Chapter Text
In the middle of a rocky canyon, miles from the closest town, a bright portal glows into existence. Between that and the sunset, an otherwise gray and brown setting was covered in a glow of pink and purple. In the distance, the dull roar of the highway added to the silence. A pink lion lept out of the portal with Steven and the Crystal Gems on his back. After skidding to a stop, Lion shook them off like they were water. Free from their weight, he sat down and began grooming.
“Thanks, buddy,” Steven said as he gave Lion a hug.
“Come on, let’s hurry up and find this thing before any humans get involved,” Pearl said.
“Alright,” Amethyst said, “which way are we going?”
Everyone looked at Garnet who adjusted her glasses as she thought. “I have no idea.”
“What about Lapis?” Steven said, “She could fly up and see where the ship landed.” Steven patted his backpack. “Darn it, I should have brought my walkie talkies.”
“Yeah, probably,” Garnet said.
“Garnet,” Pearl scolded.
“Don’t worry,” Lapis said as she smiled at Steven, “I’ll take a quick look around and then come right back.”
“Sounds good.” Steven gave her a thumbs up.
Lapis took off. Until she returned, the others had nothing better to do than wait. Steven made himself comfortable by leaning against Lion. Pearl paced around while Garnet stood seemingly deep in thought. Amethyst and Peridot found a comfortable rock to cuddle up on. After several minutes of waiting, everyone started to get bored.
“Who wants to play eye spy?” Steven asked.
“No,” Everyone said at once.
Steven crossed his arms. Looking around at the landscape, everything was monotonous enough around here that he understood why it was not a fun idea. Between the wind polished stone and the dry brush, there wasn’t much to spy, but he was so bored.
“What’s taking her so long,” Steven groaned.
“I imagine that she’s having trouble finding the ship,” Garnet said as she looked in the direction Lapis had flown off in, “Or she’s in trouble.”
“Why didn’t I bring the walkie talkies.”
"Don't worry," Pearl comforted, "I'm sure she'll be back any moment now."
"Yeah, I mean, how much trouble can Lapis get into?" Peridot said, but the silence told her that it was the wrong thing to say.
"Wait, I think she's coming back," Steven shouted, pointing to a faint movement in the air, but it turned out to be some bird.
"Told you she looked like a bird," Peridot whispered to Amethyst.
"Not the time," Amethyst warned.
"Maybe that's her!" Steven said, pointing to another spec in the air. Thankfully, this time it was.
"Sorry I took so long," Lapis apologized.
"Is it really that far away?" Pearl asked.
"No, it's really close, but it really is a gem ship. I was making sure no one was around."
"Did you see anyone?" Garnet asked.
Lapis shook her head. "Not really. I couldn't even find signs that any gems were there."
"Maybe it's an unmanned ship," Peridot suggested.
Garnet frowned as she thought. "Could be. We'll have to check to make sure. Show us the way."
Lapis nodded and took off again, this time staying within sight of the group. She directed them through the maze of desert canyons as they made their way to the ship. While the air around the ship was still very hot from entering the atmosphere, the char marks and ash told the group that things had been much worse. An eerie glow covered the area.
"Where is that light coming from?" Steven asked.
"It's probably a power leak," Peridot said.
"Is that what happened to your escape pod?"
"Yes. I probably would have left long ago if the landing had been more... to my benefit."
"Good thing it didn't, huh." Amethyst wrapped Peridot in a one armed hug.
"Yeah. If that didn't happen, I wouldn't be able to call myself the hero of Earth. There's also you guys. I wouldn't have gotten to know you either."
"There doesn't seem to be anyone else here," Garnet said.
"So it probably is unmanned, although..." Peridot moved forward to examine it, "this doesn't look like the usual drone ships."
"Do you know what type it is?" Pearl asked.
"Kind of. I've seen a few of them before, but I never knew what they were used for. It wasn't anything that I needed to know about for sure. But it's definitely a very classy looking vessil."
