately hesitant, more self-conscious. Her fingers claw thick troughs into the reddened soil as she curls them inwards. “I’m not like you at all, I’m not some di—”

“No, that’s not the point!” he says, tears of his own budding at the corners of his eyes. “You’re like me because we’re both not like anybody. And yeah, it sucks. Everyone always expects us to be someone we’re not, but you know what? At least I've always got you. And you've got me! So stop leaving me out of this!”

Slowly pushing herself to her feet behind the junked injector, Jasper groans, her voice strained with newfound exhaustion Ruby never imagined she possessed. 

“Y’guys, she’s getting up!” she calls out to her friends behind her, equally a warning as it is a call to action. After all, if this bold stunt finally managed to crack through the first layer of their opponent’s armor, then they might genuinely stand a chance now.

She’ll never know if they heard her, though— because in the same split second she turns back to check on them, the now embracing pair is engulfed in a blinding white light.

Even in the absence of a soldier's fire, everything turns to smoke.

[pastelpunk-3206]

Making gems from a random gem generator

First gem is bazzite

If you want to make gemsonas of your own here is the link

https://perchance.org/gemsona-creator

Bazzite facet-CGQV, Cabachon-KUK is a rebel gem who lives alone on an alien planet

This is how I pictured them, bazzite along side a group of other gems rebelled from homeworld and stole a ship, these gems were a star diopside, a ulexite, a winza sapphire, and a ruby. They escaped homeworlds clutches and hid on an alien planet, little did they know they were being hunted by a black cubic zirconia and her terrifying phantom quartz and her tahitian pearl. Bazzite went out to find fuel for a fire but while gone black and phantom found the others and shattered them but didn't know about Bazzite so they left. Apon Bazzite's return she found the shards of her friends and bubbled them and stored them in her gem

Bazzite now has tamed animals of the planet and built a tree house for shelter, the animals she tamed reminded her of her friends so she nicknamed them after her late friends and lives in solitude on the same planet ever since

[libralita]

Title: Dawnshard

Author: Brandon Sanderson

Summary:  Dawnshard follows the story of Rysn, the Thaylen merchant whom we've seen before in the Interludes of the first three books of the Stormlight Archive series.

Rating: ★★★★★

Review:

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Anyways.

DAWNSHARD!

I feel Rysn’s pain. I too find stuff most unimaginably boring interesting.

Oh no, something is wrong with Chiri-Chiri.

“A few anxietyspren, like twisting black cross shapes, appeared around Rysn.”

Huh, interesting.

“She’d already sent a request via spanreed to someone she thought could help with Chiri-Chiri.”

*Narrows eyes* Who?

“her eyebrow jewelry tinkling softly”

Roshar is so weird. (Edit: Understatement of the goddamn decade)

“The king wants to meet this Dalinar Kholin and see these Knights Radiant for himself.”

Man I should have reread these books. Oh well. Goodluck Dalinar.

It’s very interesting that now Navani is Queen of Urithiru. So Dalinar is King? WAIT WE’RE IN URITHIRU! AHHHH!

“She was an intimidating woman with her Alethi height, her black and grey hair done in intricate braids atop her head and woven with glowing sapphires.”

Nah, she’s a mom. I wouldn’t be surprised if she tries to mother you.

Rysn Ftori. Did we know her last name?

“Finally the queen stopped, focused on the chair at the rear of the room, then pulled her chair over and sat before Rysn. It was a small gesture, but appreciated. Rysn didn’t mind when people remained standing in her presence, but there was a certain thoughtfulness in the way Navani situated herself so they could discuss at eye level with one another.”

As stated, Navani is a mom.

Oh, I think we read about this in Oathbringer.

The Prince of Liafor???

The Rock of Secrets. I see Brandon wasn’t trying too hard with this name.

“As the months had passed, Rysn had begun to truly grasp the strategic importance of Stormlight as a fuel both for fabrials and for the Knights Radiant. Beyond that, the enemy had creatures—known as Fused— who used the Void’s own Light. Chiri-Chiri fed on that just as eagerly as Stormlight.”

Hmmm…yeah…

…………………I kind of ship Lopen and Talik. I don’t know how to feel about this. Brandon is creating some very odd ships this year. (If you haven’t read the RoW previews, trust me, there’s a weird one)

““It’s politics. The annoying kind.”

“There’s another kind?”

 No.

YAY RUSHU IS COMING ALONG!

“She owned it. She commanded it. But at least according to maritime tradition, it was not hers”

This reminds me of how Navani sees herself as not an artifabian (I’m not even going to bother look up the correct spelling for this)

“Radiant the Lopen”

PFFFFFFFFFFFT

““Lopen,” Rushu said as she worked, “you should not be tormenting Brightness Rysn with your prattling.””

Rushu! How dare you question the Lopen!!

““Brightness Rysn shouldn’t have to crack jokes at her own expense in order to make other people comfortable with their personal insecurities.”

“Yup, true,” the Lopen said. “She shouldn’t have to.””

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooo

“Two halves of a ruby, containing two halves of the same spren, can be made to move in tandem with one another”

…TWO HALVES OF THE SAME SPREN. PARDON?!?!!

I’m assuming that if you can get a ship to move fast enough then a spanreed will work. Much like Brandon has said that time bubbles can work at a certain speed. Plus y’know, Roshar is constantly moving, we just don’t feel it.

“It’s why the motion and curve of the planet don’t influence spanreeds.”

Or y’know, I’ll just be fucking WRONG.

“That  .  .  . didn’t make much sense to Rysn.”

Same.

I’m guessing that Nikli is a worldhopper. From where though? I don’t really trust Nikli right now though. Hmmm.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NIKLI IS ONE OF THOSE CREMLING THINGS NONONONONONONONONONONONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

WHAT MEAN YOU ONE OF THESE…SWARMS KNOWS DALINAR “I know he will destroy us”

From the dustjacket of Way of Kings:

“The last is the highprince, a warlord whose eyes have opened to the past as his thirst for battle wanes.

The world can change. Surgebinding and Shardwielding can return; the magics of ancient days can become ours again. These four people are key.

One of them may redeem us.

And one of them will destroy us.”

So Dalinar will Destroy the Sleepless.

“Plus, Yelamaiszin said, we should have compassion for those we must cull. It is good you like the humans.

Must we cull them though? Nikli replied.”

Oh, the Sleepless gotta cull humans. Fucking great. AHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Is it just required that every single novella is going to have these fuckers in them?

“When the swarm that had become Nikli had been Separated, it had already contained hordelings evolved for this subterfuge. Nikli had further evolved them, and was now certain that the body didn’t need the tattoos to cover the seams in its skin”

Wat.

Also who’s Arclomedarian? Now I need to go reread Edgedancer to see who that guy was. Oh? Who are the true traitors? It’s probably Hoid.

“where they would either fall to the winds or enter the realm of the Sleepless.”

Man, if I was on that ship, I’d take drowning over finding that. Let’s notttttt.

“This was sent to another vote, and Nikli’s bodies— the distant ones, not on the ship—all vibrated with anticipation.”

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

“Can block a Shardblade, Rua tells me, if it’s thick enough. They get it from Soulcasting, though only a few can make it, so it’s pretty rare”

Y…you can soulcast aluminium? Holy fuck.

No Lopen! You belong with Talik. He can capture that Tsundere heart.

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?

As someone who has read Mistborn, you don’t want a dramatic end of the world. It causes essential crisis.

“More spren than animal, they were somehow able to magnify peace and confidence.”

Like…rioting?

““No,” several voices said from the crowd—but she couldn’t see who. “That’s bad luck!””

Nikla…

“Storms. It was as if . . . as if the body had been made up of cremlings.”

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

“no more real than things like the gloomdancer or sea hags from Thaylen mythology”

Well, I’m sure these things don’t exist.

“Hmmm? Oh, no I was napping during that.”

I do love Rushu.

So…Huio…created…flying machines. Motherfucker.

I can’t believe Roshar has hove chair before cars. Also HOVER BRIDGES LET’S GOOOOOOOOO.

Nikli…what are you doing?

Rushu is a soulcaster! Wild.

“Regardless, I demanded that Navani send me with either a Shardblade or a Soulcaster to get through.”

You fucking what mate?

“Strange, to think how optimistic she’d been only a short time ago.”

That tends to happen with Brando Sando books. One moment the characters are on top of the world and next everything is crashing down.

The sun being shattered into pieces? Well that can’t be good.

“She counted the shards in her mind, over and over, feeling a reverence to the number.”

Ten or sixteen?

“It looked vaguely like an enormous grub with a wicked beak of a face. It had spindly arms running all the way along its body, and had reared up so it was mostly vertical, using its pointed limbs like spears to try to skewer the sailors beneath.”

Again. Roshar. Fuck off.

“The Mother of Machines,”

Thirty emerald broams says the back of the book has something about the Mother of Machines on it.

“I . . . have no idea what any of that means,”

Me reading half of this book.

“And in truth, those treaties were made with other gods. I had hoped the Gods Who Sleep Not would be similarly bound, but now I am not certain.”

OTHER GODS? WHICH ONES?!

GOOD JOB HUIO!!!

“We wish to avoid losing control of a force that could destroy the cosmere.”

Odium? Just don’t let any love struck teenagers near it and you’ll be fine.

“As I and my kind are not native to this planet, we prefer the term ‘hordelings.’”

W…Where are you from?

This reminds me of Skyward.

I am sure that Rysn will not be able to employ it. How many books do we have left?

“And then eventually, they were used to undo Adonalsium itself. . . .”

YOU FUCKING WHAT?!

Rysn, you’re going to get a visit from an asshole. Be prepared and good luck.

I can’t for Arc 2 where we get so BIG CHIRI-CHIRI.

Interesting so Rysn will never become a Radiant.

“Regrettably, there has been a conflict on the beach with some of our more  .  .  . specialized hordelings,”

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

“You have Remade yourself.”

Remade? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Oh no. Lopen noooooooooooooo.

Who needs a Hover chair when YOU CAN RIDE A CRAB DRAGON! SUCKING ALL THE STORMLIGHT! WIELDING THE DAWNSHARD!

“Was it . . . brighter than usual? Why did the colors in her room look so exceptionally vivid all of a sudden?”

Idos Domi! What heightening are you?

I was not expecting this. My thoughts are currently just on the floor, screaming. Brandon, you cannot just drop lore on me like this.

[amalgamau]

Chapter 3

When we last left off Bismuth reformed and the shards were placed in the fountain. Also there was less thank 200 of you holy crap! Thank you guys for being interested! Without any further wait! Welcome back to the Crystal Gems! >=)

Directory

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The bubbles rested gently on the water, drifting off into the pool for a moment before popping and sinking into the water. For what felt like an eternity, nothing happened as the shards began to sink to the bottom of the fountain. The silence was deafening, only the sound of the water's currents were audible as the Fountain poured. Beneath the water’s surface, Amethyst's remains piled together on the fountain floor. Ruby and Sapphire's shards were stirred together by the slow moving currents. The dust that was once Pearl became a foggy cloud in the water, mixed with muddy sand and sparkling shards.

As the last of everyone's hope faded, and tears fell, choking sobs beginning to break the silence, a sudden light hum, and a pink glow rose from the water. Everyone turned and looked, suddenly full of anticipation and excitement. The hum grew louder. As the moment dragged on, the pink light faded into a sickly pale green, becoming near blinding before fading away.

Every second felt like hours. The longer nothing happened, the more agonizing it was for the group. After what felt like forever, Steven steeled his courage and peered over the corner into the fountain hoping to see any good news.

Before Steven could get a good look, a hand burst from the water, startling Steven as he stumbled back, falling on his rear. He recognized Garnet's hand as it gripped the ground, breaking the tile as it dug in with a loud and lengthy CRAAACK. 

"Gaaarnet?" Steven asked in sudden concern as a second hand reached out through the water and dug into the flooring. Steven scooted back slightly in concern as he realized that both hands appeared to be right hands. Something was wrong. Another arm shot out of the water, this one split into two at the elbow as the two hands slammed into the floor beneath it, cracking it. Slowly the figure lifted its head from the water, its head aimed at Steven, beginning to slowly peel apart its eyelids one at a time to reveal its five eyes. It stared through Steven as he scrambled back in fear.

"G-garnet? What's wrong?" Steven stammered in fear as he got to his feet. Garnet opened their mouth to speak, but the only noise that could be heard was an echoed moan turned into a scream, the voices of Ruby and Sapphire wailing in tandem.

Garnet crawled out of the Fountain, maintaining eye contact with Steven and the group as they did. Once fully emerged, she looked down at their hands and then further at the shards that were once Ruby and Sapphire, permanently fused together. The two rings that had symbolized their union and their brightest moment were now embedded into the stone that held together all that was left of them. She gripped her head tightly with all four hands as tears began to leak from every eye. She then let out an inhuman wail. The sound of torment in their voice was obvious as Ruby and Sapphire screamed through Garnet's mouth. Steven got up and began to walk towards her, hand outstretched in concern when a figure erupted from the water, landing next to Garnet on all fours.

Pearl had emerged and looked up at the duo, half her face a smoothly polished sandstone-esque gem hybrid. The spot where her eye would have been was sunken in and covered by a shadow. The other eye appeared glassy and blank, as if there was no mind behind it. She opened her mouth, the half not covered by her new sandstone-like gem. From her mouth came an ear-piercing, staticky scream. 

The group flinched at the noise, clutching their ears as Pearl wailed in tandem with Garnet. Pearl crawled out of the Fountain, hunched over staring at the group with an empty and feral expression. When the screaming stopped, Steven moved his hands from his ears, holding out a hand to Pearl.

“Pearl... it’s me... it’s Steven.” He said softly. Pearl looked at him with a blank expression and charged at him. Steven flinched as Pearl jumped at him, when another figure burst from the water. Amethyst shot out, her body a long snake-like appendage that snatched Pearl from the air, wrapping around her. Amethyst's head faced Pearl's as she struggled against the grapple. Amethyst let out a high pitched screech that sounded off, as though reversed. She spun sideways, letting go of Pearl mid spin and launching her into the fountainhead. The statue crumbled as Pearl slammed against it with a loud crack. Piping snapped from inside the statue causing water to gush out from the mechanism in hissing sprays. 

Pearl screamed a loud, agonized scream full of static and noise. As Amethyst turned to Steven, Bismuth and Connie tried to calm Garnet down. Steven looked up to Amethyst's eyes, one much larger than the other that seemed to move with the head's momentum, the other trained on Steven. She leaned back, ready to slam into him. As Steven moved in towards Amethyst, she swung at him full-force. Steven put up his shield, blocking the attack, then dropped it and grabbed her in a hug.

"Amethyst! I'm here! It's ok! Please calm down!"

Amethyst froze, turning so her eyes met Steven’s, her one regular eye tearing up.

“¿uǝʌǝʇS” 

She spoke slowly, but Steven was unable to understand her.

“A-Amethyst... I... I can’t understand you... If you’re in there... please...” Amethyst pauses, then nods. “˙˙˙ǝɹǝɥ ɯ,I ʇnq ˙˙˙ʇɥƃᴉɐɹʇs ʞuᴉɥʇ ʇ,uɐɔ I puɐ sʇɹnɥ ƃuᴉɥʇʎɹǝʌƎ ˙˙˙ǝɹǝɥ ɯ,I-I” Steven sighed in relief and sadness.

“I have no idea what you’re saying... but at least you’re still there... I don’t know what to do! Everyone was shattered. I tried to help them!” He began to tear up as he looked at her.

“Something is wrong! I need to get through to them!”

