Deep Cut
*CHOO-CHOOO!*
With their trip into Rose's Room over and done, it was away from the Temple and off towards the Prime Kindergarten, the group (Amethyst, Peridot, Steven) arriving there in short time in a flash from the nearest Warp Pad. … Or at least, they'd normally be. However, this time, Amethyst decided to take a more scenic route to her old home. They needed time to chillax before they would get there, so with that in mind Amethyst found a particularly nice ride through the countryside in the form of a empty train car. Practical, not too easy to do but still fun to ride along in. As the train moved along the tracks towards its destination, They watched the landscape go by, much of it in the form of sunflowers and hay. With autumn just about to call it in for another year, much of the fields had a bit of frost overnight, leaving much of the hay with a slight sparkle to it in the breeze.
While much of the group was enjoying the ride along their way, Peridot was simply quiet, curled up as she felt the cart clank and clang.
"Explain to me again why we had to take this clanking train, when there's a convenient Warp Pad right in the center of it?" Peridot asked, some stray hay falling onto her, shaken off by the vibrating train.
"Trying to take a nicer way there. Check out the lay of the land," Amethyst insisted, presenting the land in front of them. While it would look pretty lovely for some, the idea of observing the place did not fancy her all too well. Admittedly, she was just along for the ride by this point, keeping her gaze away from the opened doors of the train car.
"Just let me know when we get there," sighed Peridot. With so many of their friends all but gone for now, poor Peridot was not motivated much to do anything, even less than she did when she had her limb enhancers on her. Well, Steven and Amethyst decided maybe pushing it was not something worth doing, as they looked on forward in the fields of amber grain. Well, what to do now?
"... Soooo … Pink Diamond, huh?" said Amethyst.
"Yeah," Steven sighed.
"Rose Quartz, eh?"
"Yep …"
"And the diamond she shattered. She's right there under your shirt," Amethyst pointed out. Steven lifted up his shirt to see his gemstone, and simply nodded to her.
"So … how're you feelin?"
There was some pause for a moment as Steven tried to better think about the situation. His time with "Rose Quartz" in his room, while it did get him to shout out some of the stress, it just left him more mixed up now that he calmed down. This wasn't just something to brush off, not anymore.
"I … kinda feel like Garnet right now. How she felt so lost before, you know? … I-I really thought I got it, that mom was framed and all that, but … now that she's a diamond I guess I'm … relieved?"
"Go on," Amethyst simply said, a bit invested in this. Peridot didn't look it, not even looking to them, but she was feeling invested in this too. Pink Diamond was his mom, after all.
"Well, on one hand, I'm glad she didn't shatter anyone. But on the other hand … she lied to everyone. And the truth's always better than a well-meant lie … maybe. I-I can see how she's both bad, and good. I don't know how to feel about it yet. …"
It was hard to find just one word to feel about this, although confusion was probably the strongest feeling shared by numerous members of the Crystal Gems, considering many of them had just ran off on them. Whatever the case may be, this was a bit much for them to do, but then again this huge lie was effecting all of this in some way. Who's to say where they could all be?
"So you're not mad?" Amethyst questioned.
"Well. Yes? No? I dunno, I'm just wondering how everyone else is taking this."
"But what about -" *THUD*
In a rather rough hit over a rock on the tracks, the cart made a big shake, causing a big haybale to tumble out, and knock Amethyst right off the tracks! Lucky for them the train wasn't moving very fast, but the second that happened, Steven grabbed Peridot and hopped out, tumbling a little themselves as Peridot yelped.
"Maybe next time warn me before you try to shatter yourself," Peridot grumbled, as they went over to check in on Amethyst, who still had the haybale stuck on top of her. It wasn't a knockout hit, but it did knock the wind out of her. Steven got the haybale off of her in little time at all. Amethyst was left dazed, and hay in her mouth, which she spat out.
"You okay?" Steven asked.
"Hay's a lot heavier than I thought," Amethyst murmured, as she got to her feet, shaking off some of the stray hay.
"So now what? Our train is leaving without us," Peridot grumbled, looking back to their fleeing ride. They all were too slow to catch up to the train, and it was a bit hard to say how much further it was to said Kindergarten. The group was left in the dust, but Amethyst didn't let that deter her, waving her hand dismissively.
"No sweat, Steve-O, P-Dot. Let's just get on our walking shoes and be off on our way. This way!" Amethyst said, taking the lead and keeping the spirits cheerful and good. They would have to jump off the train to get to the Prime Kindergarten anyway, so this was just an early drop-off as all. Not saying it was any better for the green Gem though.
~~~~~~
As probably expected, the walk over to the Prime Kindergarten was a long and tiring one, but still had a bit of chill time to get to the place in question. Steven knew one could get here outside of the Warp Pad's capabilities, but he didn't have Lapis Lazuli this time, so walking there was a little bit of a hassle to do. They only began to realize they were getting closer when the land began to lose its colors. not even the cooling winter snow could do much to help the weakened looking area coming up to the front of the canyon. Hard to believe this place used to be so full of Earth's life so long ago, if Pearl's story was anything to go by.
All three of them surely hadn't been here in such a long time, walking in from the main opening in the canyon, the ground as dry and dusty as it always had been. Not even years of work could ever really change what this place was, as much of the many holes and other constructs remained undisturbed for the most part.
"Ah, good ol' Kindergarten. It's nice to take a walk back to your roots sometimes, you know?" Amethyst sighed. a bit ironic once upon a time, but Amethyst was feeling a bit better of it now. It felt a bit better when it was all quiet and not working.
"If you want to call it that, then fine," Peridot sighed, kicking a pebble aside as they went along the Prime grounds of Amethyst's birth place. Eventually though, they began to reach a particularly familiar looking wall. The same wall where Amethyst made her first steps into this world. And her hole was left undisturbed, me-sized as she would say it to be.
