Non-Pokémon Children of the stars

[Diamondseed345]

Only moments before, Elliot had thought he was going to be impaled by someone who looked similar to Pearl. Where was he now? Sitting on a beach looking at the ocean, with statue carved into the hill behind him. He thought it was quite a scenic view, especially since it looked like it held a beach house in its hands.

Question is, who built it? Did they own the land that statue was built on? Who lived in it? Did those "Crystal Gem" people build it? Elliot suspected that they did, but couldn't tell if he had the whole truth or not. He had been holding Peter's gem in his hand ever since that whole fiasco had ended... just when was he going to reform?

"Yo, Elliot right?" Amethyst asked, coming up from behind him. "I'm not good with remembering names sometimes."

"Oh, yeah. Some people me Elio.... I don't like that name."

"Well why don't ya?"

"I... have personal reasons."

She glanced at the gem that Peter came from.

"So... I thought you left your friend behind by accident?"

"No... he's not the one I was talking about. he managed to get on the platform with me... must have poofed on impact..."

"He? I thought all gems called themselves she."

They both sat there for a few minutes more, listening to the sounds of the ocean and seagulls, until Elliot felt a warmth emanating from the pearl he held in his hand.

"?"

An unseen force pulled the pearl out of his hand, making it float into the air. A glowing humanoid figure formed around the pearl, and when the light dissipated, Peter floated to the ground. He had still been in his casual wear too, nothing was different from the last time he reformed.

"Ugh... remind me to try and land on my feet whenever we do that again?"

There was an awkward silence as Amethyst and Peter stared at eachother.

"Oh wow, a total stranger."

"A gem!!"

Peter pulled out his trident, backing away.

"Get away from him!! I've seen what gems do to humans!"

"Woah, chill! I'm not what you think I am!"

"Yeah, no need for the trident, they aren't gonna hurt us!"

"Wait... they?"

"Yeah, there's two more of them."

"Um, if you count the little man, three more?" Amethyst said, holding up a couple fingers.

Peter put his trident away. "Who's this... little man?"

"Trust me, he's gonna like you two. Especially Elliot over here, he's the only person we've seen that's like him!" She said, pointing at Elliots deformity or... "gem."

"What? He's got something similar to this?"

"I guess you could say that. C'mon, he's in the house right now."

They made it inside the house a moment after, and nothing appeared particularly off about it. It had everything a house would need, and there had even been a modern looking fireplace. There was even a painting of a woman in what looked like a wedding dress.

What did stand out however, was the tall pink haired boy coming down the stairs from the second floor. He had been taller than a full grown man, likely seven feet tall or even more!

He walked as if he wasn't used to his own height, as he had a very awkward stoop. His limbs just seemed if they would just go on and on with no end. His hair... the roots had been the same color as the rest, there was no way it could have been dyed.

Elliot would have thought he was older than both him and Pete, but there was no way he was after looking at his face. He looked to be about their age... whatever age Peter was, if not a bit younger!

But there was one thing that connected this boy and Elliot. He had a gemstone in his stomach, just like Pearl... and he was human, like himself. But this gemstone wasn't like what Elliot called a deformity, it was a pink color, with a pentagon at its center... unlike what Elliot had, which had a pointed end.

He seemed to have heard the three enter the house, as he looked at them a moment later.

"Oh, hi! Are you who Garnet and Pearl were talking about earlier?"

That was not the voice Elliot and Peter expected to hear. If anything, they thought he'd sound like them... but nope. He definitely was at least a year or two younger.

"I... guess so?"

"Well it's good to meet you! I've never met anyone like me before, what's your name?"

"Elliot..."

"Peter."

"I'm Steven!

He shook both their hands, but his eyes were on Peter. "That thing in your eye... are you a gem?"

Peter shrugged. "I guess I am?"

"Why aren't you corrupted? The others said that the other gems on the planet were corrupted!"

"Corrupted? What are you talking about?"
Peter cocked his head a bit, almost making his glasses fall off his face.

"You know, gem monsters? Garnet said you were chased by one onto a warp pad right?"

'That's what that thing was? It did have a crystal in the center of its face..."

"Sounds like a gem monster to me! Did you manage to poof and bubble it?"

Elliot looked confused, but Peter appeared to know what he was talking about.

"No... we didn't. We had to run..."

"I can see why, did it just run after you?"

"Yeah, it did. Something happened to stun it, and I think that's what allowed us to get away with our lives..."