Amethyst bent her body so she could put a hand on his shoulder

“˙noʎ uo ʇɹɐdɐ llɐɟ ʇ,uoʍ I ˙˙˙ǝɹǝɥ ɯ,I” She turned to the fountain, Pearl swinging wildly and crawling around the ruined fountain. Amethyst jumped up and charged at Pearl, wrapping her body around her again and holding her down.

“¡ʞo ǝq oʇ ƃuᴉoƃ ǝɹ,ǝM ¡ǝɯ oʇ uǝʇsᴉ˥ ¡uʍop ɯlɐƆ ¡lɹɐǝԀ”

Amethyst dragged Pearl to Steven, while Pearl struggled to get out of Amethyst’s hold. Steven reached out to Pearl, putting a hand on the gemstone half of her face while she struggles, grunting and growling with her static filled voice.

“Pearl! It’s Steven. I’m here, please... I love you! I’m here for you!”

As Pearl turned to Steven, her one eye began to tear up.

“S̷͎̓̃t̶̗̱̭̿́-̷̣̼͙͐Ṡ̴̩̆͗t̶͚̖̫̿̿e̸͓͔͔͒v̴̬̓͜ě̵̦̜͝n̸̜̥̼̉̆?̵̬͛̇ͅ” she asked, slowly going limp.

He sighed. “Yeah Pearl... It’s me... I tried to save you guys... I’m so sorry... I wasn’t fast enough.”

Pearl looked at herself in the water below as Amethyst lets go

“Ö̷͙̦̠́̒́-̵̛̗̯͙̽ó̸̹h̶̪͔̅̈́ ̴̟͈̔̂́s̴͚̿t̶̜̄a̸͕̽̌͘ȓ̸̫̰̖̅s̶̲̜̐̈.̷͕͎͛̕.̴̢͒͜.̵̨̠̐̓͘͜ ̷͔̄͝Ĩ̷̞̥.̶̲̋͗͝.̶̛̹̜̖͐͘.̶̦͍͛̓ ̷̳̣̫̃W̸͖̑e̴̢̤̔̒͊.̵̰̞͌͑̚.̶͕̰̬͂.̷̖͈́ ̴̬̔̃͛I̸̞̬̓͑ ̸̛̗̖c̵͙̐a̵̝̟͓͐̈́n̶̤̭͊'̵̺͌̄t̵͇͆̓.̸̟̲̄̄̃.̶̻͑̋.̷̠͔̋̉̅ͅ” she trailed off as Steven wipes tears from his eyes.

“P-Pearl.” he manages to choke out. “I’m so sorry...”

Pearl froze and looked at Steven, tears streaming from her one eye. She got down and put a hand on his cheek.

“S̴̢̑ṭ̸͑e̸̖͈͐ṽ̸͙̭́e̶͖̮͛͝n̷̻̮̒.̴̞͍̀.̶̥̬̈́.̵̘̟̋ ̵̝͒̿I̷̹̋̋'̶͕́m̵̻̈ ̶̤͑s̷͇̿o̴͋̎͜ ̸͓͍̾̿s̸̤̝͑̈́o̸͚̪̊̉ŗ̷̉r̸̬̍ỷ̶̰͌.̷̅͗͜.̴͖̚.̵̞̈́͑ ̴̗̟̀̓N̴̡͈̈o̵͚͊̀n̸̙̟͆̀ĕ̴͕͈͘ ̸̩̪̂̾o̸̮̯̍̋f̵̤͗ͅ ̶̘̆ͅṱ̶̐̍ĥ̸̬̟̈́ì̵͕s̸̺̀ ̵̟̇ï̶̲͝s̸̹̹̔ ̷̻̠̍y̴̻̰͐̇o̸͔̱̔u̸̮̼͊r̷̡͒̂ ̷̛̤̤́f̸̛̥ͅǎ̶̠͝ư̴̪͠l̴̛̠̅t̴͈̭͐̽.̵̨̑̔ ̶̨̥̃Y̴̹̬͐̈ǫ̵̙̌͘u̵̘̜͒ ̶̨͙͂ḋ̷̙͋͜i̸̟̳͗̆ḑ̷̬͆͋n̶̖̽͒'̶̰̅͘ţ̶͉̌̃ ̴̞͖͌̎d̵̹́o̴̢͛̅ ̴̛ͅt̴͍̅h̵̜͙̅i̵̘̳̎s̴̫̍̇.̸̙̙̊ ̴̛̙̯̆Ị̵͓̑́t̵̻͖̀̓'̵͔͋́s̴̪͇̈̅ ̷͕̀o̵̹͍̕ḵ̴̈.̵̻͂ ̵̉͜Ŵ̶̠͇̄ḛ̷̿̕ ̷̜͕͗̐d̸͉̟͘o̸̥̲̍ǹ̷̳͗'̸̮̰̈́͐ẗ̴͍̩́ ̴͓͐͜b̸̡̑͂l̶͔̭͐a̷̦͘m̷͇̐̏e̸̢͙̊ ̷̭̦̾y̶̪̒o̷̟͚͂ủ̴͎́.̴̟̥̓̾”

Tears streamed down Steven’s face as he put a hand to hers and then held it tightly.

“I... need to help Garnet too...” he said slowly. Amethyst and Pearl nodded and followed behind as he walked to Garnet. 

The trio walked over, with Connie and Bismuth standing next to Garnet, who was on their knees staring at their hands, crying in a mixture of fear and frustration. Steven walked around to her front as he reached out to her.

“Garnet... it’s Steven...”

Garnet flinched and turned away, once again crying out in the voices of Ruby and Sapphire.

“Go away! Steven please! We don’t want you to see me like this!”

Steven backed away for a moment before reaching for her shoulder.

“Garnet... I’m here for you.. I’m so sorry I couldn’t stop this... I didn’t mean for this to happen...” Garnet flinched and pulled away.

“They’re gone! Ruby and Sapphire... We... don’t exist anymore I... we... are all that’s left... I’m not a fusion anymore, I’m a MONSTER.”

Steven flinched, choking back tears and guilt.

“Garnet... no... You aren’t a monster... You’re made of love, remember?” Garnet turned to him, all five eyes streaming tears as they glared at him in frustration.

“THEY ARE DEAD AND GONE. I can’t be made of love if there is nobody left... I’m a shell of what I was...” 

She sobbed and buried her face in her hands.

Steven froze, looking down guiltily as he swallowed his emotion.

“I... couldn’t save them.. And I’m so... so... so sorry... But... you are still Garnet... and the things... the people... that you love... are still here... so there is still hope... right?” Steven’s encouraging speech trailed off into a search for his own reassurance.

Everyone was silent for a long time. Garnet didn’t move for what felt like an eternity. Eventually, she stood up, looking at everyone as she wiped her eyes. Steven swallowed before speaking up.

“We’ve... all been through so much... what happened... and what was taken from us... there are no words... but we’re still here. For better or for worse, we’re still alive. We’ll make the best of this, I’m sure... We’ve always found a way before... we can do it this time, too.”

Everyone looked to Steven, sad smiles shared by the group. The family embraced into a hug. 

Everyone stayed in the embrace for a few minutes, just comforting one another. When everyone finally pulled away, Steven took a deep breath before mumbling.

“So... about the diamonds...”

[connverse4life]

“Fragments” Undermines SU

WARNING: Major Spoilers ahead for the end of “Fragments”

Okay, so the recent SUF episode “Fragments” really put me on edge as it did a lot of people. But the thing that upsets me the most is Steven was able to bring back Jasper. Not only does this completely destroy whatever moral this episode tries to teach but it also nullifies an integral part of the original series.

From season one, Steven Universe has shown that shattering is the equivalent of death. There is no coming back from it. The main characters have always responded tragically to the idea of being shattered. Look at this scene from “A Single Pale Rose.”

This is one of the most intense scenes in the show. Fourteen-year-old Steven sees Pearl’s repressed memories of the war. The camera tilts up to show the broken shards of falling gems and Steven scoots back horrified. He even hugs himself as he walks through the battlefield alone with a tremor in his voice, showing how uncomfortable he is by the whole situation. It’s basically a kid who just saw dead bodies. Pearl is also completely broken. She’s shell-shocked, trembling, full of guilt and grief. Her reaction to this perfectly mirrors her initial reaction to “pretending” to shatter Pink Diamond. She is so traumatized that even though she didn’t actually kill anyone, the idea of doing it at all completely scars her - to such a massive degree that she can’t even eat or shapeshift until thousands of years later.

Steven is horrified too. He has always associated shattering with murder.

When he finds out that Rose intentionally shattered Pink diamond, he is devastated, confused, and very angry. All idolized thoughts of his mother are altered because he just found out that his own parent committed cold-blooded murder.

The cluster, though some may argue was anti-climactic, showed that some problems can’t be perfectly fixed but a satisfactory solution can still be found. The cluster is happy and safe even though their gems aren’t fully repaired. Giving them a permanent solution based on this new info ruins this idea.

Another thing about this is the Diamonds are the only ones who have seemingly shattered a gem. That is equal to executing someone. Sapphire saved Ruby because Blue Diamond ordered her to be killed. Now I know that Garnet has no faith in the Diamonds and probably doesn’t even know about their ability to bring back the dead, but what about Pearl? Whether or not she thought they could reason with the Diamonds down the line, they still could’ve bubbled the shards in case. Why is she so traumatized if she knows Rose has a way to bring them back? It just doesn’t add up.

Every single major threat was always linked to shattering. Anytime a character thought of a worst-case scenario, they said they’ll be shattered.

“But not everyone has command over all the armies on Homeworld waiting for the word to shatter me!”

“And now, here we are, our friends shattered and corrupted.”

“Shattering a gem would destroy them forever...”

“What happens if they find you? - We’ll be... shattered.”

“I knew those Homeworld elites were twisted. How many of us did they shatter?”

“And if a gem is shattered they’ll cease to be.” - Classroom Gems

“She was shattered by rose quartz. The entire cut of gem deserves the same fate. They should be wiped out of existence not kept safe in bubbles.”

Now I know some people are going to argue that these threats are still valid. You need all the pieces to restore a shattered gem and you need tears of utter grief and despair. Something that can only be accomplished by a personal death. Steven’s tears don’t work like his spit. He can’t just cry and fix things instantly. He has to be completely broken and distraught first, just like with Lars. Therefore, the shattered gems from the war could not be saved. Okay fair, but that brings me to my second problem.

STEVEN KILLED SOMEBODY!

This isn’t like with Lars where it was an accidental death. He flat out killed Jasper. She was pinned, he saw she couldn’t fight back, and he attacked without a second thought. That’s manslaughter at its best and murder at its worst. Whether or not he thought she could get hurt, even if he was absolutely guilt-ridden and devastated afterward, he still killed a person. Of course, he feels bad! He’s a human being. Making him have no remorse would just make him a straight-up psychopath. What Steven did is an awful, awful thing and it should not be excused.

I truly wish they did not resort to him directly killing her. It would have been just as powerful and detrimental to his self-esteem if he shattered her because of fear, self-defense, or even if he created a catalyst of events that ended up doing it. But him committing such a heinous act out of pure rage (even if he was goaded into it) makes him too antagonistic.

By having him resurrect Jasper, it shows that actions like this can be fixed with no consequences. And that is just not true. Even if you don’t kill them, even if you only severely hurt someone, the damage is done, that relationship is over, and the weight it has on your conscience is gut-wrenching. Steven feels terrible, brings her back, and now he doesn’t have to deal with the lasting repercussions. He can just chalk it up to the fact “But I made everything better so it’s no big deal” and that’s clearly shown in the new promo.

“I help people. I DoN’t HuRt ThEm.”

He denies ever even doing it. Whether or not, Steven bringing back a shattered gem makes sense in canon, it is a total misdirect writing-wise. You can’t have your main character kill someone on-screen and then act like nothing ever happened. You just can’t.

I’m afraid that at this one moment, I can no longer side with Steven. I still love him and desperately hope he gets help. But it is going to take a lot of effort to make me sympathize with his character after this.

Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions. I am very interested to see how others perceive this scene.

[archaic-medico]

Snapped: Part 1 - Corruption

The faint sounds of waves crashing on the beach could be heard as the sound of singing and a guitar filled the air. Nearby was a blue and white checker board blanket covered with flowers, a picnic basket, juice boxes, jam jars and a cake box. On a nearby rock, Steven was nearing the end of his song as Connie watched on with joy as this is one of the loveliest things Steven had done for her, and considering all the college prep work she had been doing lately, they haven’t been spending much time together.

“I'd rather be me, with you...,” Steven sang as he sat his guitar down and jumped down from the rock.

“Steven, that song was amaz. Uh, what are you doing,” Connie asked, as Steven dropped to one knee.

“Connie, will you marry me,” Steven asked, pulling a glow stick bracelet, the thing that brought them together in the first place, out of a pocket from inside his jacket.

“What,” was all Connie could say as she was totally caught off guard by Steven’s proposal.

“I know you might think that I'm being romantic, but this makes perfect sense! For example, I don't know what you've been studying or doing, but Stevonnie would! We can go to college together and live the rest of our live together, like Garnet,” Steven rambled as his right eye started twitching a little because of how nervous he was.

“Steven, look, I really like being Stevonnie with you but I need to be my own person too. Just because Ruby and Sapphire have been doing it for thousands of years, doesn’t mean we should. Plus, we’re really young. This doesn’t change how I feel about you Steven, but it’s going to be a no,” Connie replied, hugging Steven tightly. Steven was sad that Connie had said no, he was assured by Ruby and Sapphire that this would work, but it didn’t and he didn’t know what to do. This was supposed to be a happy moment, but now it was a sad moment. His best friend had just rejected his feeling of love towards her. She could have said yes and they could have waited till they were older, but she flat out refused the offer. It wasn’t Steven’s fault tonight failed; it was Connie’s fault. This was supposed to be the most perfect night ever and she ruined it by rejecting him. The more he stood there thinking about it, the angrier he got. Steven then felt Connie release her hug as her alarm went off, signaling that her study break was over.

“Look, Steven, I need to get back to studying. I'll call you tomorrow at lunchtime and we can talk this over then,” Connie said, giving him a kiss on the cheek, before heading towards Lion. Steven there unfazed by the kiss as he could feel his anger continue to boil as Connie just walked away.

“NO,” Steven screamed, as he turned pink while stomping his foot on the sand, creating an energy wave that formed a small crater. In the process of doing this, he had destroyed the guitar and all of the picnic supplies. Connie fell over as the wave hit her, right as she was about to hop on Lion.

“WE’RE NOT GOING TO WAIT TILL TOMORROW. WE’RE GOING TO TALK ABOUT THIS RIGHT FUCKING NOW,” Steven shouted, as part of his head swelled and quickly deflated.

“Steven, what the hell is your,” Connie began to say as she got up and turned around, but quickly stopped as she saw Steven was swollen and glowing pink.

“Steven are you okay, your swelling and glowing pink,” Connie asked.

“THAT DOESN’T MATTER RIGHT NOW. WHAT MATTERS IS YOU THAT I OFFERED YOU MY HEART AND YOU REJECTED IT,” Steven shouted, clutching his head in agony as his body doubled in size then quickly returned to normal.

“Steven, please, can we talk about the marriage thing another time, I really think we need to get you to a hospital,” Connie pleaded again in hopes that Steven would go checked out.

“NO, NOW QUIT TRYING TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT,” Steven screamed as his right arm swelled as he punched the ground just inches from where Connie was standing. Steven started glowing brighter the angrier he got as the size of his body started changing at a more rapid pace. His eyes started turning pink with diamond pupils and back to normal in rapid succession. He was now starting to see butterflies surround him in masses. About that time Garnet came running around the corner.

