Chapter Text
They looked up at the sky in terror as the giant hand approached. This was it, the end of their time. Garnet looked over at Amethyst, her hands clawing at her scalp as she stared the dirt for an ounce of hope. Pearl had turned away from the impending horror, doing her best not to sob as Greg's van pulled out of the beach. Leaning on the railing, Garnet murmured, "We did everything we could..." She saw their hopelessness, how none of them knew what to do.
"Alright, pull it together," Garnet announced. "We are going to do our best to stop this." Pearl head tilted, signifying her agreement, and Amethyst nodded with a small smile. This was all they could do. It had been thousands of years since Garnet and Pearl were on Homeworld, and Amethyst had never known anything but the Earth. Just from the way the four light cannon shots were deflected, it was obvious just how much they had missed. The hand ship seemed to be a miniature version of the Diamonds' private vessel, one that during Pearl and Garnet's time, was an impressive feat and took an extremely long time to build. An era's worth of improvement that the exponential advancements made from humans could not compare to. Gems were too far ahead, improving on the same exponential ladder that humans just started to climb.
This would be it. The last stand of the Crystal Gems. There was no other left on the Earth; they were all shattered or corrupted. Pearl whispered a sentence into Amethyst's ear, but Garnet already anticipated the formation of Opal before they fused. While her arrows may not have the brute force the light cannons had, the piercing shots could potentially hit a pressure point and cause the ship to collapse.
"Let's head down," Opal stated grimly. Garnet nodded, rushing down the beach behind Opal as they approached the soft waves that had suddenly started crashing against the shore. The gravity of the ship had started to change the tides, something only a celestial body should have the ability to do.
Opal pulled out her bow, pulling it back and awaiting Garnet's signal. Garnet searched through any possible circumstance in which even a single shot could break the armor of the ship. Not a single one would work. "Fire!" she exclaimed, watching as Opal followed through with her shot, her aim true and to the point. No reason to keep her waiting, even if it wouldn't work.
As they watched with fear and sadness as the hand desended at alarming speeds, Garnet finally announced defeat: "At least Steven is safe." Opal nodded tears welling up as they both understood that the Crystal Gems could live on through him, even if they would not be there to see it. Garnet summoned her gauntlets as the ship landed, extending its palm into the once untouched sand that suddenly billowed into their faces. They had finally arrived, a small orb fazing through the palm of the hand in coming into view. As it disintegrated, their leisure was noticeable as the quartz seemed to have nothing but boredom and a small gemstone etched across her face. The green gem from before was also in front of them, and another was hidden behind the quartz's looming figure.
"That's them alright," a green gem stated. "They're the ones that keep breaking my machines."
"This is it?" the quartz grunted in disgust.
"Jasper! They keep interfering with my work!" the other spat back. The Jasper let out an exasperated sigh, as if Garnet and Opal weren't worth anything.
"Looks like another waste of my time" Jasper stated. Garnet clenched her fist underneath her gauntlet, furious that even their best couldn't bring out an ounce of fear in the quartz in front of them. "Hey," she sneered as she grabbed Lapis. "Get over here." Jasper pointed to the puny gems in front of her, asking, "This is their base?"
Lapis looked away from the Crystal Gems. "Yes..." she stated, sadness and guilt creeping into her voice.
"You need to leave immediately," Garnet stated.
"Get off, this is not a planet for the likes of you," Opal yelled, her grip tightening on her bow.
"Neither of you saw Rose Quartz?" Jasper asked as the three gems leaped onto the sand, ignoring the Crystal Gems. Without waiting for a response, already knowing the answer, she starting speaking once more, "Oh, what a shame. I hoped to meet her." She looked over, and with a snarl, she remarked, "I was looking forward to beating her into the ground." Jasper looked up and down at the two gems in front of her. "But this is all that's left of her army? These shameless displays?" Opal snarled at Jasper and Garnet gritted her teeth.
"You don't need me for this" Jasper exclaimed as she turned her back on them. "Just blast them with the ship."
"Ugh, fine," the green gem rolled her eyes as she pulled out a panel, steering the hand to point right at Garnet and Opal. They looked at each other, knowing this was the last time they would ever be able to do anything. Their death was aimed right at them, and they would not be able to stop themselves from poofing. Opal fired at the gems in front of them, realizing there was nothing they could do about the ship anyways. As the ship fired at them, so too did the arrows hit the green gem and Jasper in the back. They all poofed suddenly, with the Crystal Gems bodies completely incinerated and unable to form for months on end, while Jasper was only temporarily out of commission. The green gem's body was destroyed as well, her gem dropping along with her additional limbs. Lapis stood in shock as everything had unfolded so quickly. She panicked, not knowing what to do. Before she could even think to fly off, somewhere, anywhere, a loud sound shocked her out of her state.
She whipped around to find a giant pink feline and Steven atop its back. "Steven!" she cried out, flying over to his side.
Steven grinned. "Lapis! You're here! Are you alright? Where's..." he started bombarding before he saw the gems that littered the sand. Oh. He was already too late. He turned to Lapis again to ask, "What happened?" Lapis did nothing but shake her head as tears welled out of her eyes. Steven took a few steps towards the unfamiliar gems, picking them up gingerly as he could think to do nothing but bubble them away. After sending them (and all the weird limbs) to the temple, he turned and ran over to his fallen friends, his own tears blurring his vision as he cradled them in his arms.
"They're gonna be ok, right?" he softly asked, Lapis barely able to her him speak.
"... they're not shattered right?" she answered with a question herself, smiling slightly. When Steven didn't respond or look up, she turned away from him, sitting down next to him in the sand. "It's going to be ok." With a small reassuring pat, she turned to leave before Steven hugged her from behind, dropping the Crystal Gems to reach out for her.
"Please stay." Steven looked up at her, his small stature and teary puppy eyes staring into her soul.
... how could she say no to the one person that helped her?