Peridot personally wasn't in much of a mood for it, but she decided to just go on anyway, knowing that the two were waiting for something smart to come out of her.
"What you're looking at here is the Cut-8 division."
"Excuse me?" Steven asked.
"The Cut-8 Division. That's a name for a section of Kindergarten to better categorize the Gems coming out. Is this your hole, Amethyst?" Peridot questioned, examining the smaller hole when compared to the other holes.
"Yep, that's my hole. Just *pop* right out of here," Amethyst said. Peridot examined it a bit closer.
"... Yep, you Amethyst are Facet-5 Cut-8XM.That would make those following up 8XL, 8XJ, 8XK -" before Peridot could finish, Amethyst jumped right up to the holes in question, now more intrigued about all of this.
"WHOA, so these holes were full after all! Nice to meet ya, 8XL."
"Actually that's 8XJ. The order goes from top to bottom. 8XL is underneath you," Peridot corrected. Amethyst hopped down to the other hole in question, checking it out herself and seeing the deposits within. With the exception of her own hole, all of the others were taller and larger than her so it gave her room to look around a bit.
"Oh. Sorry, sis, didn't mean to mix ya up. So, what else can you tell from these holes?" Amethyst asked, sitting down inside 8XL's hole, and waiting for some answer. Peridot just went along with it.
"You can tell what kind of features a cut can have by studying the deposits inside. 8XJ for example I can tell just by looking at it from here that she has curly hair. And 8XL has more prominent purple skin," observed Peridot. Amethyst hopped back up to 8XJ to see for herself, and she did slightly notice a very slight change in the walls inside. Steven and Amethyst were impressed.
"That's sweet! Here, uh, what can you tell from this one?" Steven asked, going up to another hole in a wall off nearby, about two levels up. Peridot thought about it for a brief moment.
"That would be 8XG, and if I'm not mistaken, she has pinkish skin much like your typical Rose Quartz," Peridot confirmed. This was very interesting, and amethyst looked on down to Steven and Peridot, seeing that this trip was having some fun after all. Good thing too.
"Okay, Peridot, let's try … this one!" Amethyst then made a huge leap up to a very high hole, a good thirty feet up. This one Peridot had to better consider, but it took her little time to work it out, and she had to back up to the opposite wall to better see the hole Amethyst was standing in. Her visors sure came in handy here.
"That's 8UZ! A blue Amethyst!" Peridot called. Whelp, this all was very impressive to both Amethyst and Steven, as Amethyst jumped down back to ground level.
"Not bad. So, is it all Amethysts here?" Amethyst asked. Peridot shook her head.
"Not necessarily, but it was the main type that exited from this place. However, other types of Quartzes had emerged from here."
"You mean like Star Quartz?" Steven asked, as Peridot walked over towards another wall.
"Star Quartz's gemstone had to be injected directly, so no. I'm talking about Gems that were officially made within this planet. This hole here -" she pointed over to a broader hole along the ground, "- is one of the Topazes created. And up along the south wall -" she said as she pointed to a cluster of holes south of them, "- is a group of Citrines."
Their minds were boggled at this.
"You're pretty amazing, dot," Amethyst complimented. Peridot smiled, but with so much already happening, one way or another, the smile quickly went away. But now, something else began to occupy her mind, as she thought back to just how much she was … well, not there. Once upon a time, this Gem would've been marveled and fascinated by what could be done here. But now …
"... This used to make sense to me. Formless, stray energy gathered to create new, useful Gems. I thought we were creating life before, so many Gems come in and out, so many new faces. … But life doesn't start in a Kindergarten. … It ends here."
The distraught Gem walked along down through the Prime Kindergarten, eyes gazing up at all the empty space, silent injectors, and cold air. Cold. Dry. And quiet. Those three words summed up what this Kindergarten gave off to her, and what others would come by.
"I've gotten used to plants everywhere: bugs and breeze, and sunshine. All of that has been sucked out of this place. It's with the Gems that were produced here, and now, this place is nothing but a miserable husk. … I didn't understand before but … I guess I can see why you all didn't want this to happen. …"
Peridot quietly continued walking until she found a nice rock to sit down on. Amethyst and Steven looked to eachother in concern, as Peridot laid down, her eyes to the sky. It was so blue before, but with the white haze, there wasn't anything to be had here. Not even the warmth of the sun could reach this place.
"And now nothing will ever grow here again. All of the Gems that were made here are now gone, and no more will ever be made here again."
"Hey, I'm right here!" Amethyst, a Prime Kindergarten Gem, quickly corrected.
"Oh. Well, almost all of them. Either way, nothing's gonna be living here anymore. Not then. Not now. And never again …"
"Uh, Peridot?"
"Don't try to cheer me up, Steven, it's just facts. I can handle it," Peridot groaned, not seeing what Amethyst and Steven were seeing.
"Peridot."
"What?" Peridot groaned, looking down to them with little enthusiasm. Amethyst and Steven began to back up a little bit, their gaze not focusing on Peridot exactly. The green Gem was not amused.
"How cliché of you two," Peridot groaned. But then Amethyst began to summon her weapon, as a large shadow then began to cover her body, and the rock she was on. Whelp, she wasn't being tricked, there indeed was something behind her, and what it was apparently made Steven and Amethyst freak out. Peridot slowly got up …
"... HWAAAHH!"
Tactical Ruby maneuver: Right to the face! Whoever was standing behind her was knocked off its feet, stumbling to the ground, a little bit dazed but not too hurt. In fact, shortly after, they began to hear someone laughing.
"That's some kick. For a Peridot, you hit hard," the figure joked. The voice sounded a bit vaguely familiar (okay, a LOT familiar) to Amethyst's voice. She had light bluish-purple skin and white hair, standing as tall as a standard fighter Gem. Her gemstone, located on her right hip, had a circular light lavender gemstone with a hexagonal facet.