“Oh no, I’m too late,” Garnet said with a shocked look on her face as she approached Connie and Steven.

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN YOU’RE TOO LATE,” Steven shouted snapping around to face Garnet, glowing even brighter.

“I saw that this would happen. I saw that Ruby and Sapphire would encourage you to propose to Connie in every possible future, but also in 90% of the futures that I saw, Connie would reject your proposal,” Garnet explained as she walked towards Steven.

“YOU KNEW THAT SHE WOULD FUCKING REJECT ME AND YOU DIDN’T TRY TO STOP ME. THEN YOU’RE JUST AS GUILTY IN MY PAIN AND ANGER AS CONNIE FUCKING IS,” Steven screamed, the changes to his body size started picking up pace again.

“Steven you need to calm down and control your anger. Even if I had tried to stop you, there wasn’t a future where you didn’t propose to Connie, I’m sorry but this was inevitable,” Garnet said as she got closer.

Steven dropped to his knees while clutching his head as the pain grew stronger and he started glowing even brighter. He looking straight ahead when his vision began to fill with nothing but butterflies flying around him. He then felt something snap in his brain as he started laughing as the butterflies began flying faster and faster. Connie and Garnet start to slowly approached him, as his laugh grew more sinister. He then looks up towards the sky, laughing like a mad man, when suddenly the butterflies stopped and flew towards Steven, covering his whole body. Steven then let out a massive scream causing a strong wave of energy and sand to shoot out, knocking Connie and Garnet down and sent Lion flying towards the Ocean.

When the dust had settled, Connie and Garnet looked in horror as Steven’s form had changed. He was now standing up again and he was the same height as Garnet but with a body build that looked like Jasper’s. There was pink colored electricity sparking in the air around him. His hair was now longer and shaggier looking and his eyes were now pink with diamonds for pupils. His gem was no longer in the position of Rose Quartz as it had rotated back to that of Pink Diamond’s location. His clothes had changed as well, he was now wearing an outfit like Pink’s diamond outfit but more masculine. He now had on knee high black boots, pants that were a red violet color with hot pink diamond knee pads, with a chest piece that was rose in color, shoulder pads that were black and a pink midsection piece with a diamond shape cut out around his gem, and a red colored cape that was draped behind him to the his ankles that was wrapped around his neck.

“Stev..Steven,” Connie gasped, seeing the changes that had just happened. Steven didn’t even bother answering or looking at Connie as he looked up at the light house, raising a hand and firing a bubble, obliterating the light house. Connie and Garnet both watched in horror as a body fell within the rubble.

“Hahaha, this is wonderful. This power is amazing,” Steven said, as he laughed and created a hexagonal plate and fired it at a ship in the ocean causing it to explode on impact.

“STEVEN, STOP THIS RIGHT NOW,” Garnet shouted as she summoned her gauntlets. Steven quickly disappeared then reappeared right in front of Garnet, upper cutting her into the air. He then disappeared and reappeared above her, punching her back towards the ground, causing a crater to form on the beach. He slowly floated back down to the ground where Garnet was and grabbed ahold of both of her hands.

“You’re telling me to stop and yet you knew my marriage proposal was going to fail and didn’t try to prevent that at all. YOU COULD HAVE AT LEAST ATTEMPTED TO STOP ME FROM GOING THROUGH WITH IT, BUT INSTEAD YOU DIDN’T AND NOW YOU’RE GOING TO GET YOUR PUNISHMENT FOR NOT,” Steven screamed as he started squeezing Garnet’s hands tighter, sparks of pink energy snapping around them as he shattered her gauntlets.

“Steven, please don’t do this. You won’t be able to return from this,” Garnet pleaded as her form started to glitch out as Steven squeezed harder.

“You’re right, there is no coming back, I don’t want to come back from this, the old Steven is dead,” Steven said as he started to crack Ruby and Sapphire’s gem.

“Farewell Garnet,” Steven calmly said as he shattered Ruby’s gem. Connie screamed in horror as she heard the shattering and saw Garnet defuse to just Sapphire and as Connie backed away towards the Beach House, she saw and the same thing happen to Sapphire.

Steven laughed maniacally as he looked at the shattered remains of Ruby and Sapphire in his hands. Steven was in love with this new power and he wanted more, scratch that he needed more. He began to look for Connie, when he saw her running into the Beach House.

“AMETHYST, PEARL, HELP,” Connie cried out as she entered into the house.

“Connie, what’s wrong,” Amethyst and Pearl cried out as they exited their rooms in the temple, having heard the commotion going on out.

“Steven’s gone insane. His look has changed and he, he, he…” Connie started to cry as the vision of Ruby and Sapphire demise played in her head again.

“HE WHAT, CONNIE,” Amethyst and Pearl screamed.

“He sha…tterd Ruby and Sapphire,” Connie said bursting into tears.

“HE DID WHAT,” Amethyst and Pearl shouted as Steven appeared behind them from thin air, causing Amethyst, Connie, and Pearl to jump back.

“I sure did, I crushed their gems in to tiny pieces,” Steven said as Amethyst and Pearl looked at him in horror as he dropped the broken shards of Ruby and Sapphire on the floor.

“Steven, how, how could you,” Pearl asked in a state of disbelief.

“Like this,” Steven said as he reached out and quickly grabbed Amethyst by the gem before she could even react. Pearl ran towards Steven as she summoned her spear, only the be swatted away by Steven.

“Steven, please don’t this. Whatever is going on with you, let us help you with it,” Amethyst pleaded as she tried to free herself, as Steven lifted her above his head.

“You all had a chance to help me but you ignored it. Me trapping my friends in a dome and nearly crushing them, quitting Little Homeschool, and not wanting to talk after Cactus Steven destroyed the house all should have been red flags but you all never pushed me to open up. You, Pearl, Dad, Connie, The Diamonds and Spinel are all responsible for this,” Steven spat, squeezing harder causing Amethyst started to glitch out. Amethyst began to cry as the pain got worse and worse.

Pearl watched as Steven continued to squeeze Amethyst’s gem until it shattered and Amethyst vanished. Steven turned to Pearl dropping the shards of Amethyst’s gem with Ruby and Sapphire’s gem. Pearl attempted to take this moment while his guard was down to attempt an attack on Steven again, but before she could strike him, he raised his arm and trapped bubble her.

“Pearl, always so feisty, I like that about you. So, I’ll give you two options instead of me turning you into dust. Option number one is you return to being a servant Pearl willingly or option number two is I take you to The Reef and I can rejuvenate you, your choice. Oh, and the timer starts now,” Steven said as the bubble around Pearl started shrinking as Pearl began poking the bubble with her spear.

“Choose quickly Pearl, times running out,” Steven said after thirty seconds. Pearl was still trying to pop the bubble as it shrunk around her. Seeing that it was going to be impossible to know, she responded they why Steven hoped she would.

“I’d rather be rejuvenated then willingly serve someone despicable as you,” Pearl defiantly said as she flipped Steven off.

“Aww Pearl, that would have hurt my feeling if I still had any feelings left. But hey that means I get to rejuvenate you the fun way,” Steven said chuckling. The bubble started to glow bright, then there was a bright flash in the interior of the bubble, leaving only Pearl’s gem left in the bubble. Connie had been watching as Steven had shattered someone who had basically been his sister and poofed the closes thing he had to a mother. After poofing Pearl, Steven turned and walked over to Connie.

“I’ll be back to deal with you later,” Steven said, before disappearing into thin air.

[outofthisgxlaxy]

☯ + Steven dropping the bombshell on Bismuth about Rose/Pink's secret, UNCUT. (I just don't know which POV I wanna see it be done from; sorry.)

Send me ‘☯ + a scene from my characters canon’ and I will drabble it from my character’s POV.

“Why didn’t Rose STOP her?!”

That was the big question now, wasn’t it? It wasn’t even one Steven was surprised by anymore, given recent events. In fact, that was the whole reason he had released Bismuth from her bubble in the first place. That... and wanting her to be there for Ruby and Sapphire’s wedding, of course. The wedding could wait a little longer. He stepped closer, still holding Biggs’ bubble in his hands, and looked straight up at Bismuth. He wished there was an easier way to tell her all of this, but it needed to be said.

“Because,” Steven said. “They were the same person.” From there, Steven watched Bismuth’s expression shift from the anger that had been there to utter confusion.

“This is gonna take a while,” Steven said after Bismuth voiced her confusion aloud. So, he released Biggs’ bubble and watched it float upward to join the others before sitting on the floor in front of Bismuth. Then, he pat the stony floor in front of him. “Have a seat.”

“All right,” Bismuth said in response. Once she was seated, Steven studied her. It didn’t look like she was going to lash out now that she knew there was more to the story. That was good, he told himself. A small part of him had still worried that she’d not want to listen. Perhaps he only had felt that way for that moment because of how he had left things with her initially.

“I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true. Mom was Pink Diamond.” The words didn’t carry the same weight they had mere days ago. In truth, Steven was still trying to take in all of what he’d learned himself. He had to push aside his own thoughts on the matter, though. Mom had left another mess to clean up, and it was his job to make sure that the Gems understood everything. Bismuth was the last one.

“How in the stars is that possible?”

He expected that question, so a small laugh filled the air after Bismuth asked.

“Turns out,” Steven began, “it’s because of Pearl. Mom was cooped up in her moon base a lot and never got to see the quartzes emerge for herself on Earth. So Pearl may have... inadvertently suggested that mom disguise herself as a quartz to see everything.” A smile formed on Steven’s face, but it felt a bit strained. How long would he have to keep explaining things for his mother? Why couldn’t the both of them be there, he thought for what must have been the thousandth time. The thought didn’t linger for long.

“Seriously??” Bismuth soon was laughing. “Oh, stars! Why can I see that happening?” Soon, Steven was laughing too.

“It is pretty funny to imagine,” he agreed. “Anyway... mom and Pearl wound up seeing a lot of Earth together. The sights, the sounds, the humans... and mom realized that what they were doing, the colozing, was destroying life on Earth.” Steven started to brush his finger in little circles against the floor in front of him. He did understand how Pink could have come to that conclusion. He didn’t wait for Bismuth to ask further questions, though.

“She tried to get the other diamonds to listen to her, to stop the colonizing, but they wouldn’t listen. And that’s when she knew she had to start the rebellion. But things didn’t really set in for mom until she met Garnet.”

“What?” Bismuth asked. Steven looked up at her again. He understood why she’d be confused. From what Pearl had made it sound like, Bismuth hadn’t been a part of the Crystal Gems when Garnet first formed. She must have joined at a bit of a lter point. Sure she knew the story of how Ruby and Sapphire formed, but not what happened before his mom officially met Garnet.

“When Ruby and Sapphire accidentally formed Garnet, mom realized something. She realized that fusion between two Gems that weren’t anything alike could fuse! And Pearl realized it too, and so she tried to fuse with mom right then and there! And that’s what led to them getting to be even closer. They were gonna form Rainbow Quartz right after they talked about how Pearl had been imagining things, about how she’d been... imagining that mom wasn’t Pink, but Rose all the time. And then...”

Steven smiled. He knew the rest needed to be said, but he wanted to make it sound more tantalizing.

“They heard Garnet. That’s when they met her, and mom realized that before then? They’d only been fighting for Earth. But meeting Garnet made mom realize that she wanted to fight for this brand new fusion. So that’s when she recruited Garnet, and later she started recruiting everyone else. Everything was good,” Steven said. The happy times ended there, though. His expression grew a little more sombre, and again he looked away from Bismuth.

“But...?” Bismuth filled in the blank for him with her question, and Steven sighed.

“...It was after mom bubbled you.” Steven winced a bit. The Breaking Point incident was clear in his mind. “She really didn’t want to shatter Gems. You know that. I know that. But... they had to end the war. And the only way for her to leave her life as Pink Diamond behind for good was to fake her own shattering.” He didn’t fully understand the reasoning for his mom’s line of thought, but he did remember one thing clearly. In the memory inside Pearl’s pearl, Steven had heard Pink say that Blue and Yellow Diamond didn’t care. Whether that was them not caring about Pink, or the colony, or what, Steven didn’t know. But he’d figure it out one way or another. Besides, there was one thing he needed to do. He looked back to Bismuth. She looked shocked.

When she didn’t say anything else, Steven knew he had to continue. So, he sucked in a breath of air and resumed.

“She thought it was the only way for them to end the war, and for her and Pearl to be together safely. She had no idea it was gonna lead to... this.” Steven gestured upward at the bubbled Gems, and he saw Bismuth wince when he looked back at her. It seemed like not even she could have imagined that happening. Of course she couldn’t. No one had known the reasoning behind the corrupted Gems before then. If Steven had to guess, it had to do with Pink’s ‘shattering.’

“How did she...?”

“With your sword,” Steven answered. “Mom made it look convincing with some fake shards, and Pearl shapeshifted into mom’s Rose Quartz form to make it look more real. Mom couldn’t... exactly shatter herself.” He felt his stomach knot a bit, but pushed through it. The story was more or less done now. Now Bismuth had her answer for why his mom couldn’t stop Pink Diamond from corrupting Gems. She had her answer for why his mother had been so adamant about not using the Breaking Point, too.

“And... that’s the whole story.”

[batskulldrag]

Phoenix by Fallout Boy

Chapter Ten: Ready Aim Fire by Imagine Dragons

once more I will state that I have no OC’. s everyone is either a youtuber or a character from 2017′s dream daddy. I will ask that you check out Jenna Marbles’ video ‘making corn on the cob but instead of the corn bone it’s a hotdog’ it’s not nessarry, but it is funny.

Patton squeezed Logan’s hand as he looked around the room. It was nice, it looked like every kid’s dream room. But the idea of being evaluated was crushing the air out of his lungs. Granted, E. S. had suggested a psych evaluation for them to boost their chances in court, and he did want some parenting advice. So, there they were in Picani’s office, waiting.

He stole a glance at Logan. His husband’s once stoic expression now a thin veil to mask resentment. Patton could almost see every memory of every doctor he was dragged to so his parents could cure him. Logan squeezed the arm rest until his knuckles were white and the bones threatened to pop out.

“It’s ok.” Patton rubbed his shoulder gently. “This time is going to be different. No one wants to cure you. We’re just gonna talk to him. There’s nothing wrong with you. Remember that.”

Logan silently slid his arm around Patton and held him close. Patton rested his head on Logan’s shoulder and listened to his heartbeat. It was slowing down and his own heart started mimicking the calmer rhythm.

The door opened and a cheerful man with curly blond hair and a tan cardigan danced in vocalizing the Loony Toon’s theme song. Ok, so Picani was definitely not a stuffed shirt. This would be nice.

“So, you’re Patton and Logan.” Emile smiled. “We met a few times before.”

“Virgil’s doing a lot better.” Patton chirped. “They’re taking the bandages off soon.”

“That’s good. Has he adjusted any since last week?”

“A little. He’s not as skittish.” Patton smiled. “I’ve been taking him to work with me since I had to go back to the library.”

“That should be a good way to keep his mind off things.” Emile pondered. “Maybe they’ll let him volunteer there. It’s good to keep busy.”

“Today, he read to the kids.” Logan added. “I think some interaction with people closer to his peer group is doing him good.”

“That is awesome news.” Emile smiled and put his hands together. “But now I think it’s time to talk about you two. ‘Sup?’”

“Our lawyer said that it would help us if we had psychological evaluations.” Logan responded. “We all suspect that Payton might try to use certain things against us.”

