Chapter Text
“All right,” Garnet calls, summoning her gauntlets with a snappy pivot of her wrists. “This is it, Gems. Stay together, and stick to the plan.”
Defensive and strategic maneuvers only, they all agreed. No attacking to poof, unless the luster of one’s very gem depends on it. This restriction will raise the potential danger of this mission tenfold, but there’s no suitable alternative at play here. After all— given Amethyst’s disturbing yet convincing theory about its identity— they simply can’t risk harming the creature.
“On your ready—!”
The trio squares up, brandishing their weapons in preparation for whatever upsetting scene is about to rear its monstrous head over those trees. But before she can so much as utter the command to advance, the corrupted Gem’s whole upper body rises above the foliage. Her mouth falls ajar. She’s altogether paralyzed in its sight. Its mournful eyes bore into her own, inky black with glistening pink irises. A singular tear escapes her futile attempt at emotional stasis, slipping out from under her visor and dampening her cheek.
Those eyes… she ruminates, her fists clenching with unrestrained anguish within the security of her gauntlets. That face, it’s—
Quick as a sheet of lightning, three separate visions surge to full color within her consciousness, spiderwebbing their way across the geometric planes of her gems and permeating through every single branching route of her hard-light form.
The first is a vital realization— of what is, never mind all their biased notions.
Another is a premonition— of what could be, should she make the wrong decision in this place.
And the last is a promise— a solemn vow to herself… to every last member of her family. An opportunity to act. To be brave.
Garnet closes her third eye.
For the first time in weeks, she knows exactly what she needs to do.
“Let’s go! Go!” she beckons to her teammates with a wave of her gauntleted hand, sensing the need to slice through their paralyzing distress.
Amethyst and Pearl both nod, their horrified expressions hardening into a diligent focus. Good. It’s iron-willed attitude like this that is sure to be their saving grace today.
And thus, with a wide, inciting slash of Amethyst’s whip against the corruption’s pink scaled legs, the encounter begins.
Stick to the plan, her own voice echoes tauntingly, now fully aware of the blunt danger she’s about to put both herself and her teammates in.
Task one: Seize the Gem’s attention. Lure them towards an open section of the beach.
Of all the stages of their scheme, this one is by far the simplest. It never took much more than encroaching upon a corrupted Gem’s territory to antagonize any of the others, and on surface, the creature the three of them face here today responds to their goading attacks no differently. The Gem thrashes their way across the sands in an almost indignant frenzy, flailing their arms and tail towards them as if vying to swat all of them right into the ocean’s wake. Amethyst leaps out of striking range of that barbed tail just in the nick of time, but alas Pearl is not so lucky. She lets loose a sharp yelp as the barest edge of this limb slams against her side, launching her all the way back to the jungle’s edge.
Garnet’s fists clench tighter within her spiked gauntlets as she skirts around the creature— now wholly distracted by her teammates’ whip and spear— from behind, setting herself up for the beginning of phase two. Can’t look, don’t look, she reminds herself, energy thrumming like a burning neutron star at her core. It wasn’t a critical strike. Pearl can more than handle herself in a fight. And anyways, she can’t let herself get distracted by the grim reminder of all the what-ifs she still can’t see, no, not for a second. She’s their captain. She steers their ship. A miracle in and of itself, she tugged the threads of this precise sequence of events out from a tapestry woven from untold millions of futures, and now all that’s left to do is ensure it won’t fray at the ends as she puts it into action— no matter the consequences.
Stick to the plan, she repeats within her mind again. Not the plan that was discussed on the ship— not anymore— but the plan she saw.
Once Pearl and Amethyst have cornered the corrupted Gem on a large enough swath of beach, she summons the first piece of Bismuth and Peridot’s handiwork from her gem, a potent energy core they cobbled together from some old scrapped ship tech fastened to a large spike that’s sturdy enough to anchor it into the dampened sand.
Task two: While the others keep the corrupted Gem distracted, lay out all six barrier axis crystals in an equidistant circle.
She stakes crystal number one as deep as she can muster and rapidly moves on to the second.
The third.
The fourth.
It’s at this stage, however, where wrangling the gargantuan beast becomes a good deal more complicated.
As she sprints towards the fifth insertion point, she senses one of the corrupted Gem’s limbs swinging towards her faster than a Roaming Eye surging into FTL travel. Out of sheer bodily habit she moves to dodge, but then—
With a mighty yell, Pearl fires off two energy bolts from her spear. They collide against a nearby palm tree, splintering the wood of its trunk and felling it atop their bright pink opponent, knocking their already disproportionate form precariously off balance. The spiked tail never reaches her.
Good, she thinks, breath heavy. Just as predicted. That’s one step closer to the path she envisioned for them all.
But now…
Garnet summons the second to last barrier axis crystal.
“Amethyst!” she barks, perhaps a bit more forceful than she intended within the heat of this encounter. “Keep the corrupted Gem within the circle! Pearl, from here on out, cover Amethyst, not me! Do not let those hands touch her!”
Pearl’s eyes flash with distress as she spins her glance to her, the motion ever so swift. “B-but what about—?”
“I’ll be fine, just watch each other’s backs, we’re almost there—“
She stakes the fifth crystal into place.
Only one left.