Oh, and she was a Gem. Amethyst to be exact. Amethyst Facet-5 Cut-8UZ.
"Amethyst?" Steven asked, as the other Amethyst got up.
"Yep, that's me, 8UZ of the Prime. You just come out, deep cut?" 8UZ asked, referring to Amethyst. Amethyst was just taken aback from the identity of this Gem alone, let alone the question.
"Eh, no. I've uh -"
"Wait a minute," 8UZ kneeled down and got a closer look to Amethyst. In particular, the gemstone on her chest. The gem saw her own reflection and did some mental comparisons.
"NO WAY, it is you! Amethyst 8XM! I'd know that cut anywhere," 8UZ said in surprise. Amethyst and Steven glanced over to Peridot, who cleared her throat.
"A cut of a gemstone can identify what section of a Kindergarten they're from," Peridot said, though admittedly she too was a bit surprised to see that Amethyst was identified in her cut so easily when, according to the time she came out, none of the others would've even seen her.
"Oh, this is HUGE. Wait til the others hear about this."
"Wait. others? Are the others with you?" Peridot inquired.
"Sure, all of the division's here. They're just down that way, come on," said the other amethyst, already walking off to rejoin the others.
~~~~~~
The walk with this other Amethyst didn't really last as long as the walk up to the Kindergarten itself, but it still took some time for them to even get there. Steven, Peridot, and Amethyst shared a similar intrigue with eachother on the idea that there were still Gems roaming around the Prime that weren't corrupted or shattered already.
And really, it didn't take too much time left until they began to hear the sounds of activity. Just around the next corner, as 8UZ casually walked on, the trip laid witness to the full cut of the 8 division, all gathered together within the Kindergarten. It looked as if they've stepped back in time, to a point when the Kindergarten looked as "active" as it was while in operation: many amethysts chatting and fooling around with one another. Amethyst just stood there, mouth agape and eyes starry. She may have seen her own cut while on Homeworld, but this was unreal. Not that she was complaining, that is. All these Amethysts, each one the same height but with slight differences to one another in gem placement, tone in voice and tone in colors.
"WHOA. Amethyst, this is all your cut?"
"Y-Yes!" Amethyst said in a hush. 8UZ went on over to a group of these Amethysts.
"Yo!"
"Hey 8UZ, what's up?"
"I'll tell you what's up: you're not gonna believe this. Look who I found by the Kindergarten borders," 8UZ said, presenting Amethyst to her. Amethyst snapped out of it for a moment, but suddenly she was screaming, a huge smile on her face.
"AAAHHH! OH MY GOSH! My own cut - ALL HERE!" Amethyst beamed, going right over to them. She was more than happy to welcome Amethyst in, much like 8UZ able to recognize what cut she was from in no time at all. Peridot and Steven went over to them as well.
"This is great! They're all like your sisters, Amethyst," Steven said.
"I know, isn't this great?! FINALLY I get to know what I've been missing!" Amethyst beamed, the other Amethyst fluffing her hair a bit.
"Great to finally see ya, 8XM. You were right under me. We all waited but, nothing. Hey, name's -" he was about to introduce herself, but Amethyst wanted the fun to figure this out for herself.
"Ah ah ah, wait, don't tell me … 8XL!" Amethyst guessed, impressing her fellow Gem.
"You got it!" 8XL said. Amethyst can't miss this opportunity. Amethyst got to a good spot to see the cut around her, and she began to try and recall what Peridot had said earlier. She started to look over the group of Gems around her, trying to remember the details, until she started pointing out Gems.
"Let's see … and … AHA, you must be 8XJ!" Amethyst said, pointing out a Amethyst from the crowd, this one having curly hair just as Peridot had said. 8XJ gave her a thumbs up, and Amethyst tried another one.
"Sweet! And … you're 8XG!" Amethyst said, pointing out another one closer to her, this one having colors much like a Rose Quartz. Right again!
"Not bad, sis. You read up on us before showing up, or what?" 8UZ asked.
"With a hand from my friend over there," Amethyst said, thumb pointing to Peridot. From the position now, 8XJ started to see the Cutie Mark amethyst had on her face, kneeling down and her finger poking it.
"What do you call this thing?" she asked.
"Oh, that ol thing? My Cutie Mark," Amethyst answered. This reveal did surprise a good number of the Amethysts there, as none of them even had any cutie marks on them to speak of. come to think of it, they never seen a Peridot with a cutie mark either. 8XJ picked up Amethyst.
"Dang, a Deep Cut AND the first Cutie Mark'd Gem. Who'd of thunk it?" 8XJ said, psyched to hear that of her.
Steven and Peridot were simply watching off aside as this all was going on, seeing Amethyst having a blast. Made them almost forget that they had their own crisis going on, but even with this, Peridot still had at least one question for them before going off any further.
"We got so much to catch up on! Hey, guess what we saw before coming here?" said 8XL.
"I'm probably gonna guess it wrong, so what?" Amethyst asked with a grin.
"Ready for this? A TRI-STONED. Concrete Gem! I only heard that something like that's unheard of!" Amethyst herself wasn't sure what a Concrete Gem was, but she did recall some of the others mentioning something about Concrete as they explained their travels on the Space Station.
"Prime, Prime, Prime, you Amethysts are so cliquey," said a voice. It didn't sound like an Amethyst, but some of the cut moved aside and soon saw a Jasper standing there - the same one Team B had rescued and basically assembled back together!
"Skinny J, you made it! Hey, where's Carnelian?" asked 8XG. Skinny just smirked.
"Celebrating."
And just like that, Amethyst was suddenly lifted off the ground by Carnelian, catching her by surprise at first, but becoming hyped fairly quickly. Carnelian of course felt just as psyched to see Amethyst.