“Such as…” Emile led.

“For starters I have Asperger’s syndrome. One might argue that it would make me unfit to raise a child.”

“The usual ‘they can’t feel empathy’ song and dance?”

“No, there hasn’t been any singing.”

“It’s a metaphor sweetie.” Patton rubbed his hand.

“Oh.” Logan looked away. “Right.”

“So, where on the spectrum are you?” Emile asked. “You seem really high functioning.”

“I am high functioning. Mainly, I can’t read emotions, I don’t understand metaphors or sarcasm, flashing lights give me migraines, I have a noise sensitivity and I get intensely nervous around people. And I don’t like most sweet foods. They hurt my mouth.”

“How about routines?” Emile continued.

“I have routines, but I don’t impose them on other people. I like to stick to a schedule; to do things in a certain order. But I don’t have an episode if the schedule is disrupted.”

“What normally triggers one?”

“Usually things build up. My most recent episode was a two weeks ago when Roman and I were trying to build a futon without instructions.”

“Why without instructions?”

“They were lost long ago. It was maddening.”

“That.” Emile pointed at them. “Would drive anyone crazy. So, I don’t really see any reason why you can’t adopt Virgil with Patton. Asperger’s isn’t exactly the life ruining hinderance that everyone thinks it is.”

Patton nuzzled up to Logan.

“See. It’s fine.”

Emile smiled at them.

“It’s nice to see a happy couple in here.” He sighed. “I do a lot of couple’s therapy.”

“Logan and I are happy.” Patton confirmed. “We’re almost to out ten-year anniversary.”

“That’s quite the milestone. How’d you two meet?” he leaned forward.

“I had to go to him for tutoring, and we just clicked. Logan proposed while we were in college and we’ve been inseparable ever since.”

“We were more or less inseparable before that.” Logan interjected. “I just decided to make it official.”

“You’re a Garnet.” Emile clasped his hands to his heart.

“Like from Steven Universe?” Patton asked excitedly.

“Exactly, you two have found your balance and have a solid relationship.”

“That is fair.” Logan looked up. “Most of our arguments did consist of the fact that I can be stoic, and Patton can be over passionate. Exactly like Ruby and Sapphire.”

“That is awesome.” Emile smiled. “And having a stable marriage is usually important if you want to adopt.”

Patton squeezed Logan’s hand and beamed up at him from his shoulder. Logan returned a smile.

“So, what other things are on your minds?” Emile pointed his folded hands at them. “We’re in the judgement free zone here.”

“Well,” Patton rubbed his arm and looked at Logan. “I was on antidepressants for a while after my mom died. And I kind of still am on the medication. I was really out of it.”

“How old were you when she passed away?”

“I had to be about nineteen or twenty.”

“What happened to her?” He asked gently.

“She had ALS.” Patton looked at the floor to hide his tears, why was he still crying after all these years? “She lasted eight months.”

Eight months? That was it? He could have sworn that it was longer.

“I’m so sorry to hear that.” He handed them a box of tissues.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know I still did this.” Patton dabbed his eyes. “It’s been twelve years.”

“If they put you on antidepressants that means that it must have hit you pretty hard. Watching family die, especially from something that awful can really take its toll. There’s nothing wrong with how you feel, or how long you feel it. And moms are important, losing one is a blow no matter how old they are.”

“It hit me really hard.” Patton pressed himself into Logan, who started petting his hair. “I was sleepwalking, one night I woke up in the parking lot of the hospital because I thought I was taking mom to the doctor. I used to do the dishes in my sleep.”

“Was it just you, taking care of her?” Emile squinted. “What about your brother?”

“Payton was in college too. He didn’t want anything to do with it.” Logan answered, still petting Patton.

“I told you I get why he didn’t want to be there.”

“Don’t make excuses for him, you know that’s not why he avoided the house.”

“Hey, don’t unfuse over this.” Emile offered hesitantly.

“Logan and Roman helped a lot during all that. With Mom and Virgil.”

“Virgil was with you?”

“He was just a baby. Mom was diagnosed a few months before his first birthday.”

“And Payton left him with you? Just like that? Just like Pink leaving Spinel in the garden?”

“If Payton was a good father, we wouldn’t be here.” Patton pulled out another tissue. “I don’t wanna talk about my brother.”

“Alright, we’ll just zap those thoughts with the memory eraser.” Emile pretended to zap himself with a ray gun. “Go on with your story.”

“Well, I still walked in my sleep even after mom died. And I lost my appetite and I lost interest in my job and all my classes. It was like I was dead. I went numb.”

“Do you know why?”

“I…” Patton clenched his fists against his knees. “I was relieved when she died, and I couldn’t handle feeling like that. Am I a terrible person?”

“That’s a normal reaction.” Emile said plainly. He said it as if it were a fact that he just knew. Like there was no doubt about its validity.

“What?” Patton looked up at him reeling from the whiplash that comment gave him.

“Your mother, someone you loved died in front of you. And you already said that it took a long time. Anyone would be relieved for that to be over. Like when they bubbled the cluster, they were relieved that the shards weren’t suffering anymore. And that’s normal. That, and the stress it was putting on you was over, and I know you think that sounds awful but it’s natural to be relieved. It doesn’t make you a bad person.”

“No?”

“No.”

Patton nestled closer to Logan. Logan hid it well, but Patton knew that he had just been vindicated and was thrilled. Patton accepted defeat contentedly and with guilt free relief.

“Logan was there the whole time.” Patton sighed. “All through it. He even got me to go to therapy.”

“Was Logan living with you at the time?” Emile asked. “There’s nothing wrong with that, Ruby and Sapphire were fused for a few thousand years before they got married. I was just wondering if he moved in to help with your mom.”

“My parents threw me out of the house after they found out I was gay.” Logan said blankly, but he was squeezing the couch arm again. His bones turned back up to say hello. “After they.” He sighed. “After they beat me severely.”

“Oh.” Emile said sadly. “I’m so sorry. Were they always like that?”

“The statistics of autistic children who are abused by their parents would break you.” Logan looked up at the ceiling.

“Yes then?”

“Yes.”

“Did you ever get help after you left your parents?”

“Yes, I’ve worked through my issues with them. And I don’t plan on letting them back into my life any time soon.”

“That’s fair.” Emile nodded. “They sound like a toxic influence.”

“I will consider forgiving them if they apologize.” Logan still looked at the ceiling. “And on no other conditions do I hold them any loyalty.”

“Well, last thing you need is your own abusive parents showing up when you’re trying to adopt.” Emile agreed. “And you shouldn’t forgive people who are going to continue to be a bad influence on your life.”

“I thought there was going to be more, I don’t know,” Logan looked back down. “More appeals for us to change our ways. Some form of judgement or a quote unquote cure.”

“Nah, you guys are good.” Emile smiled. “You can keep up therapy if you just wanna talk, but I don’t really have anything new to tell you.”

“This is it?” Logan gestured vaguely at the room.

“You’ve been on that couch before, haven’t you?”

“My parents wanted a cure. I’ve seen psychologists, psychiatrists, doctors, holistic physicians, herb peddlers, and a neurosurgeon.”

“Wow,” Emile nodded. “That is one expensive wild goose chase. How do you feel about your Asperger’s now?”

“It’s a part of who I am. It took me a long time to realize it wasn’t a horrible disease. And my parents dragging me to a new doctor every week didn’t help. They didn’t help.”

Patton put his arms around him and just hung there silently.

“Is any of this going to keep us from getting custody of Virgil?” Logan sighed.

“Well, your parents being abusive could bring up a ‘cycle of abuse’ argument, but I don’t think it’ll go anywhere. Aside from that, Asperger’s and situational depression shouldn’t stop you. Neither of you are violent or incapable of taking care of yourselves or a child. And you’ve already done a great job with Virgil so far. You’re made of love, and it’s stronger than him.”

“I wanna introduce you to our roommate sometime.” Patton said happily. “I think you’d be friends.”  

#             #             #

               The day of the barbeque rolled around and Patton, Logan and Roman were eagerly getting ready.

               “Let’s see him one-up this.” Roman said sternly, holding up a watermelon sculpture.

               The rind had been picked clean and gently sculpted into a frog with melon balls filling up his body and coming out of his mouth. Impressive was an understatement.

               “Right.” Logan sighed. “Remember what I said about competing with Brian. Leave Virgil out of it. He’s had enough pressure in his life as it is.”

               “I would never do anything to hurt our emo nightmare.” Roman was dead serious. “From now on Brian has to step to me. And anyone who wants our emo has to step to me as well.”

               “And me.” Patton clenched his fist.

               “We’re doing Lord of The Rings now?” Logan was not amused. “And me.”

               With that said a loud thud came from upstairs. All three of them had the same thought and ran upstairs. Reaching the door first, Logan knocked. But Patton had different ideas and burst into the room like a firefighter. Virgil was pulling himself off the floor with his jeans tangled up around his ankles and his cast shoved through one of the holes in the knee. The shock of Patton and Co’s sudden arrival knocked him back down.

               “Can I help you?” Virgil asked flatly, pulling his t-shirt down over his boxers.

               “Sorry,” Patton backed out of the room quickly. “We heard you fall and wanted to make sure you were ok.”

               “I’m ok. My stupid cast got stuck is all.”

               “Do you need help?”

               “Nope, I’m good.”

               “Ok, we’re ready as soon as you are.”

               “Cool, just let me get my pants on.”

               “Ok.” Patton closed the door and turned to the other two. “Am I a helicopter parent?”

               “No, I don’t think so.” Logan squinted as he thought. “Just be sure of boundaries. Don’t make a habit of bursting into his room. That is his space, and we want him to know we won’t violate it.”

               “And I want you to know that it isn’t soundproof.” Virgil opened the door and walked out, smiling at his own joke.

                                                                               #             #             #  

               Patton had his arm around Virgil the entire walk over. Admittedly, Virgil was happy both for the attention and the extra help walking. He wasn’t quite used to this walking cast, and he was still upset that he couldn’t keep the painted one. Sure, it smelled like an old band aid that crawled out of a sewer full of dead possums, but it was still cool on the outside. Maybe they could paint this one.

               Patton led him over to the food table and gingerly set down a tray of peanut blossoms. He pulled two off the plate with a flourish, handed one to Virgil and kept the other.

               “Clinkies.” He beamed, holding his cookie to Virgil’s.

               “Clinkies.” Virgil agreed, tapping the cookies together and shoving his entire cookie in his mouth.

               Roman set his melon frog down on the table and whispered to it.

               “Ok melon frog, this is what you trained for. This is your time. You don’t be scared. I trained you better than that. I love you, melon frog.”

               “You two need a moment alone?” Virgil smiled.

               “No.” Roman turned quickly, holding his forearm to his forehead. “it’s better this way. Long goodbyes would only make me weep.”

               “Dude, extra is a word they made up just so they could describe you.”

               “It is.” Roman ruffled his hair. Were they all just going to do that from now on?

               “Jenna!” Patton yipped, holding out his arms.

               A short woman with blond hair that showed dark brown at the roots ran over and hugged him. Two Italian grey hounds were at her heels keeping up surprisingly well. Virgil lost all interest in people and sat down to play with the dogs. They immediately started licking him and climbing him for food.

               “Where were you, beech?” Jenna asked. “I haven’t seen you in forever.”

               “Family stuff.” Patton smiled and tiled his head towards Virgil. He turned his attention. “Virgil, this is our friend Jenna.”

               “Hi, I love your dogs.” Virgil chirped, strangely comforted by the mini dogs who were stomping the hell out of his every lower extremity.

               In response the grey dog started whining as if he were being tortured.

               “I didn’t do anything!” Virgil panicked.

               “Kermit, shut up.” Jenna scolded her dog, “He just does that.” She dismissed.

               Patton looked around with a look of concerned horror.

               “No Marble?” He said fearfully.

               “What? Beech am I mourning?” Jenna pointed to herself. “No, Marble is inside. He didn’t want to come out and mingle.”

               “What’s this one’s name?” Virgil asked, giving the tan doggo vigorous scratches as she wagged her tail at a mile a minute.

               “That one’s Peach-y girl.” Jenna baby talked at the dog, who somehow wagged her tail faster.

               Peach bolted off his lap, ran in a wide, happy circle and trampled back onto him.

               “So, how do you like the neighborhood so far?” Jenna asked.

               “It’s nice.” Virgil moved his head to keep Peach from licking the inside of his mouth. “I haven’t met too many people though.”

               “Well.” She gestured at the crowded yard. “That’s gonna change.”

               Jenna darted off to greet more guests and the dogs followed her. Darn. Virgil looked around tensely. There were a lot of people. Did they know? Were they going to bring it up? Were they going to ask? Were they going to take sides? Whose side would they be on?

               Slowly it became reality that he couldn’t just sit here until someone needed a prop and then just go back to his seat. What was he supposed to do? How did people act at things like this? He’d never been to anything so casual. Was he supposed to play with the other kids? Talk to the adults? Eat? Was he supposed to eat? Was it time to eat? Where were the dogs? Where was Patton? Where was he?

               “Ok kiddo,” Patton, it was really Patton, he was back. “Jenna and Julian are vegans, so there’s a lot of vegetables. But they’re good. Both of them are awesome cooks.”

               Patton set a paper plate full of food on his lap and sat down next to him.

               “She didn’t say she was a vegan while I was talking to her.” Virgil looked for Jenna in the crowd.

               “They’re not preachy about it.”

               “Cool.”

               “And plenty of other people brought meat.”

               Virgil took a bite of what he thought was pulled pork and spit it out immediately.

               “Is this?” He rubbed the seasoning off and saw that it was yellow. “This is a banana peel!”

               “What?” Patton took a taste and grimaced. “That is! Barbra must have brought it.”

               “Is she a raccoon?”

               “Wait here.” Patton stood up and walked over to the ‘pulled pork’ dish.

               He looked around and quickly set the dish on the grass. He made a few beckoning gestures and a mastiff ran at him and started inhaling the banana abomination. He pet the bear sized creature contentedly and strolled back to their spot.

               Having run out of food, Bear Dog lumbered over to them. Virgil tried to react in time but before he could, Bear Dog had his entire plate in its mouth. Plate and all, it ate everything.

               “Countess, no.” Patton ordered. “That wasn’t for you!”

               Countess smacked her lips and started licking Virgil’s face. He silently accepted that he would die by dog smothering and decided that was indeed how he wanted to go.

               “No.” Logan showed up out of nowhere and tried to nervously shoo the dog away. “No, shoo. Get away from him.”

               “I’m ok Uncle Logan.” Virgil wrapped his arms around the dog’s neck.

               Logan stared anxiously. His every muscle was tensed at the dog’s presence.

               So, Uncle Logan is afraid of dogs. I wonder why.

               “OK friend.” Virgil ruffled the dog’s fur. “Go play with someone else! Go play!”

               Countess zoomed away, no doubt measuring on the Richter scale. She would cause tidal waves in her wake. Tidal waves of drool.

               “I’ll get you a new plate.” Patton pushed himself off the ground. He paused and suddenly lit up. “Dodie!” He waved happily in someone’s direction. “Come meet the baby!”

               “Does he mean me?” Virgil looked to Logan for help.

               “I believe you’re about to experience an equivalent to women passing a newborn around for everyone to hold.” Logan raised an eyebrow. “Patton is very excited.”

               Patton scampered over with the tiniest morsel of a woman. This girl, who Virgil assumed was an adult had long brown hair and a young face. She could probably fit in a backpack.