Steven went on explaining gem monsters for a few minutes more, at least until he glanced at Elliot. He saw the patch of darker skin on his arm, and the dry and partially peeled. The area around the exposed area looked as if it had been caused by sunburn, wouldn't be very surprising considering the scorching heat of Arizona.

"Oh, are you okay? That looks like sunburn..."

"What, this?" Elliot asked, holding up the effected arm. "It's nothing..."

"Doesn't look like nothing, does it hurt?"

"Not really... but it's started to feel weird the past day or two."

"That might not be good..." Steven looked like he was thinking for a moment, but then he put a finger up. He had an idea.

"Oh I know! My moms fountain was able to heal the crack in Amethyst's gem, maybe it could help to heal that sunburn thingy?"

"I'm... very confused. What's a fountain supposed to do about this?"

"Oh I can tell you! Lemme just go find Pearl!"

He was about to h when all three of them heard the familiar sound of a warp pad being activated, and they saw Garnet walk off a warp pad in a strange area of the building.

"Hey Garnet! Can I ask you something?"

"You're going to ask if you can take Elliot to Rose's fountain?" How did she know?

"Oh, yeah! Can you take me and Elliot there?"

"I don't see why not. Besides, I can see something special happening..."

Chapters end.
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[Diamondseed345]

Steven went on explaining gem monsters for a few minutes more, at least until he glanced at Elliot. He saw the patch of darker skin on his arm, and the dry and partially peeled. The area around the exposed area looked as if it had been caused by sunburn, wouldn't be very surprising considering the scorching heat of Arizona.

"Oh, are you okay? That looks like sunburn..."

"What, this?" Elliot asked, holding up the effected arm. "It's nothing..."

"Doesn't look like nothing, does it hurt?"

"Not really... but it's started to feel weird the past day or two."

"That might not be good..." Steven looked like he was thinking for a moment, but then he put a finger up. He had an idea.

"Oh I know! My moms fountain was able to heal the crack in Amethyst's gem, maybe it could help to heal that sunburn thingy?"




"I'm... very confused. What's a fountain supposed to do about this?"

"Oh I can tell you! Lemme just go find Pearl!"

He was about to h when all three of them heard the familiar sound of a warp pad being activated, and they saw Garnet walk off a warp pad in a strange area of the building.

"Hey Garnet! Can I ask you something?"

"You're going to ask if you can take Elliot to Rose's fountain?" How did she know?

"Oh, yeah! Can you take me and Elliot there?"

"I don't see why not. Besides, I can see something special happening..."

"What're you talking about?"

"Hm... You'll see."

Garnet stepped back onto the warp pad, and motioned for the three to follow.

"Um, is there any other way to get to our destination? Teleporting is... kinda disorienting."

"Do you want to walk all the way?"

"No..."

"That's what I thought." Garnet said. "Now let's go."

They all stepped on the warp pad, and they all experienced the same space and pixelated effect that Elliot and Peter still weren't used to.

When they landed, Peter almost fell on his face, but Elliot managed to catch him before he made impact.

"You alright buddy??"

"Oh, yeah, yeah. Thank you..."

"Anytime Peter."

Elliot looked around, to find they were in some kind of valley. The grass around the teleporter seemed slightly overgrown, but there wasn't a weed in sight. Why was that?

"Where are we?"

"Oh, we're at my mom's fountain, look!"

Steven pointed at something as he said that, and a moment later Elliot realized what it was.

A fountain with a marble statue at its center. That statue looked just like the woman in the painting he saw a few minutes ago.

"Hey Steven, who's that statue of?"

"Oh. That's my mom... Rose." Steven seemed somewhat upset.

"Hey, you feeling alright?"

Steven then perked up.
"Oh, yeah! I'm alright!"

The group approached the fountain, and Elliot could make out many more details. The statue had clear crystals growing at its base, which cast multi-colored light from the sunlight going through them. The statue also had a couple cracks in it, presumably from age. There had been liquid flowing from the statues eyes into the basin below as well, and it had been the same color as rose water. Did they dye the water here?

"Go ahead! I'm sure it'll fix that sunburn!"

Elliot crouched down next to the basin, and stuck a finger in the water. Steam was emitted from his finger, and Elliot quickly pulled it out... but it in no way hurt.

The pale skin melted into a similar gunk as was seen all the way back in Arizona, and it evaporated before it hit the water.

What was left was a finger with the same ashen color as the area that was supposedly effected by sunburn.

"Holy shit..."

Why didn't it hurt? Wasn't it supposed to sting like hell if the flesh under his skin was exposed? That's what it was like when he popped a blister one time, and wasn't the flesh supposed to be a red color?