"I'm not the shortest anymore!" she cried, racing around with Amethyst as the purple Gem laughed. Well, it would seem that Amethyst was gonna be pre-occupied for a good while, and Steven and Peridot both weren't sure on what to do. The odds that the Kindergarten Gems would end up coming back around were a bit rare, and they didn't have Garnet around for the moment to even ask so what should they do?
"Nice for her to find her family, huh?" Steven said.
"Seems so. Though I have to wonder what they're doing here in the first place. …" Peridot pondered on this for a bit.
"Well, either way, the Kindergarten is sure more lively."
"Steven, this doesn't prove anything," Peridot griped, walking off ahead. "They may be back, but this place is still drained of life. And now nothing will ever grow here again, not even this flower!"
… And just like that, both of them froze. did Peridot really say that right? Looking down to the ground, Steven and Peridot soon found that they found something growing within the kindergarten after all! The flower in question looked rather tiny, resembling that of a small buttercup, with gray petals that held a odd resemblance to Peridot's Cutie Mark. It even had a similar sheen to the light as well, much like metal or steel, so it was unclear if this was a real flower or a fake one.
"WOW, that's Earth for you - always bouncing back!" Steven beamed, looking to the flower on ground level. He gently touched the flower, and while it appeared metallic, actually felt soft to the touch. Peridot wasn't convinced however, going on ground level herself.
"I don't know. This could be nothing more than an anomaly," Peridot observed, also touching the flower. The intriguing part was how well it resembled the flower she had on her cheek. Appearing like a flower one would find in a party store, but in reality a flower grown out in the garden.
"Hey, Peridot, c'mere!" called one of the Amethysts.
"What is it?"
"8UZ's been telling us that you got some strength on those limbs. Wanna show us?" she offered. Peridot got up, taking her mind off of this random flower that had just appeared for a brief moment.
"... Oh alright. I got literally nothing better to do," she sighed, beginning to walk off towards the Amethyst in question. Steven took a slight pause by said flower before he too went off.
…….
With the newly discovered flower out of the mind for at least a while, it was downtime with the group of the 8 cut. Since they've never had the pleasure of meeting up to this point, they took their time to catch up on stories, and as the amethysts told what they've been up to since leaving Earth behind, Amethyst gave them more than enough info on her own adventures, including of course how she got her Cutie Mark. A chance of re-telling that story had been far too rare for her.
With this story telling as well, also came Peridot's turn to actually show off what she could really do. Seemed that training with Ruby did give her a bit more of an edge in her fighting style, it just enough to keep the bruisers' attention as she did a few practice punches and kicks. Peridot had admittedly been a little out of practice though, as it had been a while since her last sparring with the red Gem.
"The Gem knows her stuff," commented one of the Amethysts.
"Yeah, and looks like Ruby-style too," said another. Peridot knocked up a rock, and with an uppercut kick, swung it high into the air. This tossed it straight up towards an inactive injector, hitting it in one of the legs. With it being twenty feet up, that wasn't too bad.
"Hey, P, where'd you get those moves from?" 8XG asked.
"I've accomplished time to better train myself with the Crystal Gem Ruby, joined by the Crystal Gem Garnet on occasion," Peridot explained. Although she did feel down a little from reminding herself of that issue, it did feel nice to get some attention from the other Gems.
"That where this came from?" she asked, referring to the Cutie Mark again. They took the time to tell them what Cutie Marks were about, as much as they could understand, but Peridot had yet to give them the idea on how she got hers. And THAT, accompanied by the injector above, gave Peridot the perfect opportunity.
"Actually, this Cutie Mark is from something different. If one of you can loosen one of the legs on that injector up there, I'll show ya," Peridot said. The group looked up to said Injector, which itself was precarious with a weakened leg already.
"Alrigh. 8UZ, wanna do that?" 8XL said. 8UZ already felt the strength in the Peridot's legs, she had to see this! In a few jumps from hole to hole, she went right up to the injector. Some of the Amethysts backed up a bit, but Peridot stood there boldly, only stretching a bit as they began to hear the injector weaken from 8UZ's own strength on it. Pretty soon, like an apple plucked off of a branch, the injector popped off and began to fall right onto Peridot … just for the Gem to raise her hands. Just like that, the Injector stopped altogether, much to the shock of the Amethysts. With a slight strained groan, Peridot tossed it to the side, the injector landing in a thud.
There was some silence at first, but then all the Amethysts cheered and applauded the feat she had done.
"WHOA, you clobbered that thing without even touching it!" gasped 8XJ.
"I know, it's sweet. I got Ruby to thank for that too," Peridot admitted with a smile. In a way that was correct influence wise. All of this was being observed by Amethyst, Steven, Skinny, and Carnelian, who were having some down time themselves. Amethyst was sitting on a boulder, Skinny leaning on it as Carnelian and Steven stood aside.
"Geesh, your Peridot's getting along pretty well with your sisters, deep cut," Skinny commented.
"She has that way with people," Steven said, seeing her having fun with the Amethysts.
"I can see that. Heh, a Gem with a Cutie Mark. What'll they come up with next?"
"Things that grow in the Kindergarten," Carnelian pointed out, bringing their attention over back to the flower. Well, she got em there.
"Good point. Really though, I've never seen anything growing here, and I've been hanging around this joint for 5,000 years," Amethyst said, thinking back on it. The only thing that really grew in the Kindergarten, if it counted, was dust. no way could any normal flower just grow in a place like this.
"Like I said: Earth's always bouncing back," Steven said. They all looked to the flower, which despite all of the empty, and dead space everywhere, looked surprisingly healthy for what it was.
"WOW: Cutie Mark Gems, a Peridot that can float injectors, and now a flower in the Kindergarten! Blue's gonna be psyched when she gets here!" Carnelian said, unable to contain herself.
"Hold up, Blue Diamond?" Steven asked.