"Everyone be careful, this could be very dangerous."
Peridot rolled her eyes. "Obviously."
Everyone started to search around the ship. It was a good sized ship, about the size of a small house so there was a lot of ground to cover. Peridot began looking at the hull of the ship. There were many pieces that seemed to have come off while crashing. Another piece of gem technology that didn't stand up to the invisible might of Earth. Something about this planet was bad luck for gems who wanted to hurt it, and good luck for those who helped it. She would have to look into that sometime.
Then Peridot spotted something. It was so close to the ground that it was almost overlooked, an opened escape hatch.
"Hey, look at here," Peridot said, pointing to the hatch and the disturbances in the dirt.
"Someone survived," Garnet said, "We should find them. Everyone fan out."
"But stay in pairs," Pearl added, "We don't know who we're up against."
"Alright," Amethyst said, linking arms with Peridot.
"Lapis, you're with me," Steven said, taking her hand.
"Okay," Garnet said, "Pearl and I will follow where these tracks seem to be heading. Steven, you take Lapis North and Amethyst and Peridot will go West."
"Sounds good to me," Amethyst said.
Everyone nodded and went in their respective directions. It was incredibly quiet as they walked through the canyon. While the dull roar of human civilization was ever present, between the two of them, there was only the sound of footsteps. Peridot ran her hand along the wall.
"I wonder why they never made a kindergarten here?"
"Probably because they never got to it. Rose and the others must have stopped them."
"Yeah, but look at the iron deposits in this rock. I bet they could have made something great here." Peridot caught Amethyst's glance. "Of course, it's a good thing that they didn't because the damage to the Earth would have been horrible."
Amethyst nodded.
"Besides, it's not like there's much life here to begin with. I don't think they could have made too much here anyway."
"That's not the point."
"I know. I'm just saying. I can't help it. It's what I was made to do. You were made to hit things, and you get to do that any day you want, but I was made to maintain kindergartens, and that's not an option here. The closest I get is checking in on any gems and cluster prototypes that haven't emerged yet."
"Wait, there are gems that haven't emerged?" Amethyst asked.
"Yeah. I mean, you emerged late, and sometimes there's some gems that don't quite get enough power to break free. Of course, that means only the strongest gems exit the ground first, but there are always late comers like yourself."
"And then there are these really late comers?"
"Well, I'm not sure if they will ever emerge, but I check on them anyway."
"Do the others know they exist?"
"Maybe? I don't know. Honestly I think that if they knew they would stop me from checking in on the unemerged gems, but I have to. I have to do something, so I figured it would be wrong to worry them, and check anyway. There's about ten gems still resting and there are about half a dozen cluster prototypes, but those I doubt would ever emerge given their nature."
Amethyst shuddered. "Yeah. So, is there any way to help those gems out? I mean, it's not like they'd be affected by the corruption like the other gems that came to Earth."
"I suppose it's possible to help them out of the Earth, but I don't see the point. Even if they did come out, they'd be fairly damaged. I mean, look at you. You're..." Peridot stopped herself, remembering the last time she brought that up. She cleared her throat. "Anyway, the damage done by growing that long could mean that they might be as much trouble as the corruptions."
"I see." Amethyst looked away.
"Hey, look," Peridot said, pointing to a piece of debris that must have come off the ship.
They jogged over to it." It looks like a triangle." Amethyst said.
"Wow, They must have really been in trouble if we're finding pieces this far. I don't care what kind of gem they are, I don't think they would have survived unless they ejected from the cockpit."
Amethyst snickered immaturely at the word cockpit, a joke that went over Peridot's head.
"There could be gems over here and we'd never know it." Peridot jogged forward to see if she could find anyone, but it was quiet.
Suddenly, there was a rustling from behind a large pile of rocks. Peridot and Amethyst crouched down, ready to attack any enemy that tried to get them. A few seconds passed and Lapis stumbled into view. Peridot relaxed a bit, but Amethyst only straightened up her posture.