Something didn't feel right... the same markings that were supposed to on his finger were still there, and it wasn't even smooth. If it were like the blister, wouldn't the skin be smooth and sting?

He then stuck his hand and a moment later his arm. Steam bubbles came from beneath the surface, being a mix of the gunk evaporating and the steam that would be emitted automatically.

Over the next few minutes, he continued step by step letting himself be submerged in the water, but only up to neck level. But not before he took his shirt off and hoodie, he didn't want them to get soaked after all, but not the rest of his clothing?

After dumping some of the rose water on his head, the last of the gunk evaporating in the process. His hair changed from the platinum blond color he knew his life to a dark grey color, and his eyes a much lighter grey.

After drying off, putting his shirt and hoodie back on, he noticed both Peter and Steven gawking at him.

"Hey guys, everything alright?"

"Um..." Peter said, pointing at Elliots bag. "I think you should look at yourself with the camera."

"Alright..."

He brought out his phone, which was apparently low battery. He turned on the camera to see... what looked like a complete stranger staring back at him.

He began shaking, and dropped his phone.

He could remember it now. Why he looked the way he did a few minutes before. what SHE did.

Where he was brought to, he couldn't remember... but he knew it was an Ominent lab. He could remember playing on his DS while Schmector and Lusamine had a private discussion.

All sorts of strange technology was placed around the lab. What looked like watches, a strange microscope like device, and a handful of pods scattered around the room

They threw him in a pod... a pod of God knows what, with a respirator on his face, and wires connected to his body.

He couldn't move, and could barely make out the muffled voices of the scientists around him.

Men and women alike, as well as Lusamine and Schmector, all writing something he couldn't see onto their clipboards.

Lusamine though... she had a look in her eyes that was almost indescribable.

He could feel it. The fluid in the vat latching onto his skin... it latching onto his eyes. It burned... it burned so much... was he dying? It felt as if he was dying... why? Why would Mother do this? He was only four! What did he do to deserve this? Suddenly, a faint beeping that could be heard ever since the wires were connected began to beep faster, and the scientists became frantic.

Only after the sound of the beeping stopped, did he realize Peter was holding him close in his embrace, with Steven close by. He could feel tears going down his cheeks, and a burning sensation in his chest. Had he been... crying?


Chapters end.
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[Diamondseed345]

It had been a few days ever since the incident at Rose's fountain. Elliot was no longer in shock from those repressed memories coming back to the light, but was still having trouble processing them.

Why did Mother do this? What was the point? He didn't remember looking like this before, but he gained the appearance he knew in that pod... why couldn't he remember having it earlier than that? Was he just too young to remember, or was there something more sinister involved?

Could those memories have been repressed as well? On second thought... he didn't want to know, ar least not yet.

But there was one thing that hadn't changed in any way at all... his deformity. No, it wasn't his deformity, it was his gemstone. The others didn't really know what he was though, but they had their theories. He had overheard the others when they warped back from who knows where. Pearl had suggested it was quartz or even Moonstone. Garnet suggested it was a white Topaz stone, and Elliot suspected that might have been the case.

Neither of the previous suggestions seemed likely after he looked them up. Quartz had been too foggy... white Topaz seemed the most likely to him. It looked just like the gem on his forehead, as it was clear like water as well as being sharp and angular.

Oddly, a white Topaz looked surprisingly like a diamond. They'd look the same if you didn't look close enough, as Topaz didn't have the same luster and sparkle as a diamond.

But the gem reflected multiple different colors on the ground when under sunlight? It had to have some kind of luster.

There was one thing Elliot as well as Peter didn't have to worry about however, and that was finding a home. These Crystal Gems had let them stay in the Beach house with Steven. There wasn't a guest room or any other bedrooms besides the one however, but that didn't really matter. A sleeping bag worked just fine, and Peter didn't really need to sleep. Since he didn't really sleep, he just watched his shows and the news all night, with the news being updates on the can of worms that Ominent would never be able to close.

Apparently the authorities had recently raided their headquarters up north in Empire City. There was still a couple people being held within, those that weren't fit for the Spac.r experiments. But they had been experimented on in a much different way, with a substance called SNPI-42Z.

Peter had known what the substance was capable of, considering he himself had experience with the substance, which he had called "Raw science."

It was more of an unofficial name really, as many in Tullwend had just used the term as the man who discovered the substance had called it that.

Elliot had never learned of the mutagenic properties of SNPI-42Z, as for one, neither Lusamine or Peter told him about the stuff, nor did Peter display the fish like mutations he had... minus the catfish eyes.