"Who else decided to send us here?" Skinny shrugged, "She's gonna be back here in a day or two, so when she gets here you can show her that flower if you want to."
They would. Normally. But being told about Blue Diamond just reminded them both about another Diamond they've gotten a lot of information on already, and … kinda why they were here in the first place.
"Eh … maybe? Can you give us a sec," Steven said. Skinny allowed them that, and he went off with Amethyst over nearby the flower, just out of earshot.
"Don't tell me: Pink Diamond, right?"
"Blue Diamond was closer to her than any of the other diamonds. … If anyone should be told about it, it's her. We really should," Steven insisted. Amethyst though was not in the mood for a bad time again.
"UGH, this again? Steven, I know you wanna help them, but I'll go and tell her, you just -"
"WE should tell her," Steven cut in, "I have her gem, she was my mom, I should be the one to say something. Besides, I guess what really matters right now is how they feel about it. It might be hard, but she should know."
Steven stepped on a land mine.
"But what about you?! You were always under all this pressure to be like her! But... Was she even like her? Was anyone ever like her? She was supposed to be so great! She was supposed to know everything... And... ugh... She was supposed to make everything better!" Amethyst retorted. This sudden snap got Steven completely off guard, backing up as she went on.
"It's not fair! We shouldn't have to deal with any of this, we shouldn't have to fix any of this, we weren't around for a stupid war! This... This is everyone else's problem... This is nothing to do with us."
"Amethyst? … Are you okay?" Steven asked. Amethyst snapped back to what she just said to him, looking down to the flower.
"I-I'm fine! Steven, I'm trying to find out how you feel about all this! You just left me in the dark on that train here. Ugh-She's ... Your mom, okay? Doesn't really affect me."
Amethyst really needed to change the subject fast before this could go any further, and seeing the flower gave her one.
"H-Here, look, you wanna show Blue Diamond something, let's show her flowers!" Amethyst insisted.
"Wait, Amethyst, what about -"
"Don't worry about it, listen," Amethyst cut in, "There's an actual plant growing here, right? And it looks like it can survive pretty good here, so who's to say no other plants can? What do you say we gathered up some plants, bring them here, and get a garden going? How does that sound, garden bro?"
Well, the idea of making a garden grow here sure sounded pretty good. Steven paused and imagined what the Kindergarten could look like with, well, a garden in it. Steven didn't take too much time to think on it. Maybe this could help Amethyst as much as it could help the Kindergarten, whatever the issue was.
"Alright, you sold me. Let's garden the Kindergarten!"
~~~~~~
Things sure got busy after this project got started: Amethyst, Steven, and by extension Peridot, went on back to the barn house for a quick moment and returned with a number of gardening supplies. Much of this included the typical items: plenty of potted plants, some digging equipment, bags of soil, and of course the tractor. Not too bad for a start, and they got plenty of ground to get started from.
First step: turning up the soil. With some help from the other Amethysts, they found a nice spot further down the ways, and they began to move some rocks out of the way. Plants couldn't take root too well with so many stray boulders all over the place. While moving all the boulders was fun to do, they still were a bit perplexed with the exact goal, some seeing Amethyst roll a giant boulder away as she walked on top of it, as Peridot followed close behind with the tractor turning the soil up. Must be some sort of training they were doing.
Second step: digging holes. By the time they got to this part, Carnelian decided to have a go at this. Steven and Amethyst dug a few holes, just deep enough to get the plants inside, but not too deep. Carnelian though didn't get that and just started digging like crazy for a bit, before Skinny plucked her out, smirking but shaking her head. The digging also got some dirt on Peridot, which Carnelian couldn't help but snicker at, just for the green Gem to toss some dirt at her too. Might as well have some fun while working on this. Amethyst was seeing this, and could only smile.
Third step: planting the flowers. This step was pretty easy, as they went on around to bury the potted plants into the ground. This part needed a more gentle touch as to not hurt the flowers being planted here, and this was more done by Peridot and Steven, though the Amethysts did decide to join in and spread some of the bagged soil for them. If this was something for their diamond, they might as well pitch in some more. Once they all were planted, in came the fun part.
Fourth step: water plants. And did they have a hose to handle this? Nope. Lapis? nope. But they were good and armed up with a few sets of water guns. At first, the group just shot the plants directly, but Peridot quickly corrected them on what to do on that, and they got up along the walls and shot down instead. This was to resemble the rain that would come down to the Kindergarten.
The garden sure looked spiffy with a nice row of sunflowers lined up along the floors of the Kindergarten. Since the first flower was growing fairly well, they made the work closer to it, and much of the sunflowers now surrounded the metallic looking plant. Peridot sure felt pretty good to see the Kindergarten a bit more lively again like the rest of the planet, and Amethyst … well, she was feeling better too.
"Well, will you look at that? Now that's some plants," Amethyst said.
"Yeah. OH! wait, one more thing!" Steven said, rushing off for a brief moment. Soon, he came back for one more little bit of icing for this cake: a flamingo. The crowning achievement to finally finish up the garden itself.
"Tada! I declare this garden, complete!" Steven announced. Peridot was feeling happy with this whole thing.
"Hey … thanks for doing this with me," Peridot said.
"No problem. I was fun," Steven replied. both he and Peridot looked to the garden, feeling satisfied and accomplished in their little task.
"I'm just glad I'm able to fix something," Peridot said. It would be time for things to be fixed. They took some time to admire their work, the garden standing pretty good with the sunflowers standing tall in what so many would consider dead land. It was so lovely, they almost forgot that the small flower was still standing healthy inside. Looking up though, they began to see that it was starting to get late.
"Well, time to head on back. Hey, wanna grab a bite to eat? Heard Fishstew Pizza's having a discount special," Amethyst offered.
"Already? but you just got here," said Carnelian.