               “This is Virgil.” Patton gestured eagerly. “Virgil, this is our friend, Dodie.”

               “Hello.” She chirped with an equally tiny voice nestled in an English accent.

               “Hi.” Virgil looked between the three adults.

               “I trust you’re adjusting to all the Patton hugs?” Dodie smiled. “It’s sometimes hard if you don’t like cuddles.”

               “I’m getting used to it.” Virgil smiled back. There was no way she’d hurt him, right?

               “Who doesn’t like cuddles?” Patton asked in surprise. “Cuddles are the best!”

               Dodie and Logan both laughed.

               “Virgil, they’re laughing at me.” Patton protested. “They’re making fun of my Patton-ted hugs.”

               “Did you just make a pun with your name?” Logan sighed.

               “Yeppers. You deserve a Patton the back for guessing that one.”

               “This is what my life has become.” Logan rubbed his temples.

               “Your name is a pun, Logan.” Patton put a hand on his shoulder.

               “Falsehood.” Logan snapped quickly.

               “It’s true honey, your name is Logan Berry. Like loganberries.”

               “I may scream.”

               “But can’t.” Patton added. “Your volume is too low-gun.”

               “You’re dead to me.”

               “I love you.” Patton wrapped his arms around him.

               Logan sighed and grabbed one of Patton’s hands.

               “Why are you like this?” Logan looked back at him.

               “God owed me a favor.” Patton pressed his cheek to Logan’s.

               Virgil couldn’t help but laugh at that. The sheer amount of confidence in that phrase was a power move for the ages. No one could top that.

               “You call yourself a catholic.” Logan said harshly.

               “No, I call myself Patton.”  

               “That one’s on me.”

               “Uncle Patton never said he was catholic.” Virgil looked up at them.

               Could this be it? The explanation. Could a stern religious upbringing have warped his father into a cruel person? And could that same life have also turned Patton into a soft puppy dog of a person?

               “Yeah, we were raised catholic.” Patton shrugged. “But mom was never too strict with it. She even ended up getting divorced, so, I guess we weren’t that religious. We didn’t even eat fish that often.”

               Virgil deflated. The explanation that he wanted, that he needed. The explanation that he deserved! Once again, it had slipped through his fingers. He saw red for a second. What made a monster? What made his father? Had a loving, supportive home really churned out that bastard? What the hell happened? It didn’t fit!

               He looked up at his uncles. Logan had come from the sort of home that Payton described to his voters, and he was a stand-up guy. Happily married despite his homophobic parents and willing to pull some strange kid off the streets and let him live in his house. And all in all, Logan would be a great dad. Were Logan and Payton just products of their environments in a different way? Did each of them just choose to defy their own upbringing? What made Payton decide to turn the other way? Hell, for that matter what made Logan?

               “Virgil, we can get you a chair if you don’t want to sit on the grass.” Logan shattered his concentration.

               “I’m good.” Virgil answered once the shock wore off.

               This! This is exactly what I am talking about!

               “Here you go.” Patton put another paper plate in his hands and kissed him on the forehead. “And this is for you, not the puppers.”

               “I tried to keep it away from her.” Virgil took the plate. “She was just too fast.”

               “I know.” Patton ruffled his hair. “Once you’ve eaten why don’t you go introduce yourself to the other kiddos? Maybe you can make some friends.”

               “Sure.” Virgil shoved an entire brownie in his mouth. For some ungodly reason it was spicy.

               Now beginning to think that no one in this cul-de-sac could cook, and not wanting to look rude Virgil swallowed the brownie. His eyes watered and his mouth tasted like a used napkin from an Italian restaurant. He ran his tongue across his teeth and found what was left of dried leaves stuck to his gums. He spat them out on the grass.

               Virgil glanced up at Patton, who also had a brownie. Maybe it was just him, maybe he just didn’t like sweets. He observed Patton intensely. Patton took a bite out of his pastry and a look of confused disappointment swept over his face. He reluctantly swallowed and set the remaining brownie on the grass.

               “I think someone put oregano in those.” Patton coughed.

               “Barbra again?” Logan questioned.

               “No, she doesn’t use sugar.” Patton rubbed his chin. “Let’s search out the culprit.”

               “Sure, why not?” Logan shrugged.

               “Ok, Virgil, if you need us, we’ll be nearby.” Patton patted him on the head.

               “I didn’t think you were gonna abandon me.”

               “Ok, just yell for us or Roman if you need us.”

               “Cool.” Virgil chanced a corncob. Surely plain vegetables couldn’t surprise him.

There was a hotdog in it.

               As soon as his uncles were out of sight Virgil set his plate on the ground. The dogs could have it. Desperately confused, he lay down on his side and thought. The pork was a banana peel, the brownies were made with oregano and the corn, which he couldn’t for the life of him figure out how, had a hotdog in the center instead of a corn cob.

               “If this is weird, I swear to god…” Virgil picked up one of Roman’s watermelon balls.

               Sweet rapture, it was just watermelon. He all but wept tears of relief. And had his foot not been in a cast he would have danced.

               “So,” A disinterested voice interrupted him. “You’re the new kid.”

               Virgil looked up and saw the single coolest person in the known universe. There before him was a man of about thirteen clad in baggy jeans that were held up by one belt and adorned with two more. A chain hung from one belt that trailed down into his pocket. He wore a legion of black rubber and leather bracelets that accented his MSI t-shirt. His judgmental look was emphasized by two eyebrow piercings and three small hoop earrings in his ear cartilage. He tilted his head to show off the half-shaved half long look his dyed grey hair had been styled in. It was notably uneven, he must have done it himself. What a legend.

               “Maybe.” Virgil tried to play it cool as he wiped watermelon juice off his chin. “I’m new here, but in other places I’ve live many lifetimes.”

               “Cool.” The legend accepted him. This was a glorious day. “My dad wanted me to introduce myself to you.”

               Man, doesn’t that just figure? I should’ve known that this icon wouldn’t just talk to me for the hell of it.

               “Cool, I’m Virgil.” He tried to sound like he wasn’t drooling over this guy’s look. “I’m named after hell’s tour guide.”

               “I’m Lucian.” He bested him with a way cooler name. “So, you’re living with Patton and Logan?”

               Wait, I can just call adults by their first names?

               “Yeah, they’re cool.”

               I think.

               Lucian scoffed. Evidently Patton and Logan weren’t cool. Virgil looked around a single idea was creeping up on him. And that was the idea that this dude may be here to torture him. He looked around for Patton, maybe he was within earshot. But if he yelled for Patton he’d be ‘that kid’ and so far, that was one of the few things he hadn’t been yet.

               No, mostly he was just that idiot who still wet the bed, and wasn’t that so fucking funny? He had also had a few panic attacks, one on stage. There weren’t many people in his corner.

               “Anyway…” Virgil said awkwardly, still trying to gauge if this guy wanted to attack him or not. “Are there any other cool guys here or is it just you?”

               “I’m pretty much the only cool guy in the neighborhood. And, like the only other dude.”

               At that Virgil looked around the yard. Lucian was right, most of the people had daughters. From the looks of things, they were they only guys there. Another observation was that a lot of the parents seemed to be single. That or they were all in gay relationships like his uncles were. Was this a gay community? A gay-borhood?

               “Wanna see my scars?” Virgil offered blankly.

               “Sure.” Lucian seemed taken aback.

               Virgil’s hands weren’t in as bad shape as before. But they were still messed up. The skin had stiffened up, making it difficult to open and close his hands still. And his palms currently looked like melted plastic with massive blisters jutting up out of them. He had band aids on both thumbs and his left index finger to cover up the missing nails. And finally, there was a very faint ribbing pattern in the center of his palms. Left over from the desk lamp he had tried to bust his window with.

               Lucian stared at his hands with a dismayed look of revolution and terror.

               “Geeze dude.” He gagged. “How long were you trapped in there?”

               “I don’t know. I left my stopwatch behind.” Virgil shrugged.

               Lucian gave a respectful scoff at the joke.

               “So, do a lot of people know about the…” Virgil struggled to do air quotes. “Fire?”

               “Yeah, my dad told me. Then he told me not to bring it up. I mean, like, why tell me if I have to act like I don’t know?”

               Virgil chewed on one of his bandages, he was debating running away from this conversation. The god of coolness knew that he used to be his dad’s punching bag and that wasn’t exactly ideal. He’d prefer for that not to have happened. Fight or flight was kicking in, but he couldn’t exactly fight a topic.

               “Whatever.” He tried to play it off. “So, do you go to school nearby?”

               “Yeah.”

               Ok, let’s try something that will get me a better answer.

               “Did you eat any of the food yet?”

               “No.”

               “Ok, because it’s all not what it’s supposed to be.”

               “What’s that supposed to mean?” Lucian squinted.

               “It means I ate corn of the cob and found a hotdog in it.” Virgil held up the offending vegetable as proof. “Exhibit A.”

               “What the fuck?” Lucian snatched it away and looked at it closely. “What the hell? There’s a hot dog in here! How? Why? The fuck?”

               “I know right? And there was pulled pork that turned out to be a banana peel, and someone made brownies with oregano in them.”

               “Geeze, these cookouts get weirder every time.” Lucian sneered.

               “Do you have a lot of these around here?”

               “Sure, Jenna and Julian love to do weird things like this. And Brain is always ready to show off. And my dad likes to throw dinner parties.” He made a face and did air quotes. “Like the Victorians.”

               “Well, I guess I have to socialize now.” Virgil sighed.

               Speaking of that particular hell, Roman emerged out of nowhere with a tall, dark woman in tow. Roman’s friend had waist length hair that flowed down her back like liquid ebony and walked with an air of confidence that almost rivaled him.

               “Hi Virgil.” Roman greeted happily. “I see you’ve met Lucian.”

               “I have.” Virgil nodded. In his past life this would be the point where he was forbidden to talk to this guy under whatever pretext.

               “That’s nice. We all figured you two would get along.” Roman beamed and gestured towards his guest. “This is our friend Lily.”

               “What’s up?” Lily asked excitedly.

               “Uhh… we were talking about food?” Virgil looked at the grass, intimidated by this massive presence.

               “You shouldn’t talk about the food behind its back like that.” Lily answered. “You have to insult it to its face.”

               Virgil looked at Roman for help. Roman just smiled at him. But Lily saw him and laughed.

               “I’m just teasing.” She waved a hand dismissively. “I’m just here to observe how deep Patton and Logan’s betrayal runs.”

               “What?” Virgil sunk into himself.

               “Now that they’re adopting, every single person and childless couple is gonna get twice the flack about…” She did a higher voice. “Settling down and starting a family.” She returned to her normal voice. “When ya girl wants to do that, she will. And it is none of your business. I’m a brown woman, so I already get nagged about that by my family. I don’t need my neighbors to start.”

               “Yes mam.” Virgil uttered in awestruck terror.

               “Anyway.” She ruffled his hair, like Patton had done hundreds of times already. “It was nice meeting you. I won’t cramp your style anymore.”

               With that she left, and Virgil was convinced he had just met the god of yore or some other deity.

               “She’s fun, isn’t she?” Roman smiled.

               “Yeah.”

               “Well, I came over to make sure Barbra doesn’t get a chance to talk to you.” He continued. “She probably wishes you were dead as well.”

               “I’ll keep Karen away from him.” Lucian said disinterestedly.

               “Good. Don’t even let her look over here.” Roman said backing away.

               Roman tripped over a sprinkler but recovered himself with surprising grace and walked away. As he left a new figure emerged. A dude roughly the same age as them wearing an orange hoodie with the hood up. The hood half concealed dark curly hair and cast a shadow on his sort of mustache that he was trying to grow. You know the kind, it’s like six hairs and they’re all different lengths.

               “My dad told me to introduce myself to you.” Hood man sneered at him.

               I wonder if anyone can talk to me without being told first. But I’m two for two in pity friends.

               “Cool.” Virgil said blankly. “I’m Virgil.”

               “I’m Ernest.” Hood man returned.

               Virgil tried to think of anything he would have in common with people his own age. And unless these two were chess club members, which they obviously weren’t because they weren’t losers, he was going to come up short. His dad was in prison and he was still screwing him over. He really was all powerful.

               “Did either of you eat any of the brownies?” Ernest asked in a hushed voice.

               “Yeah, there was oregano in them for some ungodly reason.” Virgil answered.

               “What?” Ernest looked confused. “They’re pot brownies, they’re not made with Italian spices.”  

               “I don’t feel high.” Virgil shrugged. “You sure you didn’t get ripped off?”

               “Lucian.” Ernest glared daggers at their third member. “What did you sell me?”

               “Oregano leaves.” Lucian scoffed. “And apparently that’s a good thing, because you were planning on drugging the entire neighborhood!”

               “You scammed me! I want my ten bucks back!”

               “No way! You paid me ten bucks to learn a valuable lesson.”

               Virgil pulled the draw strings on his hoodie and started chewing on them.

               “What lesson?!”

               “Not to be an idiot! What would have happened if one of the little kids ate your roofied crap?”

               “Weed is less unhealthy than chocolate!”

               “Not if you don’t know you’re getting high! What if someone gave River a brownie?! You would have drugged a baby!”

               “So, you just threw whole ass leaves in some brownie mix?” Virgil interrupted. “And what, hoped that no one would notice?”

               “What?” Lucian walked over to the table and came back with a brownie. “You idiot! You’re supposed to make it into butter first!”

               “How the hell was I supposed to know that!” Ernest threw his hands up. “I can’t just google how to make pot brownies!”

               Virgil limped over to the table and came back with a lemonade. He drank it contentedly as the scene unfolded.

               “What if someone ate one of them and went in the pool you jackass?!”

               “You can’t swim after eating! No one would have!”

               “Ok, but they were whole leaves.” Virgil said probably to himself. “Even if it was real drugs anyone would have just spat them out after one bite.”  

               “You can’t just drug people! You’re describing the thought process of a rapist!” Lucian crescendo-ed.

               “Ok. I’m calling my dog over, so your head explodes.” Ernest said sternly.

               “Careful not to drug her!”  

               Virgil left and came back with a plate of chips. The argument was going great. Clearly Lucian was winning, but Ernest whistled, and bear dog came bounding over. Bear dog gave Lucian a quick lick on the hand before he could react and then she went for Virgil’s chips.

               “This isn’t over you dick.” Lucian said before storming off.

               Ernest stood victorious. Bear dog ate Virgil’s entire plate, plate and all.

               “The brownie thing was stupid though.” Virgil commented, petting the massive dog. “Like, that was poorly planned at best.”

               “I know that now.” Ernest rolled his eyes. “But it’ll be a cold day in hell before I admit that to Lucian.”

               “I admire your resolve.”

               Virgil counted that event as a success. No one died, nothing caught on fire and no one got arrested. He even made a couple of friends. Granted they were pity friends, but he would take what he could get. And they made hamburgers towards the end that didn’t have any weird stuff in them. Great success.  

[starscheme]

With All My Heart

Chapter Twenty: Just a Nightmare

Steven was sitting on the floor, holding Spinel close to his chest as she lay in his arms in silence. He wasn’t sure what caused this, but he couldn’t help panicking. Why did it always seem the moment they were happy, something went wrong? And why was it always Spinel that had to suffer?

“Steven, that Sodalite Gem had the same eyes. They were all blacked out. She might be the one doing this.” Lars suggested. “You should try and find her. If you fix her Gem, maybe this will stop. I can stay and look after Spinel,” he offered, sure that Steven wouldn’t want to leave her alone.