Elliot and Peter had been watching a Disney movie together when Steven and Amethyst came into the house, proposing an opportunity.

"Hey Ellie!" Amethyst said. "We're headed over to Fish Stew to grab some pizza, you and Pete wanna come along?"

Elliot and Peter looked at eachother for a moment before shrugging.

"Sure! I don't see why not."

About ten minutes later, they had made it over the restaurant. Didn't seem very out of the ordinary to Elliot, it had reminded him of the pizza places back in Washington. Well at least before Lusamine kept him from eating pizza altogether. Said that he shouldn't eat anything that isn't healthy, or you won't be perfect.

Yeah look what that her quest for perfection did to him? He in no way cared for that anymore, nor cared for her.
The inside didn't really look out of the ordinary either, one of the songs Brody used to play on the radio could be heard too. "No woman" by Whitney.

The song gave some kind of nostalgic feeling, even though they had only been traveling with Brody a few days ago?

They all ordered a pizza together, with the toppings they wanted on different sections, all unique to them.

The smell almost made his mouth water, he had forgotten what pizza smelled like. When was the last time he had pizza? He couldn't remember, but it clearly had been a very long time.

When he bit into a slice, his eyes went wide. "Oh my god... this is amazing! Thank you so much for taking me here guys, I haven't had this stuff for who knows how long!"

"I know how that feels!" Amethyst said.

"When humans got rid of lead paint for health reasons back in the 70s I couldn't find it no matter how much I looked. Good to meet someone who likes eating as much as me and the little man! Garnet may eat with me sometimes, and Pearl is always on my ass about it. "We're gems! There's no need to digest, so why do YOU need to do it?" Shape-shift a colon! Live a little I say!"

"Hold on. You can shape-shift?"

"Yeah! All gems can, even Steven!"

"You can do it to?"

"Yeah, not well though... and I'd rather not talk about the cat incident."

"The... cat incident?"

"You don't wanna know."

"Hold on a minute!" Elliot said.

"You said shape-shift a colon. Do you not have that normally, or any organs in general? Not even a heart or lungs?"

"Nope, We don't need to breath! We're... conscious manifestations of light or some shit like that? I dunno."

"Peter, is that true?"

"Sure is. It's actually why I don't need to sleep..."

"Alright, that's cool I guess."

"Wait, can I ask you a question?" Steven asked.

"Sure kid, what's on your mind?"

"Why weren't you able to have pizza?"

"Oh... that's quite a topic... but I can explain I guess... as much as I'm comfortable explaining. My mother... or let's just call her Lusamine. You see, Lusamine was a bit of a perfectionist. Everything had to be perfect, even me. My appearance, how I talked, things like that... even what I ate. If I ate anything unhealthy, she claimed "I would be tainted." I don't understand why she was so obsessed with perfection, but it certainly wasn't healthy for either of us. I'm not sure if I'm underweight or not, but I might need to eat some more..."

"Wait, are you saying she starved you!?"

"Yeah..."

Chapters end.
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[Diamondseed345]

Rain was falling relentlessly back in the temple. The place had been in even worse shape than it already was due to what must have been some kind of landslide. Elliot could see rocks and an uprooted tree covering the warp pad that took him and Peter all the way to Beach City. Upon closer inspection, it could be seen that the warp pad had been cracked in two by the impact of the rocks, and most likely couldn't even be used anymore.

Thunder and lightning boomed above, as the pouring rain made a level of water that rose ever so higher. It was slowly rising, and the sound of gurgling water could be heard as even more water poured in from the ground above. Elliot grabbed a branch, and then the roots of the tree, trying to make his way up.

Just as he was about to pull himself out of the ruined temple, an arc of lighting illuminated the gloom of the storm above. Instead of the clouds and lightning above, in an instant he saw the ceiling of the beach house, with his hand still up. His pupils had been glowing a pitch white once again, and barely contrasted his irises now.

Was that a dream, or some kind of nightmare? It felt so real...

"Hey Elliot, you feeling alright?"

His pupils slowly faded back to black. "Yeah... I'm alright. Are you?"

"Everythings alright with me. You just looked... blind for a moment."

"Blind?"

"Yeah, they were pitch white. Not anymore though... you had your arm in the air for some reason too."

"Bad dreams... just bad dreams is all."

"Oh, alright then." He tapped an empty spot on the couch next to him, beckoning for Elliot to sit with him, which he did.

