A Lost Crystal Gem - The Story of Sunset and how she became Spinel

by ratedoni

I Spy with my Little Eye

It was the perfect morning, big fluffy clouds in the sky, sun but not too hot and most important to have the perfect morning, a blue calm sea sending placid waves and the smell of water and salt that made Sunset think of the times she played on this very same beach, either with a tall rose haired woman or with her son. This time might be a little different, but still had the same kind of feeling of discovering something new combined with calm and peace. Of course, there was one person -or rock really- who didn’t feel very calm or peaceful.

“Steven, be careful! We don’t know where that thing has been!” The voice of Pearl was not as exuberant as Amethyst, who could scream like the best, but her ability to sound as worried as humanly possible, or at least for a gem, was enough to Make Sunset roll her eyes at the sheer quality of ‘Worried Mom’ it had. The way she took care of Steven was amazing for a creature that was everything except organic. The amount of maternal care and affection the thin gem irradiated every day was something that made Sunset warm… and slightly worried too considering most of that energy for the first few decades she had spent on Earth had been directed at her.

The redheaded gem hybrid was very well versed in how over-protective Pearl could be, but there was something endearing and almost funny the way she was always on the verge of a nervous breakdown, which only aggravated itself with how adventurous Steven became as he grew older. Said boy was right now climbing on top of the eye that had been shut down last night.

“Mostly space,” the calm and smooth British voice of Garnet explained everything that was needed about the scout ship making Sunset quietly chuckle at the immortal banter of her family. Just listening to Garnet for a few minutes could give you moments of comedic gold with her dry wit and sometimes non-sequiturs that seemed so out of place for a gem that looked so in control of itself. Of course, that came with the territory of being a perfect fusion of two extreme personalities. There was such a great balance inside Garnet that Sunset tried to emulate, sadly with varied results. Sometimes she was all sage-like with her friends, sometimes she just faceplanted.

“And the bottom of the sea, I’ve heard that salt is a great disinfectant,” Sunset said looking outside of the ship and at Pearl who was right now biting her fingernails, which of course was something so strange once you understood that the original gems were simply hard light projections.

For his part, the young boy known as Steven Universe was busy climbing the side of the big eye, using the metallic behemoth as if it were an attraction at the carnival. If there was one thing Sunset was sure of was that Steven used every opportunity to have some fun and this was obviously the perfect moment having his gem caretakers close to him.

“This is so cool! I have never seen a real space ship, well, besides the ones on TV,” Steven said with the usual stars on his eyes, just like his mother. Sunset smiled at her little brother.

“Pretty amazing, right? Sadly there is not much space in this thing. Like I said, this was used as a scout ship, everything completely automated so no one was hurt beyond a startled fish down under."

“Aw, poor fishes, do you think they are alright?”

“I’m sure they are fine you goofball. Anyway, most of the data is still intact, just like the propulsion system and parts of the engine. I would need some time to get the computer working; salt water is never good for instruments like this.”

“Wait, are you saying that you can make this eye space worthy again? As in, it can go out into space?” Pearl’s eyes were starting to shine and Sunset knew why.

“Wow, not so fast Pearl, one thing is to get it to fly inside the planet, another is making it capable of surviving a trip into the stratosphere. Right now, even if I patch the hole on both sides, the pressure of leaving the planet will cause the ship to implode into itself,” Sunset’s explanation quickly made Steven’s eyes to grow unfocused just like when the gems were explaining how to get his gem weapon. Seeing this, Garnet came to his rescue.

“It means that the ship will go boom in the sky,” With the simple yet effective explanation Steven quickly nodded before Garnet went on with the important part of their work “but it still doesn’t explain what shot it down.”

“That’s right, this is quite the mystery, I mean, there is no way a human weapon could shot down a ship like this, right?” Pearl went from completely sure of herself to doubting what she had said in seconds.

“The only thing I know is that there is this huge hole on both sides of the ship and yes, it was made with a gun and there is only one big enough gun to make this hole,” Sunset said opening her school backpack and with the help of her laptop she showed Garnet and Steven -and Pearl too once she jumped into the top of the ship- a photo of one big gun and a huge bullet on another picture “this is an RT-20, one of the few guns in the world that can shoot that bullet, a 20mm caliber monster. But even with that kind of power there is no way a human gun could pierce this type of alloy.”

“You are not convinced.”

“Wish I could just do that, but there’s more Garnet. I checked the hole it left and it matches, I mean, I have no real confirmation, but if this is correct, there is a weapon on this world that can shut down Gem ships.”

“Wait a second, a gem ship?” Steven’s question took every gem by surprise and they turned to look at the small member of the family “there are other gems out there in space?”

“Oh boy, you never told him about your planet, right?” The way Pearl was avoiding Sunset’s eyes said it all. This was going to be even worse than she thought. How do you explain a little kid that once you initiated a revolution and fought against your own kind? That would be such a great bedtime story.

Comments

[SpinelStride]

Well! I do like the choice of gem, at least!

[Windy0]

Please update soon.

[Sylica telca]

More please

[Sylica telca]

More please

[Pinklestia]

Oh boy, story time!

[NecromanCREEEEEE]

The way Sunset says "Oh boy" makes me annoyed...

[Chadbunger]

When sunset says oh boy I get quantum leap flashbacks.
Anyone else?