Steven tightened his hold on Spinel gently, staring down at her dark eyes. Leaving her with Lars wasn’t going to hurt her, but he didn’t want to let her go. “…I…what if something happens while I’m gone? I don’t even know what’s happening to her.”

“Well we can’t fix it unless you heal that other Gem. I’m positive this is because of her,” replied Lars, kneeling down so they were at level with each other. “Here, we can lay her down on the couch.”

“NO!” Steven shouted as he hugged her close. He was scared. As if he left her, something terrible would happen and he wouldn’t be able to help her. “J-just give me a minute!”

Lars groaned quietly, unsure how to convince Steven to leave her and help the other Gem. Why weren’t Pearl or Amethyst home? He could really use their help right now. As he was trying to figure out what to do, he started to notice the room getting darker. Was this Sodalite’s doing too? “Steven, give me Spinel!” Lars demanded. If Sodalite was really closing in like this darkness was, it would be harder for Steven to handle her while Spinel was unconscious.

When Steven saw Lars reaching over to pull Spinel away from him, he found himself smacking his hands away before he could stop himself. He knew Lars was just trying to help them, but something inside of him was fogging over any rational thought. “Don’t touch her!” snapped Steven.

“Steven…your eye…” Lars began, staring in panicked concern at Stevens face. One of Steven’s eyes had been blacked out. Was that the reason he was getting so emotional? This alarmed Lars even further. Steven was supposed to be the rational one. Finally, Lars took a deep breath to calm himself down. If this thing was affecting Steven now, he’d have to handle this as best he could. He led the off colors through space; it appeared he’d have to take the lead once again.

Steven could feel his body getting heavy and weak, finding it difficult to hold onto Spinel. He looked up at Lars and began to panic when he saw his mother, Rose Quartz, standing next to his friend. “M-Mom?!” Steven exclaimed in shock.

His mother and Lars turned to face Steven at the same time. “What did you say?” asked Lars, though his voice sounded muffled and far away.

“You didn’t protect her,” his mother began irately. “Look what you did!”

Steven felt a terrible rush of fear as he glanced back down at Spinel slowly. Somehow, he body was gone and all he held in his hands now were the shattered pieces of her Gem. His heart stopped and for a moment he felt like he couldn’t breathe. “N…NO! This isn’t real!!” Steven shouted as he closed his eyes tight so he wouldn’t have to see the shards or his mother’s cold stare. “I know this isn’t real! You’re gone…and Spinel…she was just here…” He spoke aloud, doing his best to remind himself that he was just seeing things. He had to break from these delusions. If he was having visions, Spinel probably was too.

Lars was confused. Steven was yelling at someone that he clearly couldn’t see. Was it because of his eye? “Steven,” Lars began, kneeling down in front of him to place his hands at his shoulders in an attempt to focus his attention. “You need to focus,” he demanded, “Spinel needs your help! Remember, it’s okay to be afraid, you just have to keep going!”

As Lars called out to him, Steven could hear his voice getting clearer and clearer. He kept his eyes closed so he could focus on his own thoughts, rather than the visions that threatened him. Lars was right, Spinel needed his help. He couldn’t let himself give in to this fear. He told Spinel that they could get through anything together; he just had to think of the things that made him the happiest. Thinking of his friends, his family, his body was already starting to feel lighter. The last thing he remembered was Spinel’s smile. He had a lot of memories of her cheerful face and he couldn’t help but smile as he recalled her joyful expression. Though he felt much better, he still opened his eyes cautiously, worried he might still have those shards in his hands. When he finally opened his eyes however, he saw Lars staring back at him with a relieved smile.

“Your eye is back to normal!” Lars exclaimed happily.

Steven smiled back and looked down at Spinel, though her eyes were still dark, she was in his arms, safe and sound. He hugged her close, noting how the darkness in the room was slowly starting to creep away. Was their fear what brought those shadows here? “Spinel…” Steven began softly, placing his hand over her Gem tenderly. “…I know you can hear me. …I need you to wake up. You’re not in this alone. Remember, we won’t go through anything alone. I’m here.” While he spoke, Spinel’s gem and his own began to glow. In the blink of an eye, Steven was no longer in his home holding Spinel. Somehow, he was now in the Garden. Had he connected with Spinel’s Gem? Is this what she was seeing?

“Spinel,” Steven called out as he slowly scanned the area. At first it seemed like she was nowhere to be found, but then he heard the faint sound her sobs. He rushed towards her voice, finding her kneeling among some dead flowers as vines tangled her legs to the ground. “Spinel! I’m here!” Steven shouted, getting down onto the ground with her.

“Steven…?” Spinel started, slowly looking up at him with tears flooding her eyes. “…but you...”

“This is just a nightmare, Spinel,” replied Steven softly, reaching over and pulling her into a gentle embrace. “It’s not real. There will never be a time when I leave you alone…”

Spinel wanted to believe him. She didn’t like being alone here without him, but if this wasn’t real, was this another illusion? Was she being held in his arms only to be abandoned again after? It was then that she remembered what Steven told her before. If she was seeing something scary or she felt alone, she had to think of something that made her happy. That would be easy; there were so many things that made her happy. However, the thing she knew would work best was what always calmed her down. Closing her eyes, Spinel focused hard on the sweet sound of Steven’s heartbeat. The gentle thumping of his heart against her ear, it became all she could hear and the awful feelings of dread faded away.

With a small smile, Spinel opened her eyes, finding herself staring up at Steven as he held her in his arms. The garden was gone and they were back inside the house. “Where…?” she began sleepily, not quite sure what had happened. Did she fall asleep?

Steven and Lars sighed in relief. The darkness had vanished from the room and from Spinel’s eyes. Without answering her question, Steven leaned down and planted a soft kiss against her lips. “Welcome back,” he whispered with a smile.

Spinel blushed, glancing over at Lars who was sitting beside Steven. “Uh…Lars is right there…” she reminded Steven bashfully.

“What happened?” A distraught voice rang out, alarming the trio as they looked up to see Sodalite standing just a few feet away. She looked confused and upset. “It’s not fair. …Why aren’t you scared? Why am I the only one? I don’t want to feel this way all alone! You should all feel just as terrible!”

The three got to their feet and Spinel reached out her hand with a cautious smile. “…that’s the thing; you don’t have to be alone. We can help you…”

Sodalite stared at Spinel’s hand apprehensively, afraid that this was some sort of trick. She couldn’t feel as much fear or anxiety from these Gems, that didn’t mean she trusted them. Those feelings could come back at any moment and hurt her again. She’d followed Lars when he ran off because she didn’t feel anything terrible from him, but that just led her here with these other Gems. Still, they had somehow managed to stifle their bad feelings. Could they do that for her too?

Sodalite glanced at Lars and the pink skinned young man smiled at her, stepping forward and grabbing her hand. He knew that she wasn’t afraid of him and she seemed so much calmer than before. While Lars kept Soadlite’s attention, Steven made his way over to them and licked his hand to place his palm over Sodalite’s broken Gem at her shoulder.

With a light gasp, her Gem began to glow and the large crack down the center filled in, making her Gem whole once again. The darkness that covered Sodalite’s eyes had vanished, revealing gentle, crystal blue hues. The Gem stared out in shock for a moment before she took a deep breath, “…Th-thank you…” she exhaled happily. Her whole body felt lighter than air once again now that all those collected dark feelings were gone. They had been so heavy.

“I know you just got better…” Steven began, “…but do you remember what you did with Ruby and Sapphire?”

“Oh! …yes but…won’t they be angry with me? …I didn’t mean to hurt anyone—I just …” Sodalite started anxiously. Though the collected negative feelings were gone, she was still nervous.

Steven shook his head, “Don’t worry, it wasn’t your fault. You’re all better now.”

Sodalite sighed softly and held out her hands to manifest the black bubbles that held the two Gems. Steven smiled and as the bubbles popped, he took the two Gems in his hands. Garnet would be back soon, they could heal Lapis safely now, and no more Gems would be seeing those terrible things. Finally, all the commotion over the last few days would calm down, right?

A/N: Sodalite is fixed and Garnet will soon return! Hurray! There is only one more thing that Steven and Spinel need to sort out. The next Chapter will the last one, but I hope you all will look forward to the Sequel, “Only You.”

[pilot-boi]

Fall For Me: Chapter Three

The Landing

Sometimes when you fall, you need somebody’s help to get back on your feet.

AO3 LINK

“Jaune!”  Ren’s shout rolled out like a thunderclap and her partner half lunged forward. Oscar was beside him, waving his arms in a frantic approximation of semaphore, and wailing at the distant figure. Nora could hear the sudden cold desperation in both of their voices. “Don’t you freaking dare! Don’t you even-”

There was only one way this was going. And she was not having it.

She was already running as the distant figure drew his blade. Her boots slammed into the stone and each footfall was a statement. Each thump a furious scream at what stupid excuse for fate was trying to pull a fast one right now.

Her hands curled tighter inside her gloves and around the handle of her trusty hammer, and she gritted her teeth. She couldn’t be sure, couldn’t be quite certain of the faint prickle of something against her skin. It traced the faded patterns of magically scarred flesh along her palms and arms, from where she had that lightning bolt had struck her so long ago and awoken her Semblance.

It hadn’t been working so far, but now would be a very good time for it to start.

There was fire above her, a deafening crack of out flung crystal shards, and she looked up, then down, and up and down again, as her mind whirled with frantic aeronautic calculation. Jaune’s out flung figure arched backwards from the detonation, hurled out over the yawning gap.

Nora’s boots cleared the edge of the chasm in a headlong launch, and one parting explosive grenade for any extra bit of momentum..

She clicked the trigger of Magnhild and electricity arched up its handle, and there was a definite shiver at her clenched fingers now, and the raw insanity of it all howled in her ears. But she had been matching collisions trajectories enough times by now. From a dozen types of airship, shield launching, and variations on malfunctioning flight, and this time had at least started from somewhere stationary.

The weightless moment stretched out, momentum and gravity vying for dreadful favour. The forces snatched at the gossamer threads of Aura and lift that danced across her, drawn out from her Semblance by sheer determination, if nothing else. The world seemed to be holding its breath. Filled with all the shades of what could go so utterly and completely wrong.

Come on. Come on.

Then she hit the plunging knight square in his stomach, wrapping her outflung arms as tightly as she dared around the other plummeting shape, and the impact jolted a hard-shock through her. Tendrils of too bright memory jolted right along with her, taking her back to Jaune doing this for her all the way back in Argus. She felt her Semblance shiver, Aura given strength failing under the sudden increase in weight.

But the accelerated deflection had been enough, and a moment later there was another rib slamming joly as they crashed into the tiled top of one of the broken slabs jutting from the opposite canyon wall.

Nora clung down hard, wedging her ringing head against Jaune in a vague attempt to hold on with her neck as well. And she had another horrible moment of sliding scrapping weightlessness.

But then her rock torn fingertips scoured the wall to a standstill, splintering dusty fragments trailing around her grasp, and she rammed the tips of her boots into the rock below.

“Oh good lords,” she gasped. The razor thin air scraped her throat and for a good few moments she concentrated just on breathing, half deaf from her own heart beat, and stared dumbly at the stone an inch from her nose. She could feel the faint rise and fall of Jaune’s chest beneath her, feel small twitches in his cheek next to hers.

Finally she managed to pull herself together enough to lean back slightly, raising up so that she could look at him, and not run the risk of dislodging either of them from their precarious shelf.

He was staring. Not at her, even with her filling up what had to be his entire field of vision. Jaune stared through her somehow, his sapphire gaze stretched wide. She shifted slightly and tried to find her voice.

“That was really dumb,” she said quietly, and she wasn’t entirely sure which one of them she meant. Jaune shivered. His fingers twitched, scratching down against the rock as he blinked a few times, and then the stare settled back onto her a little more securely. 

He looked battered. His armor was laced with hairline cracks in a few places, gold inlay dulled and fracturing. Wild blonde hair was singed at the tips, and his exposed skin was peppered with small cuts. Crocea Mors was clutched in a death grip, and she didn’t think he was even aware that he still had it. But he was alive.

Another blink, and his lips moved like a question, although no sound came out. Nora shrugged. She should say something. Anything. That was what she was best at.

“Well, I could have managed not to catch you with my freaking face,” she muttered. Jaune kept staring at her, looking dazed. Nora adjusted her grip again, and tried to put a bit more reassurance into her tones.

“I’m right here, no worries fearless leader. Freaking hope that Weiss gets a move on with her summon, but we’re okay. Kind of.” She craned up, trying to see anything useful past the edge of the crevasse, but all she could make out was the murky red of the sky. 

The noxious sludge bubbled helpfully barely a few feet below them. Nora thanked any gods that might be listening that they were remaining stationary. Even if stationary wasn’t getting them any closer to help. Jaune opened his mouth again, hesitated, and finally managed to speak.

“I was… falling again. I thought it… I was..” his voice caught, halting in his throat and he half turned away, expressions chasing each other across his features too fast to be clear. Nora bit her lip, hoping like hell she hadn’t hit him harder in the head than she had thought. 

But he seemed focused enough now, just shocked. No, not exactly shocked, that didn’t quite go far enough…

A memory stirred, rising past the grim slick of recent horrors, and Jaune’s earlier words echoed back across her mind. When after far too long, after months or years of carrying it with him, they’d finally gotten him to tell them about what had happened at the Fall.

“I remember falling, and light. And then everything I never knew I cared about was gone.”

“I’m right here,” she repeated, more firmly this time, and now all the other meanings welled up either side of those words and Jaune’s fingers curled a little tighter against her arm. She held his gaze, blue on blue, and this time he didn’t look away.

“If you fall again,” she said quietly, into the strange little private moment that seemed to have formed. “We’ll catch you. Ren, me, Ruby, all of us. And if that’s not enough, and if we do lose someone, and you lose yourself. Then we’ll just find you and show you who you are, all over again, just like before. A hundred million bajillion times..”

There was precious little room on the ledge as it was, but Nora shifted as much as she was able to make space as Jaune’s chest shook with tears and a faint glimmer of reassurance sparked in his eyes. He drew her into a bone crushing hug, and she managed a small smile as he shook. The knight drew her somehow tighter to him, as if he was making sure she was there, that he could trust his vision.

“I promise,” she murmured, and was just trying to find a light hearted continuation of the sentence when soft sobs reached her ears. She froze, and then leaned into it as well as she could while staying awkwardly braced against the crumbling stone. 

Jaune was battered and shivering with close-brush mortality, but there was understanding in the moment. He had finally allowed himself to cry. It wasn’t new, not entirely, but now that it had been stated, her promise seemed to brand itself into the air around them.

We’ve got you. All of you, right now. We’ve got you, and you’ve got us. And you’re not getting rid of us that easily. We’ve got your back, everything that you are. And if you need us to, we’ll find you.

Even if you’ve lost yourself.

“You okay?” she asked as they finally separated. There was a faux casual tone to her voice, and Nora nearly winced at how plastered on it sounded. Jaune looked down and blinked, still dazed, as a frown traced onto his features.

“...no,” he admitted. Jaune looked at her, almost confused for a moment. He glanced past her to where she could hear the faint crystalline sounds of Weiss’s summons, and then he let out a long shuddering breath. “I’m not okay. But… I could be. I think.”

He glanced back at Nora as he spoke and, like a curtain lifting, the focus was suddenly back in his face. Not perfect, not even very well pulled together just now, but that old hardlight edge was there again. Jaune looked more like… Jaune, and less like he was about to pull another stupidly heroic stunt at the cost of himself.

Nora’s grin was a beacon. “I think we can work with that,” she said brightly. Jaune managed a wobbly smile as he met her gaze. Yeah. They could definitely work with that. If they made it out of this alive, and in even close to one piece. 