Some kind of anime movie was on, and the scene had been two kids being served Ramen with ham. One had red hair and a red dress, and one had dark brown hair and a bowlcut similar to Peter's.

"What movie is this?"

"Ponyo, me and Steven watched it last night, big guy loved it."

"What's it about?"

"A goldfish that yearns to be human after meeting a young boy, and the two go on a journey of friendship before her father forces her back into the ocean. Her desire to be human upsets natures balance and only her mother can restore said balance."

"Huh... sounds interesting."

The two were silent for about twenty minutes, just enjoying eachothers company, until they heard the sound of the warp pad. Steven and the others had come back from... whatever they did, they never said... not yet at least.

"Hey guys check this out!" Steven said, walking over to the couch. In his hands, was a bubble with a brown stone with white spots within. "I managed to bubble another gem monster!" He said, before it was teleported away.


"That's cool Steven, how many have you dealt with?"

"If you count the Earth and Angel beetles in an insect cage, I think about seven!"

"That's impressive! Wait a minute... would I be able to do that too?"

"Oh I'm sure of it! Might take a little bit to learn though, does Peter know how?"

Peter shrugged. "I think I might be able to."

"Frankly... I don't know what I'm capable of. Like, I just learned I'm a gem?"

"Oh you're not a full gem. You're a... hybrid like me? Well from what Pearl and Garnet have told me, my mother passed her gemstone and maybe some of her powers to me? They haven't explained it fully."

"Wait a minute... I don't remember Lusamine having a gemstone?"

He was about to speak again, when Pearl walked over.

"It might be best for us or... me to explain this. I know a thing or two about this."

She walked to the door, and motioned for Elliot to follow, alone. She walked him down to the beach, and had him sit on a piece of driftwood.

"Steven told you about Rose, yes?"

"Not that much, but he told me a little bit."

"Well it seems obvious you were born in a similar way to him."

Elliot was confused. "What?"

"Rose dissappeared when Steven was born, but that isn't the full story. She had to give up her physical form for him to exist. Since you have a gem as well, it would make sense the same would happen with your mother... who seems to have been a gem like rose."

"I don't remember my mother having a gem though! She looked nothing like me! Well my natural appearance looked nothing like her..."

"She... might not have been your mother. Have you ever considered you may have been adopted as a child?"

"Over the past few days, I figured that was a possibility. If that's the case, is my actual mother dead or something?"

"In a sense... have you ever heard of Schrodingers cat?"

"Something where you don't know if a cat in a box is alive or dead until you open the box?"

"Its similar to Schrodingers car in a sense. She is alive and dead, dead in a sense that she can't reform. But she is alive since half of you is her."

"I don't understand... why couldn't she reform?"

"Rose gave up her physical form because Steven couldn't exist any other way. She gave up her physical form so he could exist, henceforth he has Rose's gem, which was a rose quartz. It would make sense that it would be similar if not the same for you. Why your mother was on Earth in the first place is a different story."

"Why is that?"

"Either your mother somehow wasn't corrupted or... was a homeworld gem. There's very little chance she came out overcooked, there's only one example of that and that was thousands of years ago."

"So What're you saying? My actual mother came all the way from homeworld for some reason?"

"Yes... and we might have a new issue on our hands. Why is homeworld sending gems back to Earth after over five thousand years?"

"Wait a minute five thousand years!?"

Chapters end.
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[Diamondseed345]

Training over hours been going well, that's what Pearl had claimed at least. Elliot, Peter as well as Steven and a friend of his had been brought by Pearl to some kind of ancient arena.

But this arena wasn't like say the Colosseum across the ocean in Italy, and not just from the fact that this place was presumably much more ancient. It could also be added that this place was in the damn sky! Elliot didn't know how this place could still float consider that the place looked as if it was falling apart.

Peter presumed that it was still floating due to gem technology, albeit "archaic" due to how old it was. Never the less, none of the group let the ruins distract them from what they came here for.

Training to fight corrupted gems, and if Pearl's fears came true... homeworld gems. Before Elliot was able to summon his own weapon, he was happy to watch Steven and his friend train. He had never really caught her name, what was it exactly? Connor?

Elliot had even noticed different techniques that Steven and his friend had used. While Steven was more defensive when training to fight with the hologram Pearl, while who he that was Connor used more offensive techniques. Her name definitely wasn't Connor, he felt like he should learn her proper name. Perhaps they should just talk more?

The two even used different swords, the one Steven used definitely stood out. It was a pinkish color, with engravings of roses at the bottom of the blade, on the cross-guard, and even on the hilt. Apparently it belonged to Rose? That had to make it a family heirloom of some kind, didn't it?