"Don't worry, we'll check back tomorrow on the garden," Steven promised. He was getting a bit hungry anyway, so perhaps some food would do him pretty good. Amethyst and Steven started to head off, but Peridot was still over by the garden they've finished working with.
"Hey, P-dot, you coming?"
"You two go on ahead. I'm gonna stay here nd keep watch over this some more," Peridot said, as she laid down to look over the small metallic flower that gave them the idea at all. And who could blame her, really?
"Alright then, see ya later. Come on, Steven, let's get our pizza on," Amethyst said, getting a headstart. Steven was happy to join her, as Peridot and the others of the cut admired the gift for Blue Diamond's arrival.
They brought something good to the Kindergarten.
…….
"Here you go. A pizza with, literally everything on it."
"Aww yeah."
Now off at Fishstew Pizza, Amethyst and Steven got the time to get a reward for their hard effort. For the pizza itself, a normal pizza this size was enough to share between two people, but as for the toppings … well, it looked less like a pizza and more like a mound of food slapped on a pizza crust: basil leaves, shrimp bites, pepperonis, tomato slices, and even a full-sized red fish: head out one end, tail out the other, the rest buried in cheese and whatever else. Amethyst's eyes sparkled, before Kiki gave the two a set of spoons.
"Here you go. you're gonna need these," Kiki advised, and honestly that could go without saying.
"Thanks, Kiki," Steven said. Kiki went on back to the front counter, as both Steven and Amethyst began to get into their meal, Steven taking scoops with the spoon as Amethyst ate hers much like a taco, which was probably the safest way of doing this, eating it as a pizza.
"So," Steven said, after having his first bite, "How's it feel to meet the family?"
"Surprising. I mean, I've been seeing these holes all over the Kindergarten, but now they're more than just holes. They're holes, that were once full!" Amethyst replied. What're the odds her specific cut would end up coming off back around here?
"I'm glad to hear it," Steven said, working another scoop of the pizza, "And you know, this is pretty good. Working on the garden in the Kindergarten, meeting the other Amethysts, learning how the holes work. It's all pretty nice, but …"
Amethyst, who was smiling softly through much of his talk, lost that smile by the end of it.
"But …"
Steven sighed.
"Well, it's the Diamonds. I know you said it doesn't involve us, but in a way … it kinda does."
"OH NO, Steven, come on, we weren't -"
"Involved in the war, I know. But I think we should do something. I've been trying to think of something to say to Blue Diamond. So, what do you think about -"
"Hold up," Amethyst cut in, not looking too happy, "You mean this whole time we've been in the Kindergarten working on the garden, and you STILL were thinking about that?"
"Uh … yeah. It's kind of a big thing."
*THUD* went her head on the table. Steven jumped when she did that, the meal surprisingly still in tact. Amethyst have had about enough of this.
"Okay, you know what Steven, don't come."
"What?"
"You heard me, let me handle this, Steven! No more adult should be putting anything else on you. Just let someone else take care of it for once!" and with that, Amethyst suddenly went off on her way, exiting the place and leaving Steven with quite the order. Since no one else was there, the conversation was heard loud and clear by all the co-workers inside, leaving a bit of an awkward moment.
"... Wait. What's happening?" Kiki asked.
…….
While it was a bit unprecedented, Amethyst went straight back to the Kindergarten fairly early on, taking the situation on herself. If Blue Diamond was going to be coming by, and if they were gonna tell her anything, then Amethyst placed it on herself over dragging the others with her. This felt … familiar. Not the exact same, but still close.
It was starting up nighttime when she got there, full moon raised, and she didn't see much of anyone this time. All those 8 division amethysts, Skinny and Carnelian must've wandered off a bit to look around the planet, leaving Amethyst by herself, going right off the Warp Pad and off down the Prime Kindergarten. She didn't get to about thirty feet when she heard the Warp Pad go off again.
"Steven," she groaned, before getting a head start. She would guess that Steven would follow her, and she even saw him off behind her, shouting to her to get her to stop, but Amethyst was not having any of it.
"Amethyst, we need to talk!"
"No we don't!" Amethyst shouted, keeping in front of him as fast as her stubby legs could keep her.
"Just talk to me! You'll feel better!" Steven called again, as they rushed passed a corner.
"Get out of my head!" Amethyst yelled.
And suddenly, she stopped. After passing a corner of the Kindergarten, Amethyst's sights saw a … more depressing scene. Steven caught up with her, but he quickly saw what was going on himself.
There. Right in plain sight, was the garden they had left for Blue Diamond. Or rather, what was left of it. All of the sunflowers they've planted just a few hours ago were laying lifeless on the dirt, petals fallen, stems weak, and buds dry. All of their hard work meant nothing for the Kindergarten, as the land drained what life was left in the soil of the flowers. Even the flamingo they left seemed missing, the standee snapped at the stem, and the flamingo piece laying in the remains of their garden.
And there was Peridot as well, sitting nearby in defeat, with a water gun empty, and gaze staring off back into the empty gray space above the lifeless plain.
"Peridot?" Steven quietly asked. Peridot did not look happy at all.
"I failed again. Big surprise. Why did I expect any different?" Peridot groaned.
"W-Well, maybe if we try again -" before Steven could finish, Peridot jumped to her feet and was suddenly yelling right in his face!
"IT'S NOT GOING TO WORK! IT'S NEVER GOING TO WORK, OKAY?!" Peridot cried.
"HEY, watch it, we're just trying to help!" Amethyst said.
"Well SOME HELP you are!" Peridot snapped, "Thanks a lot for showing me that when something goes wrong, it won't ever get better again! There's no hope in ANYTHING getting better, and we can't get anything back: not our home, not our friends, and NOT THIS CRUMBY PLANET EITHER!" She kicked one of the dead sunflowers hard before continuing, "We might as well just grab it all and throw it all away, and toss ourselves down with it, BECAUSE IT'S ALL JUST HOPELESS TRASH!"