Her Aura had shattered completely on impact with his armor, and even Jaune’s plentiful supply of the stuff was struggling against the malevolent forces in the to heal even the smallest wounds that he had.

And all of that was ignoring whether Ren would kill her first for this latest stunt.

But Jaune was looking more solid than she’d seen him be in months, maybe years. He was holding himself together with scotch tape and luck, but she could work with that.

Duct tape and lots of pancakes hadn’t failed her yet.

[supergogeta98]

Steven Universe Future Plot Theory (Long Post)

Well first let me say I think Cactus Steven was made from him pricking his finger on one, and will be an easy one-time enemy.

BUT:

Jasper will not agree with Steven's reign on homeworld and will find Era 3 to be rubbish. She will attempt to talk to the Diamonds, but to no avail. Even White Diamond will not agree to Jasper's ideals, but Jasper knows deep down White is not ready for something like this.

Jasper will attempt to instigate another rebellion. If Pink Diamond could do it disguised as a Rose Quartz, then a real Quartz soldier could do it too. She groups up gems who have hated Steven and have been robbed of their status and purpose because of Steven, and will explain how Cross Gem fusion can be a valuable asset in war.

Aquamarine will be in the rebellion, as well as Navy and/or Eyeball Ruby. MOST LIKELY Eyeball and Aquamarine will understand Jasper's philosophy on fusion, and will fuse into the gem seen in the image above.

Jasper will find various Lapis Lazuli's who are against Steven too, and possibly will attempt to create a Malachite that is with both the Lapis Lazuli's and herself given how strong Malachite was before.

However, Jasper's rebellion will not work according to plan and she will perform a last ditch effort...

She knows White Diamond, the supreme ruler of Homeworld, deep down does not agree with Steven but can't exploit that due to White's powers. So she will ask for help from the only organism that can reset Homeworld: the creator of Gemkind itself.

The creator will not agree with the path Homeworld has taken and will agree to Jasper's plan. The creator will possess White Diamond and attempt to reinstall the mentality Homeworld had in Era 1.

This may force the other Diamonds (Blue and Yellow) to fuse, and fight White herself while Steven and the other Crystal Gems fuse or attempt to fight off the creator itself.

In the end, Steven will win. Like always.

Remember, this epilogue is supposed to tie up every lose end and plot ideas from throughout the seasons.

Here are some questions many are wondering:

-How to fix the Cluster or what happened to the Cluster

-Who gave Spinel all those items

-Pink Pearl's eye and whereabouts

-Why was Pink trying to create gems?

-What are the Pink gems on her table?

-The Geode's function and purpose

-The elemental shooting star: is it what diamonds are made of?

-True Rose Q. looks/why/how/who bubbled

-What happened to bubbled rose quartz's?

-Where to put the zoo humans?

-True Garnets, Opals, Sugilites, etc.

-How did the diamonds collects the pieces of shards for the Cluster after the earth was evacuated and the war thought to be won...undetected?

-Who made the first diamond and how/why?

-Insight on Pink's creation

-Fluorites components

-Rhodonites components

-Morganite!

-Purpose of the upside down pyramid?

-Whats in the chest in lion's mane?

-What happened to homeworld to make it cracked in half?

-Corrupted bird gem fusion: how and why?

HIGHLY UNLIKELY:

-If a fusion like Garnet (just for example) wanted to have a child with a human, would they conceive another Garnet or twins Ruby and Sapphire?

-Do gems with asterism or very special cases exist ? (Like a Star Sapphire or Color Change Sapphire)

[yaboy-robin]

Lapis and Volley

Note: this is an au where pink does loose volleyball to white. But white gives volley back after pink gets earth. Unable to deal with her guilt and grief, pink shatters herself at the end of the rebellion instead of faking it.

Pink Diamond’s Pearl wept loudly into her hands as she hovered over the shattered stone in front of her. How could she? How could Rose- her diamond- lie to her?

Pearl had been in on it from the start. Ever since Pink started this whole rebellion with her, she’d known every detail of this plot to free the Earth and her fellow gems. So they’d not suffer under the terrible diamonds ever again. Like she did under White. 

This was their final idea. Fake Pink Diamond’s shattering by the hands of Rose Quartz. Pearl herself would play the part of Rose. To keep up the idea that Rose and Pink were separate entities. And they’d fake it with the blade the missing Bismuth had made. It could not shatter, but they could make it look like it had. And Pearl was sworn to secrecy about all this with an order.

They had a signal for Pearl to do the deed, but… it never came. Pink seemed to have prepared a different speech than their plan. Nerves, maybe? 

That was quickly ruled out. Suddenly, Pink Diamond was pledging her support for the crystal gems. Saying how colonizing couldn’t stop so long as she was there. And- she pulled out a different weapon than their plan. And turned it on her own gem.

Chaos came after this. A huge battle between grieving gems and the crystal gems ensued. But Pearl was deaf to it all as she stared at the shards. Questions swimming in her head. In the confusion of the battle, a soldier saw her and couldn’t tell if this Pearl was friend or foe. She was still in her homeworld uniform, but she could have just not been poofed yet.

Pearl barely registered the sword being driven through her.

–

When Pearl reformed, the battlefield was quiet. She found herself inside the palanquin of Pink diamond, with the emergency defense walls engaged. When had they triggered? Pearl numbly disengaged them, fumbling her way out of the palanquin. 

She looked around the dark, night field. Weapons laid everywhere, but no soldiers seemed to wield them. Where was homeworld? Where were the crystal gems? Pearl looked, but found nothing but shards. 

At least, until she heard a rustling in a bush. Pearl summoned her whip and readied herself. “Garnet?” she tried, taking a step back. She hoped that it was the fusion. Garnet always knew what to do, and with everything going on-

Pearl was suddenly attacked by a beast she could barely describe. It was pure fire and lava, burning Pearl any time she tried to wrestle it away. It roared and growled, seemingly confused and agitated as it pinned Pearl to the battlefield floor. Pearl quickly made her ribbon into a lance, and pierced the soft underbelly of the beast. 

She expected blood, as with all organic creatures of earth, but the thing….. poofed? Pearl blinked in confusion as a gem clanked to the ground. What in the stars-?

She bent down and inspected the gem. A ruby- probably a foot soldier fighting for Pink. But there were no flaws in the gem. No cracks. So why was its form so…. Monstrous? Pearl needed answers. She bubbled the gem, warped it away to their base, and stepped through the bushes. 

Through the bushes, another creature sat. But this one was different. A large bird-like creature with four legs, made of pure ice. It had a singular eye on its head, tears streaming from it. It screeched sadly and trotted to Pearl. Pearl readied herself to summon her weapon again…. But the creature simply nuzzled against her. Fluffing its wings out and showing its Sapphire gemstone on its right wing. 

Pearl’s inner gears turned. Only one Sapphire had been on Earth. And she was half of Garnet. And the Ruby who’d attacked her….

Pearl collapsed and hugged the bird tight, sobbing. “What happened to you, Garnet?" 

–

It’d been almost an Earth month since Pink shattered herself. Since then, Pearl had gathered information from local humans on what she’d missed. Homeworld retreated and launched a final attack. This attack was a bright light, which seemed to corrupt every gem left on Earth. Nothing seemed to fix it, even Rose’s fountain did nothing. 

She was the only one left, since she had been shoved into the palanquin and it’d engaged emergency mode for the fight around it. She was lucky but…… everyone she knew and loved was gone. She was alone. And was it worth it….? The Earth was safe but….. 

Pearl had been moving in a numb blur. Doing things she knew Rose would want done after Homeworld’s retreat. What they’d planned to do. Next on her list was the galaxy warp. Homeworld could return to finish what they’d started any day now. So, she would destroy every warp with a connection off planet. They wouldn’t come back. They wouldn’t make Rose’s sacrifice be in vain. 

When she was done, she turned to warp back to the base she had made for herself. But…. A mirror laying on the ground caught her eye. Was this something homeworld left behind….? How could she have missed it before? 

She sat on her own legs and carefully picked up the mirror. She fingered the cracked front before turning it over. A cracked Lapis Lazuli lay in the gem slot. 

”Hello….?“ Pearl cautiously greated. This could just be a gem born unsentiant. But the thought of a gem trapped in there, like she was trapped under White Diamond…. "Are you alive? Is there a way you can communicate with me?”

The mirror was silent a moment before glitching Pearl’s words back to her. “-Can communicate. -Alive." 

Pearl startled a moment before taking a deep breath. "If I let you out, do you think you can form? Or will you need to be healed first?”

The mirror paused before questioning, “You- let- me- out?" 

Pearl smiled, "Of course. No gem deserves to be trapped.  I know first hand-” She fingered her cracked eye a moment, “That being trapped is terrible. Now, heal? Or let out first?”

“Let- me- out! Let- me- out!" 

Pearl nodded before wrenching the gem out of the mirror. The mirror part shattered, and the Lapis Lazuli began to glow.

Pearl caught her as she stumbled over. The Lapis smiled weakly, showing her mirrored eyes to Pearl. "Thank you…. I thought maybe you were coming to question me more-”

“No- ah hah-” Pearl awkwardly looked away, shoving her questions towards the gem down, “There's…. No gem left to question you.”

The Lazuli squinted, “What-” she glitched from her crack “-do you mean?" 

"Oof, let’s get this crack healed first. Then…. Then I’ll show you.” Pearl motioned to the warp, “C'mon. Unless you think you can fly." 

"Probably not.” The Lapis shook her head and leaned on Pearl for support as they walked to the warp and warped away. “Where are you taking me? The soldier bays?”

“Ah-” She shook her head, “No. Somewhere-…. You might not like.” They arrived at Rose’s fountain with that sentence. 

“What is that?” Lapis squinted at the fountain, “And is that…. Rose Quartz?!” Lapis pulled away from Pearl the best she could and held up her fists, “Are you a crystal gem?! You won’t sway me to your side!" 

”Ah-!“ Pearl held up her hands in surrender. "Yes, but I won’t try to sway you. I’ll even let you fly back to Homeworld. I just ask that you don’t tell them you came from Earth. Say you were off planet for the final attack or-”

“Final attack?” Lapis faltered a moment, “The war's…. Over?” She gulped and looked to the fountain, spotting bubbles where Pearl had left them. “And…. Who won?”

“Technically?” Pearl sighed, “The crystal gems did. But…. It doesn’t feel like a victory.” She hugged herself a moment before shaking her head. “Come on. I’ll fill you in once you’re healed. Being cracked is so painful-”

“Why do you care?” Lapis bit back, growling, “You’re a crystal gem. And I’m from homeworld. Shouldn’t you want me shattered?”

Pearl sighed, motioning to her eye crack, “I care because I know what it’s like to be hurt and confused. I care because you’re the first actual gem I’ve seen in a month. And I care because…. Rose would do the same thing." 

Lapis hesitated before she nodded, relaxing, "Lead the way then." 

–

"So homeworld just-” Lapis splashed the water, before motioning to all the bubbles, “Hurt all these gems? Just cause Pink Diamond decided to shatter herself?”

“Mhm.” Pearl nodded, “I was only safe because I was within my gem at the time, and my gem was thrown into Pink Diamond’s palanquin. It has an emergency mode that can withstand those kinds of things." 

”Shale-“ Lapis cursed and ran a hand through her hair, "That’s messed up. Even homeworld gems?”

“Yes,” Pearl nodded, “Anyone who didn’t get off planet in time. I assume the only reason you were safe is because your gem was stuck in an object.”

Lapis chuckled half heartedly, “I’d have to thank the gem that forced me into my gemstone then. Being in that mirror…. It was awful. All those questions from gems I saw as allies-”

Pearl nodded, “They are always quick to turn if they think you’ve messed up.”

Lapis paused a moment before looking tentatively at Pearl.  “A crystal gem wouldn't betray you like that though?”

Pearl laughed, waving her off, “Never.”

[pastelpunk-3206]

My gems roles part 1

Diamonds - the matriarchal body of Gem leaders.

Cubic zirconias - substitutes for the diamonds that follow the diamonds duties while they are away, other zirconias act as generals or Colonie owners

Moissanite - gems who act as governors of groups of colonies or star systems for the diamonds, each color is given special elemental powers

Herkimer diamonds - special guards that are the last line of defense for the diamonds, they are filled with essence giving them the diamonds abilities

Emerald - They are captains of spaceship fleets, and lead many ships into space wars.

      -      trapiche emerald - fleet leaders that act more hostile and act more like pirates and generals

Garnet - Command fleets and colonies since the diamonds can’t always spectate.

Almandine: Owners of science-based colonies and large scientific areas. 

Pyrope: Owners and governors of Noble areas and residential habitats. 

Rhodolite: They manage the judicial system, deciding rules and such, they function much like Zircons, but get the final say in any rule. 

Spessartine: Garnets that specifically own planets during early colonization, before anyone can claim any land. 

Andradite: A blanket term for Garnets that govern working-class planets and working-class areas. It has a few subclasses which include: 

Demantoid: Demantoids govern the work of any public service Gems, and will usually create timetables or be in charge of managing jobs. 

Melanite: Melanites govern any public or private punishments because Nobles will oftentimes be exempt from punishment if they do something bad. They will manage the prisons and execution schedules. 

Topazolite: Topazolites govern the storage of working-class Gems, determining when a Gem is needed and when one is not, will typically work alongside a Demantoid. 

Grossular: The large blanket term for Garnets that govern public areas or parts of Gem-Lifestyle that no Gem is exempt from. Those include:

Hessonite: Hessonites are usually military commanders and general offensive Gem leaders. They can control fleets the size of planets and facets, although will also control planets that are designed to either be weapons or house them. 

Leuco Garnet: Leucos control the expansion of Gem-Kind, and will often be plotting with Alexandrites on where the best location for a colony or structure will be. 

Hydrogrossular: Hydrogrossulars govern all forms of transit, whether it be public or private. 

Merelani Mint: Merelani Mints control all civil protection, such as passive police officers in areas of the public and private work where things like Quartzes and Topaz are too brutish to be guarding and monitoring. 

Mali: Mali Garnets govern, monitor, and own public spaces such as Hubs, they also heavily specialize in organizing trade that Morganites and -another Gem I’ve yet to decide- work on. 

Tsavorite: Tsavorites manage trends and styles amongst GemKind, deciding what architecture, clothing, and general lifestyles will be enjoyed by Noble citizens. 

Uvarovite: A slightly lower class of Garnet that manages servant creation planets, as well as the storage complexes that hold and edit them.

Jhonkoivulait - small color-changing gems that are extremely powerful, they are experimental and are in the process of being made into gas giant terraformers 

Prehnite - small gems that holds vast knowledge of all gem kind

Gold beryl - gems that act as a beacon, they are made to be a representation of high ranking gems gifted with pearls,Rubies, pebbles, and Spinels although they don't do much lol

Opal - these gems spread rumors and myths of the diamonds making other gems idolize the diamonds

     -  Cats eye opal - spreads lies about any rebels to make them look bad

Londonite - these gems are gifted to high ranking gems to help make difficult decisions 

Black beryl - gems that act as spirit mediums, they also are psychic and read the dark thoughts of gems

Zoisite - yellow diamonds event directors, zoisites organize yellow’s speeches and her presentations

Thulite - pink diamonds event director, thulites organize homeworld balls

Tanzanite - blue diamonds event directors, tanzanites organize public executions

Angelite - these gems are the reason buildings are floating, they utilize their abilities to fly around homeworld

Heliodor - homeworld inventors

Sapphire - use their future vision to assure other Gems of the future's certainty

Kyanite - they are gem directors who will direct plans to the colonization process and commands other diplomatic gems

Sunstone - they spectate suns and stars from satellites to monitor them before they explode. She glows so bright so gems get a signal to evacuate

Moonstone - they spectate the moon bases from colonies to make sure they are in order. Her invisibility 

prevents troublemakers from spotting her.