Elliot got to train eventually as well, as he had summoned his weapon while in the arena... though it wasn't in the way any of them expected.

Peter had gotten WAY too close to the edge while trying to read the glyphs on a floating piece of rubble, and when he was just about to fall... he was reeled back in. But not by someone grabbing him by the hand or using a fishing rod for some strange reason, Elliot had pulled him Way from the edge with a... staff.

It had just happened... automatically. He just about figured out how to summon it in the blink of an eye, and pulled Peter back with it before things could get ugly.

Pearl had claimed that it had been inevitable that he summoned his weapon, while Peter had been completely shocked as to what his weapon had been.

The staff was almost completely pitch white, minus for a crystal on the star shaped head. It was in the shape of a rhombus, and was multicolored, with the four sides being white, blue, pink, and yellow.

"I would have thought it would have been a sword or hammer, or something of the likes of that. Didn't expect it to be a staff, are you... disappointed?"

"No, not really. Though I have to admit, a sword would have been cool too."

"Luckily for you..." Pearl said, walking over to an inactive Holo-Pearl. "The construct is able to use a spear, considering that this is the closest thing any of us has to a spear. The hologram them proceeded to form a spear in its hand.


"Oh, my trident can become a staff!"

"Oh really? Let's see it."

Peter pulled a small object from the pearl in his eye socket, which looked like it could fit in his pocket.

"I used to use a nvyue like trident back in Tullwend, but this can act as a trident as well!" Peter pressed down a button, and pulled a pin, making the hilt and prongs of the trident extend to their full length.

"If I pull this pin again, the prongs retract, making it a staff." He did so, and the prongs retracted into the ridge, which then retreated into the the shaft. "There we go, we now have a Bo staff!"

"Well... if you know how to use a staff, I'm not going to stop you."

"What do you say Ellie?"

"Why the hell not! If you're skilled with a staff, I don't see why I shouldn't."

Pearl escorted Steven and his friend back to the warp pad, while Peter requested to have Elliots phone for a moment. He turned on YouTube, and had "I'll make a man outta you" from Mulan blaring from it.

"Alright... so I don't really know any official techniques, we didn't really have people to train us back in Tullwend before the Javamatic, so I'm kinda self trained. Throw some rocks at me, that's a hint to our first lesson."

"I'm not gonna hurt you am I?"

"No, or course not. Even if I'm hit, you probably won't hit my gem."

Elliot gathered a couple pieces of marble from the rubble, and chucked them at Peter. He managed to deflect them all and sent them over the edge.

"Holy shit! How'd you manage to do that??"

"Weeks of practice, you might be able to do it too. You want to give it a go?"

"Sure, why not?"

Elliot got into a defensive stance similar to what he had seen Steven do, and readied his staff. Peter chucked more marble chunks at Elliot and surprisingly... he deflected most of them. The ones that weren't deflected crumbled on impact when they hit the walls behind him.

"Holy shit... how did I do that first go??"

"I... don't know? I'm glad they didn't hit you in the face!"

They continued on, but quickly moved on to something different due to how confused Peter had become that on the FIRST try, Elliot deflected most of the stones. They were now trying to see who could disarm the opponent first... and Elliot was the one that kept getting disarmed.

As he and Peter were training together, he had tried his best to keep his mind clear. TRIED as in there was one thing he couldn't stop thinking about... if Pearl, the Pearl he knew was alright.

Chapters end.
_________________________

 

[Diamondseed345]

It was thought by Elliot that he wouldn't have those weird dreams again. That the one dream in the ruins of that temple had been just some strange nightmare that he wouldn't have to experience again.

But when his eyes shot open to the sound of thunder and his surroundings were unfamiliar, he could tell it was happening again. He was in some kind of cabin, with the sound of the rain and thunder coming from a broken window next to him. A broken oil lantern could be seen on the table, and shards of glass were scattered across the floor. Was this place abandoned? It looked the like.

In the faint light from the storm outside, war metals could be seen displayed on the wall, and almost seemed as if they were mint condition.

Elliot walked over while avoiding the glass shards on the floor, and proceeded to pick it up off the wall. He stared for a moment at the photo which had grown yellow with age, before he noticed something... off.

His hands, and even his arms were thin and a dark grey color. He may have been a bit of a beanpole, hell that's why he wore his hoodies, but his arms weren't grey!

He could see he had a gem in his stomach, and that his legs were grey as well, and was wearing the same shorts as Pearl... the Pearl he knew. His Pearl.