"But Peridot, even if the sunflowers didn't work, we know something can grow here," Steven said, referring to the single, metal flower, which itself was the only thing remaining in this land of the dead. A small beacon of hope that, for the moment, Peridot couldn't see.
"This clod's just like us: too dumb to GET WITH THE PROGRAM!" Peridot shouted, raising her foot, and slammed it down onto the flower, shaking the foundation of the entire kindergarten around them. … Which made absolutely no sense.
"Peridot?"
"Uh …" Peridot felt a bit mixed by this. On one hand, the anger she had before quickly shifted to sorrow when she moved her foot off of the flower, seeing it smashed weakly. But on the other end, what made the Kindergarten shake like that? That couldn't be her doing that, no matter the dramatic effect. She lifted her foot, and this time tapped the ground, getting an even stronger vibration, making the green Gem jump. What else was making that kind of impact, if not her?
"That's it, on your feet!"
"Hey, hey, easy, where's the fire?"
Odd, but you know what they say about curiosity. The trio of Gems moved off a little bit over to the next bend in the path, and not only did they find the other Amethysts again not too far away, but there was … someone else. Someone who clearly was forcing these Gems into submission. Carnelian amongst the crowd was thrown by, landing on the ground by some other amethysts. The dim light began to reveal the horrifying truth.
Rupee's back.
"Now all of you rocks, even you pathetic off-colored clods, get on your feet, and get in that ship," Rupee instructed. The three looked over to where she was pointing, and the found that there was indeed a sort of ship docked not too far away, presumably what made the tremors earlier.
"Who're you to order us around?!" yelled one of the amethysts. Sounded like she had been around for a little bit too. Rupee was a bit more bitter than before (maybe), and the main response was the Amethyst being grabbed by the head and thrown into the ship. This surely got them all looking a bit worried.
"Now that I have your attention, listen up: White Diamond wants all of you off this crumby rock and back with her, now get in there. It's under Diamond orders," Rupee ordered, pointing inside the ship's main cockpit, the thrown Amethyst still dazed inside.
"What's getting to you? We didn't know anything about some transfer - again," Skinny commented, arms crossed.
"And neither does Blue, and let's keep it that way."
"What?!" Before Skinny could get an answer, Rupee grabbed her, and like any other nuisance of hers, threw her into the ship.
"What's she doing?" Peridot asked.
"I don't know, but we have to help them! Amethyst, think you - … Amethyst?" Steven and Peridot realized a little too late that Amethyst was already gone, and after a little bit of looking, they found the small Gem trying to sneak up on Rupee. Her weapon was already drawn, and she was determined to get the big Gem off of this rock herself. No way was she gonna watch her sisters get taken away, not if she could help it.
"Amethysts. What a waste of my time," Rupee commented as the group started to head off inside the ship. "You're lucky White Diamond doesn't see any Gem as worthless, otherwise I'd not bother putting you to any use."
Rupee began to scrape the ground with her foot, seeing the dust come up. "… This planet. Those Crystal Gems are roaming all over this place, pathetic excuses. Those Gems are gonna get what they deserve.We all only get what we deserve. ..."
ATTACK! Amethyst jumped out of her hiding place, almost immediately sending her whips right at Rupee. In a smirk, the Rupee grabbed the whip just before it could get her face, the sound of the cracking whip startling much of the cut, some immediately giving a diamond insignia.
"Remember me, Rupee?" Amethyst asked, whips at the ready.
"... No," Rupee coldly stated, starting to pull the whip towards her. Another runt could be something for White Diamond to work with. Amethyst landed and yanked her whips out of her grip, the spiked balls on the end of the whips cutting into Rupee's hand just enough to make her let go. Rupee growled, as Amethyst armed herself up with double whip power. Before she could go in though, Steven blindly rushed up to her side, bringing out his shield.
"Of course, someone like you would need backup," Rupee commented, pointing to Steven.
"Steven, stop it!" Amethyst demanded.
"Don't worry, don't let Rupee get to you. We got this!"
"Ok, THAT'S IT!" Amethyst grabbed Steven, and threw him aside. and just in time before Rupee barreled right into the other quartz. A bit of a surprise, but Amethyst knew this fight was for her to deal with, not him. Rupee could care less either way, as long as she would put them in their place. The purple Gem was rammed right into the wall, and then thrown all the way to the otherside, dangerously close to the gemship parked. The hit was a bit brutal.
"Amethyst!" Steven gasped, rushing to her aid. This time, Amethyst couldn't do much, and Rupee spurred into action again, grabbing Steven by the back, and swinging him up high, before smashing him into the dirt!
"Hey. Look what I got?" Rupee mocked, holding the now weakened Steven in her hand like a prize.
"LOOK HERE!" and out of nowhere, Peridot got her own action to work. no matter her feelings, she could at least make sure no one is shattered in her line of sight, using her metallic ability to launch a piece of injector metal at the Rupee's head. The hit stun her, but more over how out-of-nowhere it was rather than the impact. Amethyst got herself up again, just to see Peridot and Steven now caught up in the fight. This just made her upset, but not for the reasons one would think.
"Give it up, you two!" Rupee stated firmly, "I got no time to deal with a group of defective runts."
"And you got NO PLACE to be here!" Peridot snapped, Steven bringing up his shield. Rupee just huffed.
"I'm a Gem under White Diamond, I have the right to go ANYWHERE. Now, you two either come back with me with this cut, or you two can stay here as a bunch of shards."
"I'm not gonna let you take these Gems!" Steven stated. That just made Rupee laugh.