"What are you doing here?" Amethyst asked, "I thought you were supposed to be searching with Steven.'
"I told him I saw something."
"And left him alone?" Amethyst shouted.
"Look, can I talk to Peridot for a bit?" She asked.
"About what?" Peridot asked.
"I just need to talk." She looked to Amethyst. "Alone."
"If you need to say something, you can say it in front of me."
"Please," Lapis begged.
Amethyst looked to Peridot who kept switching her gaze between Lapis and Amethyst.
"It's only for a minute and then I'll leave you alone forever," Lapis promised.
"For a minute?" Peridot asked Amethyst.
Amethyst huffed. "Fine. I'll leave you alone for a minute." She walked off.
“Okay, this had better be good because I have a good thing going with Amethyst and I don’t like how you make her feel jealous over me.” Peridot covered her face with her hands and groaned. “And I’m not making it much better.”
“I’m sorry. I knew telling you would make you hate me.”
“I don’t hate you. I just hate this stupid situation.”
“You really don’t hate me?”
“No. You’re the only gem on this entire rock that knows what it feels like to try and be friends with someone you thought should be your enemy.”
“I’m not friends with them. Just you and Steven. Well, just Steven I guess.”
“Look, what I’m trying to say is once this whole jealousy thing blows over, we can still be friends, right?”
Lapis stared at the ground like she was going to cry. “Right.”
“Look, don’t be that way.” Peridot crouched down to try and make eye contact with Lapis. “I know it must hurt to want someone who doesn’t want you the same way…”
“What do you know about that? You got the gem you were interested in. What do I have?”
“Steven?”
Lapis snorted. “Yeah, I’m sure I can spend long romantic nights cuddling up with Steven while watching stupid TV shows.”
“I mean, you could, maybe not romantic, but…”
Lapis sighed. “Just forget it.”
“Please, I do want to be your friend still, and I don’t want you to be angry at me. Tell me what it would take to make you feel better.”
Without missing a beat, Lapis said, “Kiss me.”
“What!”
“That’s all I want from you. Just one kiss and I’ll feel better. I’ll believe you don’t hate me.”
“Yeah but… it will really make you feel better?”
“Yes.”
“Alright. Just one quick kiss.”
Peridot got on her tip toes and Lapis leaned down. Just as their lips touched, a smashing sound came from a few feet away. Peridot quickly hurried away from Lapis and towards the source of the sound. Just behind a boulder, Amethyst stood. Her cheeks were soaked with tears. Her fist was lodged in the stone, just about cracking it in two.
“Amethyst…” Peridot tried to say, but Amethyst interrupted her.
“Don’t say anything. I know what you’re going to say. It doesn’t matter,” She began to cry as she repeated, “it doesn’t matter.”
“Amethyst, I…”
“You picked me, right? Well, I guess Lapis is going to be part of the bouquet.”
“It’s not like that. You’re acting like I can’t have friends beyond you.”
“Friends don’t kiss each other like that.”
“You were listening. You know why I kissed her. It doesn’t mean anything.”
“I know, but the kiss, the Lapis statue, the way you’re always together…”
“We live together!”
“You could have been living with me.”
“Do you want me living with you?”
“Yes. I want to be beside you every moment. I…” Amethyst paused to calm herself down enough to talk, “Man this is too much. It hurts too much.”
“Amethyst,” Peridot said sternly, “I am in love with you. Lapis is my friend. While it is awkward at the moment, I don’t want to lose a friend just because I love you, and I’m not going to lose you because Lapis is my friend.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m saying that I’m going to find Steven and continue searching the area with him. You two work together and figure things out because it’s clear that this is not something that’s going to be sorted out if I’m constantly in the middle of it.” Peridot stormed off before walking back. “Which way am I going?” She asked Lapis.
Lapis pointed in the direction she last saw Steven. Peridot left for the last time with a curt, “Thank you.”