He picked up a glass shard to look at his reflection and... it was Pearl, with one white pupil.

"What the!? I'm-" His vision went white, and he was back in the Beach house.

"Pearl!!" He was in the same position he was in during his "dream." Holding something as small as a glass shard. As his pupils faded from white to black, he could see Steven staring at him. He was holding a plate of waffles with whipped cream and a strawberry on the top. It even had syrup on it and apparently a couple popcorn kernels.

"You alright Elliot? You looked like you were having a nightmare..."

"I..." He went silent, thinking it would be a bad idea to talk about Pearl. "I think I need to talk to Peter about this."

"Why?" The tall boy asked, cocking his head. "It's just... he knows a thing or two about my problem."

"Does he know the reason why your pupils were glowing white?"

"Um... maybe?"

Elliot got up and searched for a short while, and found Peter on the deck, watching the ocean. "Hey Peter?"

"Hm? Yes?"

"I had that weird dream again...."

"You were climbing the walls of the temple during a storm again?"

"Not exactly... I was in an abandoned cabin with the storm outside... I was looking at war medals that looked like they were from the European War, when I realized that my arms were grey. I looked down and I realized... I was Pearl before I woke up.

"Hold on a minute. Were your eyes glowing white at all?"

"Yeah, Steven mentioned that. That dream... it didn't feel any different from a normal one. One that feels very real..."

Peter thought for a moment, before a light bulb went off in his head.

"Oh, I think I know what's going on! What if 'Earl' is that cabin right now? You might be seeing through her eyes! After all, you two seem connected in some way."

"Wait. Why'd you call her Earl? And is this some weird gem power I have or something?"

"We'd need to differentiate between her and the Pearl here right? This most likely is a gem power too, besides, if what I'm saying is correct, Earl got out of the temple! She managed to escape!! We might be able to figure out where she is through those dreams you're having!"

A thought then entered Elliots mind.
What if Earl thinks that he and Peter abandoned her? She wouldn't think that right? He tried to go back for her! He'd need a moment to think about this.

He grabbed his hoodie and shoes, then headed out towards town, specifically the board walk. He got himself a basket of "Fry bits" that were apparently free? To be honest, it was more of a welcome surprise than anything. What wasn't welcome was one of the employees chatting his damn ear off upon seeing his gem.

At least they weren't screaming about him being a freak? He sat down on the edge of the boardwalk with feet on the sand to think. Did Earl think that he and Peter abandoned her? There was no way, he actively tried to get off the warp pad! But if she did... what was he to do? Apologize? There was no way he could apologize for something like "abandoning" her. But there was one other thing he had on his mind, those dreams.

Was he seeing through her eyes, or was he in control of her body? It felt like he was on control, and it felt like it was him moving the body. After all, Earl wouldn't just pick up medals, she never seemed interested in them. The shock felt real too, who wouldn't be shocked if not more if discovering you were piloting a body that they didn't recognize as their own.

Was she trying to travel to where he was currently? He couldn't know, and he couldn't know how long it would take for her to be found again. Maybe Tumblr could help soothe his mind?

He pulled out his phone and hoped that he could get a good photo of the boardwalk, when he heard footsteps behind him.

He looked to his side to find a little kid in an outfit that reminded him of a sailor staring at him.

"Oh, hey. You... want some of these fries?"
They stared at eachother for a moment before the kid yanked the phone out of Elliots hand and took of running.

"Hey! Get back here!!"

Chapters end.
______________________

 

[Diamondseed345]

He pulled out his phone and hoped that he could get a good photo of the boardwalk, when he heard footsteps behind him.

He looked to his side to find a little kid in an outfit that reminded him of a sailor staring at him.

"Oh, hey. You... want some of these fries?"
They stared at eachother for a moment before the kid yanked the phone out of Elliots hand and took of running.

"Hey! Get back here!!" Elliot got up almost immediately and booked it after the kid.

The kid was looking back at him, smiling with a maniacal grin.

"Give that back you little shit!!"

They ran on for what felt like hours, but in reality was fifteen minutes, until they made it to a suburban area. The kid ran up to his porch, and watched as Elliot slowed down, exhausted.

"Can't go... on, need... water..." He collapsed to the ground ears starting to ring. Soon he could hear distant mumbling and soon footsteps.

"Hey... you dead? Yo, are you okay? I've got your phone."

Elliot only groaned as a result as he got up.

"Where's... that kid?"

"Who, Onion? Yeah I took your phone away from him, you want it back don't you?"

"Oh, yeah. Yeah."