"Let me? You can stop me even if you wanted to!" And to prove her point, she grabbed Steven's shield, yanked it away, and snapped it in two like a twig. She was about ready to go in to -
*BAM*
It came out of nowhere. And it didn't hit Rupee. Steven and Peridot, stunned and shocked, were knocked a good twenty feet away from the other Gem, leaving Steven with a cut on his face due to the spikes. The wound itself wasn't anything major, but it was when they saw the spiked whip, and Amethyst holding it, did the shock come through. SHE struck them blind.
"How many times do I have to tell you to stay out of it?!" Amethyst snapped, "This isn't your fight, you don't need this! What's it gonna take for that to get through to you?"
"What do you mean?" Steven asked. Amethyst thought she was good earlier, but now she had to spell it out for him.
"You two really want to know how I feel?!"
"I thought I was pretty clear about that," Steven said, humbly.
"I thought I was clear, too!" Amethyst said. "I feel like I don't wanna say, "What about me?" Okay!? And I don't want to be bent out of shape! I don't wanna be stuck in the past, and I'm not responsible for what Rose did! None of us are! Not you, not Pearl, not Garnet, none of the Crystal Gems!" With it spelled out a bit more, Steven began to feel slightly guilty for pushing Amethyst like this. She said this tons of times, and he didn't pay it mind.
"But I am responsible for me! And right now, I am NOT gonna dump another thousand-year-old complex on you or anybody else! I'm ending it right here!" Amethyst turned away from Steven and Peridot, her hand aimed to the sky as if on a stage. "I am the ding dong sunshine future, your friend forever!"
After that, amethyst slowly started to calm down, before turning to Steven and Amethyst with a softer expression.
"... And I'm not gonna fall apart on you."
Steven and Peridot glanced to one another, but they had little time to actually get this to work out, as Rupee got herself snapped out of it, and focused her attention on them again. Amethyst armed up for the attack again, seeing Steven raise his hand to feel the cut on his face.
"Sorry for hitting you, by the way," Amethyst said, before walking over to confront Rupee.
"What Rose did? What're you talking about?" Rupee asked, though she was more annoyed than anything. Amethyst was in no mood to answer to someone like her, and now with Peridot and Steven off aside, she had all focus on her.
"That's not your problem. Now, They've had enough already! NOW BEAT IT!" And just like that, it was amethyst who took the first charge, running straight for her. Rupee wasn't fazed, and was actually thrilled as she too rushed forward. They both slammed into one another, and Rupee was bumped back a bit, as Amethyst was launched off pretty far, landing her in top of an injector along the wall. Amethyst was not down for the count just yet, and leaped off of the injector in a rapid spin. She kept spinning once she landed, darting forward. Rupee simply made a side-step to dodge it, but Amethyst had her whips out, and one actually got to her leg, gripping her. Amethyst spun around over and over and over again, until Rupee found herself wrapped up in Amethyst's whips. This kept Rupee still, and Amethyst stopped her rolling, seeing Rupee struggling in her binds. Seeing her like this did get the Amethysts nearby laughing a little bit.
"STOP LAUGHING!" Rupee demanded. But Amethyst was not done yet: she wasn't gonna allow Rupee to keep going with this, so she jumped high and started spinning again. They weren't sure if Amethyst even realized it or not, but as she was spinning, the Gem was actually glowing slightly, just before launching forward. A shooting star.
*POOF*
And down landed Rupee's gemstone. Taken down once again, and this time, Amethyst got her stone and got it bubbled. It was probably for the best considering their situation. They heard the cheers from the others off nearby, and Amethyst went right up to Steven and Peridot. She only had one question for them.
"So. How do you feel?"
They both glanced to eachother before answering at once.
"Pretty good."
"... Good."
~~~~~~
They used the train again for the ride back home, and there was a bit of silence between Peridot, Steven, and Amethyst. They may have gotten the Amethysts handled, and saved from White Diamond's … whatever the heck she would've done to them, but with this sudden bit of drama at the end of it, it left it kinda quiet.
"Well this has been quite a day," Peridot finally said, all three of them staring up at the ceiling.
"Tell me about it," Steven sighed.
"Alright, I will: We've gone through all day running around in both your room, and now the Prime kindergarten, the whole time trying to work out what we should feel about Pink Diamond, and to seemingly distract us from the fact that we've lost pretty much everything because of it. …"
"You're pretty direct about that, aren't you?" Steven sighed.
"It is what happened," Peridot stated. Some more silence hung in the air, the only sound being that of the train tracks underneath them. The full moon kept a good light on them, so when they both looked over to Amethyst, they saw that she was a bit quiet herself. Seeing her too reminded them of what she had said to them both, and with everything now calm, they thought over what she meant.
"... Hey, Amethyst?" Peridot asked.
"Yeah?"
"Were you … trying to cheer us up this whole time?"
"Yes," she groaned, "Ugh, don't you two know you deserve it? You … great … people."
more silence. Amethyst pretended to be asleep, as Steven and Peridot looked out to the cold fields of grain again, the fields looking silver in moonlight instead of amber. Steven eventually spoke next.
"Hey, Amethyst?"
"What?"
"... I can't believe I'm saying this but … I think you're officially the most mature Crystal Gem."
Amethyst's eyes shot open on the realization.
"OH NO. Gross, that's what this is, isn't it?" Amethyst said.
"Pretty much."
"No! Nyoooooooh!" Amethyst cried, pretending to have a tantrum, with her hands and feet banging the ground, as the others chuckled. Amethyst eventually joined in their laughing, as all three of them then looked off to the fields off nearby. They sure looked lovely, especially with the moon shining down onto them.
"Still wanna talk tell em about this?"
"I do."
"Ok. Let's go."
Well, they were feeling better as they went off towards home.
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Oh when is the next chapter
9060118
boy, asking already? It'll be out soon
9020930
hiatus over ;)
Interesting mix. And it’s good to see rupee again, haven’t seen her since season 2.
9112502
It's about time the brute of a Gem would come back after so long, yeah. ^^