Chapter Text
Morning came without incident; Pearl and Garnet slipped out to the restaurant a few hours before anything really opened and waited for the owners. The job was simple enough, and Garnet helped with the heavy lifting despite Pearl’s protests. Still, it helped keep up the frail illusion that Pearl fell back on when she was working, and even though Aisha’s prediction hadn’t been far off, they came away with enough creds to pay for another night in Blue Heaven, and that was all that mattered.
“You’ve picked up a lot of new tricks,” Garnet said warmly, slipping an arm around Pearl’s slim shoulders as they walked back to the hotel. The smaller Gem smiled, proud of her accomplishments, however small.
“I’ve been working a lot,” she explained, “A few years ago we wound up on one planet—Gunsmoke—and I had to build a ship to get back off of it. We got dumped by crooked traders. Stevonnie was furious.”
Garnet raised an eyebrow. “I would be, too,” she admitted, “You all went through a lot, didn’t you?”
Pearl’s smile was nothing if not wry, and she turned to nuzzle her face into Garnet’s shoulder. “You have no idea,” she said, “And you probably don’t want to. The important thing is, I learned a lot. The schematics for ships and equipment there are primitive, but much more like you get in this quadrant. Nothing like Gem tech. They used Plants there, but otherwise, it’s all very similar to…”
Pearl trailed off wistfully, and Garnet knew without asking that she was going to finish with Earth. Their Earth. She squeezed her lover’s shoulder gently and pressed a soft kiss into her hair.
“Let’s use some of those creds for a bath,” Garnet said, “I think we could both use it. It’s early enough, Steven and Connie won’t miss us. We passed a bath house a block or two back.”
Wide blue eyes peered up at her, misty and uncertain, and Garnet’s smile, more than anything, reassured her that it was appropriate to agree.
The bathhouse was like something out of an old cartoon; segregated by gender, and with an open-air atmosphere despite being behind closed doors. Pearl could read the signs, though haltingly, and arranged to use the women’s bath—presently occupied by only a few other patrons, old women gossiping in their own little corners.
Years ago, Pearl might have been the uncomfortable one, stripping down to nothing where strangers could see. But she phased out of her uniform without a word, banishing much of the residue from her misadventures cleaning grease traps to get to control pads earlier, wrapped a short towel around her torso, and waited for Garnet to join her. The Fusion’s towel didn’t quite cover everything, and she was acutely aware that there was not much to do about that. She slipped off to follow Pearl, who led her toward a free corner, eager for some semblance of privacy.
They didn’t get much.
Pearl had scarcely started scrubbing Garnet’s back with a slippery rag when one of the old women waded over, with long black hair that obscured some of her face, nearly marbled skin, and piercing yellow eyes. Her long fingers were webbed, but that aside, she could almost pass for a human—or a Gem, more likely, but there was something just disconcerting enough about her to put the pair on edge. Garnet wasn’t certain whether her pallor was truly green-tinted or if it was the overhead light.
“Er…” Pearl started uncertainly, looking up at Garnet, then to the old crone. “Can we help you…?”
“Mōdor,” she supplied helpfully, a crooked grin beset with fangs twisting across her face. Pearl wasn’t sure if that were meant to be predatory or friendly.
“Mōdor, then,” Pearl said, eyeing her warily. “We were just about to wash up, so if you’d be kind enough to excuse us…”
The old woman’s chuckle was like pins and needles on the backs of their necks, and Garnet abruptly slid between them. Pearl reached for Garnet’s arm instinctively, and when Mōdor smiled her maw looked nothing short of monstrous.
“Why, we’re practically related,” Mōdor said slyly, “You Gems and my kind. I always meant to meet some for myself. Won’t you humor an old woman? You light constructs are fascinating, really.”
“You’re a Mazoku,” Pearl murmured, blue eyes wide. Garnet didn’t know the term, but from Pearl’s tone, she didn’t like it.
The alien’s smile widened, somehow. “You’re very sharp for a pearl,” she said, turning her attention instead to Garnet, who looked more than prepared to fight. “And you… That third eye. You’re like me. How marvelous.”