Morganite - they designed the palanquin, so they are designers/artists.

Petalite - gem gardeners that controls and changes plant life

Titanite - gems that act as cameras and utilizes plants as weapons,  their gems create perfect holograms of what they saw

Axinites - a group of gladiator gems made to fight for entertainment

-    Ferro Axinite - these gems utilize white diamond related tech such as gem stuns and spears

-    Magnesio axinite - these gems utilize blue diamonds tech such as cross bows and shatter wands

-    Manganaxinite - these gems utilize pink diamonds weapons like sheilds and healing

-    Magnesio axinite - these gems utilize yellow diamonds weapons like destabilizers and swords

Chalcanthite - her role is to create and organize cores, such as the harmony core or the small core crystals seen in destabilizers and rejuvenators

Phenakite - responsible for making weapons like rejuvenators and destabilizers,  they can't be poofed by these

Mother of pearls - a gem who trains pearls and makes all the other organics

Aquamarine - these gems are made to collect certain targets whether it be a living thing or an item

Turquoise - Egyptian style gems that do sacrifices to the diamonds to give them more power

Poudrettaite - cool down large cores that can over heat

Realgar - Noble-class gems which work as decorators and designers for balls and events.

Ammolite - gem doctors who heal cracked gems

Taafeite - taafeites are nurse gems that assist with ammolite to heal gem

Vanadinite - these gems are made to turn gems invisible so they can avoid dangerous situations

Albite - these gems were made to create defenses or to host puzzles for gems to train

Sphalerite - owns gem libraries and watches every book to keep info

Iolite - high ranking gems that are authors of books and own libraries

Tourmaline - they power wind power plants and wind powered war machines.

Corals - gem pirates that lead spodumenes and pyrites on missions to gather treasures

lapis lazuli - terraformers, uses hydrokinesis to break up earth

desert glass - they are used in wars and battles as defense. Her psammokinesis can create fortresses, 

ledges, spikes, etc. made out of sand.

Erythrite - made to collect lost resources that were thrown out

Chrysocolla - they are collectors and collect things of a specified type. She can summon hand-like vines 

under her robe to help her search big trash piles.

Bazzite - gems that grind up gem shards into dust or liquids, they are the reason behind the evil scroll in together breakfast

Spodumene - they search for important resources underwater. Glowing items are a top priority.

Jade - record keepers, keep track of homeworld, certain gem activities, gem biographies, etc. unlike fluorite 

though they are not constantly keeping track they are only creating timelines

Tugtupite - tugtupites monitor colonies oceans, they have no hydrokinesis but can utilize cameras to monitor oceans

Tremolite - a gem that monitors tectonic plates and watches over earthquakes

Kosmochlor - sing melodies for high ranking gems, the diamonds forced shape shifted their 2 kosmochlors 

to be a permanent wall decoration.

Geode - gems that monitor and control the colonies weather

Chrysolite - large gems that helps dig up ruble if an accident occurs

Eudialyte - a winged gem that flies around and delivers over canyons where devillines cant go

Devillines - they deliver items to areas in colonies that don’t have warp pads yet.

Cinnabar - these are gem repairmen they will fix up old broken machines and even give small upgrades

Lepidolite - They handle bubbled gems and are given the order to decide which gems get shattered, melted

shapeshifted or used as energy sources. She can store a lot of bubbled gems in her gemstone.

Larimar - they make ice sculptures for the diamonds. She may have cryokinesis since her corrupted form 

was made of ice.

Hemimorphite - Large, immovable guards used to protect areas as security when other quartzes and standard soldiers would falter.

Selenite - Higher-ranking soldiers specialized in policing and hunting rebel gems.

Jet - gems that have rockets built into their feet and palms, act as police gems while aquamarines contain gems

Topaz - they are used as bodyguards for high ranking gems. They could also serve in war battles despite their slowness.

Rhodochrosite - a low ranking diplomat that reads out messages by the diamonds

Nephrite - they are in charge of operating Homeworld dropships. They make sure the landing area is safe by using their acid powers.

Sulfur - gems who were made to hunt down off colors, they were gifted

Pyrite - fools gold that look similar to gold, they act as pirate crews for corals

Verdelite - big gems that take on giant animals on new colonies

Zircon - the lawyers of Homeworld

Agate - supervisors and superiors to quartzes constantly keeping watch and Commanding over them

Citrine - high ranking quartzes who are more buff they absorbed twice as much light making them fight better at day

Chalcedony - samurai quartzes who were made to be quicker and sleeker

Quartz - soldiers used in wars and as bodyguards.

Biotite - There role is a combination of a diplomatic and soldier who leads platoons of gems

Aragonite - these gems are superiors to Rubies, they act almost like a agate would to a quartz, constantly keeping the Rubies in check

Wavellite - acts as large human shields for other gems

Dumortierite - a special quartz like a agate or chalcedony, these quartzes are shorter and were made to defend underground tunnels

Cuprite - gems that mimic sounds of others like a bird, these gems will attract flying creatures for easier containment

Bone - studies alien fossils

Chrysoberyls - Noble scouters and item collectors. They direct and lead alexandrites

Alexandrite - scout that are usually green but when they find resources useful for cores they glow a red color signalling that they are found something

Amber - a gem who contains animals utilizing there sap manipulation

Peridot - technicians in charge of handling kindergartens.

Diopside - they dig out tunnels  and pathways to make kindergartens more accessible. They use seismic 

communication to know where they’re heading underground.

Bismuth - were builders for aristocratic members of society

Glass - a simple gem that looks like a taller quartz but is not, they create glass resources and can turn things into glass, they poof easily

Chalcopyrite - a slim gem that works in team to help put up decorations, they work under Realgars 

Anyolite - gems that were made to power buildings utilizing electricity they absorbed and store

Concrete - were gems made to break stone down, they did things like pave the ground and carved out 

Bridges

Adamite - backup powers buildings by turning wheels

Fluorite - constantly collects data for any use

Chrysoprase - gems made to observe sometimes hazardous environments.

Smithsonite - gems that were made to float on the surface of the water, they puff out and float to the top, they are often made to keep things from sinking

Sugilite - these gems are stocky gems that assist in holding things in place, they don't fidget or struggle, their movements are very still and stiff

Bixbite - could cut with great precision worked in construction and manufacturing.

Rutile - worked as a smaller worker in construction,mining, and tiling

Magnesite - unclogs drains

Steatite - steatites carry resources in large groups like ants

Operculum - a gem mailman who goes to colonie to colonie delivering things

Copal - gloss special items like sculptures

Anglesite - a tiny gem that collects chromas to fuel cores,prisms,and even gems

Obsidian - they create trenches for armies. Different type of obsidians can produce different type of 

trenches.

petrified bone - gems who would watch over organics that belong to high ranking gems

petrified wood - gems who would watch over plants that belong to high ranking gems

[the-gay-in-the-way]

Hello Again

I’m back once more to drop off some random AU ideas and maybe even a fic chapter or two.

Maybe.

Don’t get too hopeful tho cus I can’t be trusted and I also have a lot on my plate now so I’m not always gonna have enough headspace to spare for fanfic.

Anyways.

I’ve recently binged the entirety of Steven Universe, movie and current Future episodes included, and I’ve got some ideas now.

And if I don’t write those ideas down and share them then I may very well explode.

So, we begin with this new AU I came up with.

It’s very similar to the original SU base plot: same world, same pink diamond/rose story, same diamonds on homeworld.

But we input the sides where some of the originals once were.

And we have them take the base gem roles as well.

Thomas is Steven.

Patton is Pearl.

Roman(Ruby) and Logan(Sapphire) are Garnet.

Virgil is Amethyst.

The exceptions to the original structure are these lads tho.

Remus is an Emerald who originally tries to get rid of the gems on orders from Yellow Diamond, but he switches over to their side because he comes to love Thomas and just how crazy his planet can be.

Deceit is a corrupted Pyrite/Fool’s Gold whom Thomas befriends, much like the situation with Steven and Centipeetle.

So that’s the baseline character stuff that you really need to know.

But there’s some specific stuff that I’ve thought about which I include after the cut because it does spoil a very large chunk of the special later on story stuff that would be in the fic if I ever write it.

It might not get a fic so I recommend reading this, but it’s up to you.

Right, so, I have included a fifth Diamond.

Also, White Diamond was shattered long before the entire situation with Earth ever happened.

Surprised?

Yeah, weird thing to change but it’s important to the new plot.

Speaking of that new plot.

With White Diamond out of the picture, things get a bit weird when it comes to the main storyline.

Thomas ends up just straight up meeting Blue Diamond while she’s visiting Earth.

Virgil, being the protective boi that he is, will immediately come to his rescue before Blue can do much more than just threaten Thomas and make him cry.

Virgil, like Lapis, has been thru so much shiz over his lifetime that he doesn’t really get effected by Blue’s powers as much and is able to fend her off and send her away.

It messes him up a bit tho.

He doesn’t understand why but he felt some very sudden feelings when he faced Blue Diamond.

Grief, Anger, Jealousy, and Affection.

It was very confusing.

But then Remus appears, sent by Yellow Diamond, and things get very busy so he’s not able to think about it much.

It’s a few random incidents that lead to Virgil realizing some things and suddenly regaining a bunch of lost memories.

He then attempts to run away from the Gems.

They catch him, of course.

And he tells them he can’t be one of them because of what he actually is.

He’s the very thing they’ve been fighting against.

He’s a Diamond.

After dropping this huge reveal, he manages to escape again.

Thomas manages to find him.

He asks Virgil to explain everything to him.

That he can’t help or understand if he doesn’t know what’s going on.

And he wants to help and understand him because they’re family and he loves him, regardless of what he is or who he was.

So Virgil leads him to a secret warp pad that he remembers without being able to recall how he knew of it in the first place.

They use it and end up in a garden in space, one that’s pretty similar to the one Spinel gets left on in the movie.

And Virgil’s story isn’t much different.

He tells Thomas about being created by White Diamond.

A brand new Diamond, meant to accompany the rest and assist in expanding the empire with them.

But he wasn’t perfect.

He was off-color.

A Purple Diamond with an imperfect cut.

A natural chip where there was meant to be a pointed edge.

He was flawed and imperfect.

And that made him unfit to be a Diamond.

But he’d been expensive to create.

And White felt slightly conflicted about destroying one of her own kind, even if they were flawed.

So she kept him hidden.

Created an entirely isolated garden for him to live in.

And visited him frequently to see how he was doing.

At first, at least.

Over time, the visits were less about making sure he was still there and more about wanting to spend time with the little Diamond.

(Side note: Virgil is big for a Quartz, like Jasper is, but since that’s the same size of his natural form he’s also quite small for a Diamond. Even smaller than Pink.)

White starts to think that she was, maybe, wrong about her feelings toward perfection.

Because Purple Diamond is still quite capable as a Diamond.

Even if he’s a bit small and chipped.

And she decides to bring him back home and introduce him to the others.

To see how they feel about him.

And to, maybe, just have him be a bit closer to her on a more regular basis.

But she needs to prepare some things first.

So she tells him to stay in the garden.

That they were going to play a game.

He had to stay exactly where he was and wait for her to come back.

When she returned, she’d give him a special prize for succeeding.

And, trusting her completely, he agreed to the game.

And stood there as he watched her drift away.

After that, he waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Until he received the message.

White Diamond had been shattered.

And in her place was a brand new Pink one.

A smaller Diamond, like him.

Taking a place among the Diamonds, whom he’d only ever heard about from White.

Like she belonged there.

Even while he hadn’t.

The betrayal felt immense, and almost overpowered the grief he felt about White being shattered.

It left his form cracked and altered.

And, when Pink Diamond suddenly arrived, he’d been a step away from using the warp himself for the very first time in his life.

But she stopped him and met him with a smile.

She told him that she’d found out about him from some of the files White had saved in her personal systems.

That she’d wanted to help him return home, since White had refused to let him in before.

And, wanting so desperately to believe her kind words, he’d followed her.

And she brought him to Earth.

The planet White had intended to give her once she was ready to start colonizing.

Pink brought Purple to this planet she was just starting to work on, and Rejuvenated him.

She took away his memories and forcefully altered his programming.

Then she left him in a hole she made within one of the kindergartens.

By the time he awakened, a slow process after having been altered so heavily, Pink had become Rose.

And Rose had come to realize a few things about herself.

Because Virgil didn’t know what exactly had led to him being left behind.

He only knew that White had eventually been shattered during those hundreds of years he’d been left alone.

But Rose had known the truth.

Because she’d been the cause of it.

After White left Purple, she’d gone about preparing things for his eventual arrival.

The others had noticed and had been excited about meeting a new Diamond that White was obviously creating.

She didn’t correct them, figuring that she could leave them to their excitement for the time being.

But, right when she was about to go and retrieve Purple, Pink was born.

And that suddenly took up a lot of her time.

A few hundred years passed with White doing her best to prioritize Pink’s growth.

She didn’t visit Purple again because she wanted to keep her promise of giving him a good prize for waiting for her.

So she needed to get everything prepared for him first.

By the time she completed that and was once again ready to retrieve Purple, Pink realized the truth.

There was another Diamond.

A small one like her.

One that White obviously adored.

One who’d been the only reason her own rooms had even been created.

A newer Diamond.

Who would be adored by the others.

Just as she was.

But then, where would she be?

Abandoned by those she cared about.

All because of this other Diamond who wasn’t even as perfect as she was.

Pink couldn’t stand it.

In a fearful and jealous rage, she attacked White.

And White, for the first time in a very long time, poofed.

She lost her form and her gem fell to the ground at Pink’s feet.

And Pink, upon realizing what she’d done, decided that it would be better if White never came back.

So she bubbled her and hid the bubble in a part of Homeworld she knew nobody would find.

And used some of the materials that had been used to create herself and Purple in the Diamond Kindergarten to create fake shards of Diamond.

And then, she showed the others.

She told them that another Diamond had been born.

A defective Purple one who immediately lashed out at White and shattered her.

Pink had managed to come in and shatter the Purple one right after, she was even able to show them those shards too.

And they believed her.

But they wouldn’t if Purple came back.

So she went and got rid of him.

Going so far as to rejuvenate and alter him so that he would never be able to even come close to the other Diamonds.

And then, she’d spent her time on Earth.

And she’d learned a lot.

And realized how horrible she’d been to someone who should’ve been a sibling to her.

It made it worse when he suddenly appeared out of the hole she put him in, confused and hollow and thinking he was just another quartz soldier.

So she took him in.

Accepted him into what was left of the Crystal Gems, hoping that this would at least partially make up for what she’d done to him.

And then things had followed their course and now Purple Diamond was Amethyst and Amethyst was Virgil.

And Virgil, after thousands of years, was finally remembering what he had been.

But now how he’d ended up elsewhere.

He couldn’t remember anything past receiving the message of White’s shattering.

Only what had happened before.

And that’s all I’m gonna give you guys, for now.

It really got into my head, this entire AU idea.

I seriously was gonna just exhaust myself with thinking about it if I didn’t write some of it out.

So I feel better now.

Hope ya’ll enjoyed this little AU idea ramble.

Might do something with it, might not.

But it was fun to think about.