Their opponent slams their hind legs into the sand as they attempt a sweeping swat at Amethyst, just barely missing one of the previously placed crystals. And oh stars, these six are all Bismuth and Peridot had time to make, if he smashes one of them—
Stick to the plan, she once again reminds herself, sprinting across the beach towards the sixth insertion point, to where she’ll finally complete her circle. With Pearl covering, Amethyst will pull through in the end. She has to.
Task three.
(The Gem rears back, the horns atop their head and the crystalline spikes jutting out from their joints beginning to emit a dull glow of warning.)
In many ways, given the soul of what’s at stake, this task— while not anything she has conscious control over, merely the desperate want of a damned Gem— is the most vital of all of them:
Whatever happens, don’t get cracked.
She clenches her jaw taut as she manifests that final barrier axis crystal within her grasp, every last one of her senses tinging with expectation… the innermost facets of her gems already knowing what’s coming, already feeling what’s coming—
“Garnet, look out!”
But she doesn’t dodge. Doesn’t back down. Doesn’t deviate from the plan, from her promise. Because if she fails in her mission here… if she delays the activation of this barrier any longer… if she places her own wellbeing over Steven’s… then this lost, confused Gem will successfully push past their defenses to escape into the ocean’s murky unknown, and they’ll have lost him forever.
“I’m so, so sorry,” she chokes out to this poor, tortured creature, a singular tear rolling down her cheek as she secures the final device in the sands and uses her last millisecond of borrowed time to flick on the barrier’s power-up switch.
The corrupted Gem roars, emitting an explosive shockwave of energy powerful enough to hurl her through the air as straight as a dart, straight across this island’s tree-lined shore, straight into—
Pearl is helpless to do anything but watch as Ruby and Sapphire’s gemstones drop into the sand beneath that distant palm tree, Garnet’s form poofed on impact after being slammed against its trunk at terrifying force.
“Garnet!” she cries once more, her form outright stuttering with panic.
She scrambles back to her feet, brandishing her spear as she spins to face the monster that just singlehandedly poofed one of her dearest friends like it was child’s play. Stars above—! Amethyst and her are ridiculously lucky that its sonic attack wasn’t pointed their way, otherwise there’s a good chance they too would have suffered the same fate.
But there’s no time to think.
No time to fuss and fluster.
There’s barely any time to even process the loss of her fallen teammate as the corrupted Gem rears around to point those intimidatingly dark orbs their way, hungry for release… hungry for freedom.
“Hey!” Amethyst bellows from across the sands. “Keep lively, that barrier’s gotta power up for thirty seconds ‘fore it goes up, remember? We gotta keep this guy from escaping!”
Shaking away the scattered remnants of her hysteria, Pearl tightens her grip on her spear.
“Right,” she nods, leaping right back into action.
“I’ll try ta’ tie ‘em down, you keep ‘em dancing with your spear bolts!”
And so— two against one— that’s exactly what they set out to do.
She darts around the barrier’s perimeter, shooting a myriad of energy bolts around the corruption’s feet to keep it in the center as Amethyst swings up upon its back with her whip and tries to lasso it by the horns. The monster roars, clamorous and anguished. It throws its head about like a dog shedding water, knocking the quartz clear off her perch. Pearl pivots sharp on her heels as she watches Amethyst slam into the ground, the ceaseless waves of hard-light coursing through her system jittering in instinctive sympathy at the sheer ferocity of this impact. But it’s not enough to poof her, thank the stars. It’s not enough to kill what stubborn fighting spirit they both have left.
…it might’ve succeeded in distracting them, though.
Pearl gasps as she notices what’s coming, closing in on her partner with all the pinpoint finesse of a seasoned warrior.
“AMETHYST—!” she hollers, surging to action.
Mere seconds before the corrupted Gem can knock the quartz across the beach with one of its powerful, muscular arms, she readies her weapon in hand and prepares to take her shot. It’s not what Garnet would’ve wanted, but she can’t see any other choice.
With a mighty yell, Pearl hurls her spear straight at the Gem’s mouth, the point ricocheting off one of its razor sharp teeth.
The impact is jarring enough to throw its balance entirely askew.
Amethyst scrambles to her feet unharmed and rushes to join her, which would’ve served as a shining victory if it weren’t for the troubling little sight that greets them next. That monster emits a pitiable whine as it staggers around the clearing… an unmistakable line of vivid red blood dripping from the crease of its gums where its tooth had been knocked crooked. With a glittering burst of dauntingly familiar pink magic (oh, no… please, no—!), the pulp of its gaping maw stitches itself back together.
An electric hum radiates in her periphery as she stands there trembling, all but locked in place at the horrid reality of what she’s just done. She barely registers Amethyst’s harried call for attention. Barely registers the white hot surge of energy whipping up around her as the other Gem spins her whip around the corruption’s legs at sonic speed. It’s not until Amethyst outright tackles her out of the fray and the semi-spherical barrier surges to life behind them that the cruel flow of time finally catches up.
Pearl shudders, fingers scouring deep trenches in the dampened sand. She turns her head, bracing her mind and spirit for the punishing truth she’s about to gaze upon.
The creature collapses upon its side within the enclosure, breathing ragged after such a ceaseless display of ferocity and strength.
Almost entirely enshrouded from view within an endless sea of scales, the pentagonal facets of Steven’s diamond shimmers at the very center of his belly.