“What does that mean?” Pearl asked worriedly.
Garnet closed her middle eye reflexively, narrowing the other two. “What are you getting at?” she demanded. Her future vision was murky and vague, clouded where this Mazoku was concerned, and that was unsettling in ways she would never admit to outright. Mōdor laughed.
“Why, little sisters, we’re two sides of the same magic,” she crooned, “You Gems, with your false bodies and magical cores… Not so different from a monster like me. Especially you, Fusion.” Golden eyes found Garnet’s face, searching for something Garnet hoped she wouldn’t find. Mōdor shrugged bony shoulders that could’ve rattled in the relative quiet of the bathhouse. The other patrons paid them no mind. Garnet wondered whether they could see the crone. “I see you’ve lost something precious. Several somethings. Beautiful jewels, purple, blue, green and orange, lost on a little blue planet—“
“What do you know of Earth?” Pearl cut in, clutching Garnet’s elbow almost tightly enough to hurt. “How do you know about them?”
“I know everything my mistress shows me,” Mōdor said, “And many things that are yet to come. I know where you must go to find your lost jewels.”
“Where? Tell us!”
“Pearl, no,” Garnet hissed, “Don’t trust her.”
Pearl heard, but the ache in her chest weighed greater than her sense. “Mōdor, tell us. If we can revive them—“
“You can, and you cannot,” Mōdor said, spreading her arms wide. Wet black hair draped over her shoulders like a tattered cape, and Garnet swallowed a lump of fear in her throat. The Mazoku went on nonplused; “My Mistress sleeps on a golden sea, waiting. Sagittarius Zero Star, the old kingdom Shadow Galactica, it has a gate… The keeper of the gate will grant favor to stars that shine brightly enough.” She steepled her fingers, smiling wickedly. “You Gems might reach it. Might open the gate. The Golden Lady could revive your friends.”
Futures spread like wildfire before Garnet’s closed eye, and she shook her head. They weren’t pleasant. Weren’t easy. She saw a thousand ways where Pearl threw herself needlessly into danger and was lost to her forever, where Steven or Connie died—
And a handful where the crone’s words were true, where they returned to Earth to their lost family and friends.
Garnet blinked rapidly against tears, scrubbing at her eyes with one hand.
“Mōdor,” Pearl said slowly, “The Golden Lady… your mistress. That’s the Lord of Chaos, isn’t it?”
Mōdor clicked her tongue against her teeth. “She goes by many names,” she said, “Perhaps chaos, perhaps fortune… You will only know if She sees you.”
“Why would you tell us this?” Garnet asked, voice choked. “What do you gain?”
“Milady enjoys a good quest at Her behest,” Mōdor replied too sweetly, “Shadow Galactica has fallen, and the Cauldron is empty. She grows restless.”
Pearl looked up at Garnet beseechingly, blue eyes wide, wet with tears, and Garnet didn’t need her future vision to tell her what their next mission would be. They had nothing else to do, she supposed, and she sighed. It was a risk she didn’t want to embark on, but one that—should they succeed—would be well worth it. “Alright,” the Fusion murmured, “This Shadow Galactica at Sagittarius Zero Sar… we’ll look into it. Melfina will know if this information is anything more than gossip.”
“Excellent,” Mōdor murmured, bowing low. “I look forward to your progress.”
“What does that—“ Pearl started, but before the question could leave her lips, the Mazoku had vanished like smoke. The alabaster Gem hugged Garnet’s arm to her bare chest, pressed her face into her shoulder, and Garnet drew her close.
“Looks like we’ll owe Gene Starwind more favors,” Garnet sighed, blinking against tears of her own. Pearl nodded in agreement, shaking in her lover’s arms. The future wasn’t clear, even when Garnet tried to look into the short-term. From here, everything was cast in fog.
“I’m ready,” Pearl whispered, “I’m ready for anything. Let’s get them back, Garnet. I… we have to try.”
It went without saying, but Garnet nodded all the same, dipping to press a kiss to Pearl’s temple. “Yeah,” she agreed softly, “Let’s finish bathing, find the others, and get to the bottom of this.”