He took the phone from the guys hands, to find it was someone around his age. He had platinum blond hair like Elliot once did, except in a more cone like shape, and a blue hoodie. Was he wearing a fishing bib as pants? He proceeded to hand Elliot his phone.

'What's your name dude?"

"Elliot, that's the only thing I go by these days."

"Do you not have a last name?"

"Not anymore... let's just call it "family issues" since I seriously cannot go into it. Not yet at least..."

"Damn dude, sounds rough. By the way, my friends call me Sour Cream, that little troublemaker over there is Onion.

Elliot coughed a bit before chuckling somewhat. "Yeah... he's a troublemaker alright. Why does he do that?"

"I'd rather not say it, for his sake."

The two looked back at Onion, who was giving them both a deadpan stare.

SC then looked back at Elliot. "You knew around here?"

"Been here for about a week and a half I think..."

"Well you seem cool. You wanna go grab a donut or something?"

"Sure, only been to the nearby donut shop once..."

SC had Onion walk back into the house, and they walked back the boardwalk. The donut shop turned out to be just up the hill from the boardwalk, sot it wasn't exactly a hike. One of the employees was sweeping the main area, while the other was organizing the cash register while playing music from Portal on a nearby Boombox.

The music felt... nostalgic? It had just felt strangely familiar, and made him feel peaceful? Why was that?

"Hey Sadie, can we get..." The two proceeded to order their donuts and sat at the table outside. SC got a chocolate donut, while Elliot got what he called a "Simpsons Donut" which was pink with sprinkles on it, as well as a coffee. All the training recetly and that sudden run had left him exhausted.

"So, what'd you do around here?" Elliot asked.

"I'm a bit of a DJ, even made my own setup with a bunch of Gameboys."

"Wow, that's pretty damn impressive! How'd you do that?"

"I'm kinda self taught when it comes to jury rigging things. Nintendo would probably sue me if they learned what I'm using these for though." SC chuckled a bit.

"Don't they sue anyone that makes a fan game even if it's free?"

"Yep. People even joke that if they found someone named Mario they'd place a hit on them."

"Wow, it's that bad with them?"

"For sure. People say that they in no way need to do that. They even do it to emulators of games they don't sell anymore!! Like, what's the point of that? They don't even make money from it anymore!"

"That's really damn stupid! What's the point in that??"

"I know right? There is no point to that! Nintendo's legal team is just being a bunch of ducks at that point! How are we supposed to play your products if we can't even buy them? They don't even make money from them!"

They talked for hours on end, ordering more donuts every now and then before they both went their separate ways. But not before they exchanged their numbers. SC had suggested Elliot download Discord, as he ran a small server of his own. Elliot said he would think about it.

When he got back, he found one last waffle on a plate, with a sticky note next to it.

"Didn't get to tell you I wanted to share this, so I left some for you. Gonna be off training with Connie and Peter, see you when we get back? :)"

"Her name is Connie? I guess that makes sense..."

He grabbed the waffle plate, and sat on the couch to eat. A while after finishing it though, he eventually conked out on the couch, and almost immediately started seeing through Earl's eyes.

She seemed far from the cabin this time, as he woke up standing in a bush. It was disorienting, knowing he was in a body he didn't recognize as his own. He realized just how dark it had become, and just as he did, the gem on his or Earls stomach lit up?

It worked as a flashlight, so it would have to do. He started to walk, intending to try and find a way back to civilization and soon... he found something.

A road, in the middle of a clearing, and a sign could be made out moments later. He walked up to get a closer look and it said...

"Welcome to Becauseming, forever west."

"Wait, I'm in Utah!? Why couldn't the temple be in Carolina or something??"

Suddenly, the sound of a trucks horn pierced through the darkness, and its headlights could be seen. The truck pulled to a stop on the road, which turned out to be hauling tons of lumber, and the door opened. An aging man with a hat was at the helm, and a bunch of accessories could be seen inside.

"You feeling alright lady? Noone should be out wandering in this cold."

"Oh... I just came out of the forest." Elliot said, speaking through Earl.

"What were you in them woods?"

"It's... a long story."

"Don't worry, I don't need to know. You want me to drop you off at the next town I'm gonna stop in?"

"Oh... um..."

"Oh, don't worry, I'm not a fuckin weirdo. Just a... boring trucker."

"Alright then, works for me..."

He walked around to the other side of the truck to get in the passenger seat, and the guy got moving as soon as he got in. He had gone quiet, looking at all the things the guy stored in the truck. A pack of soda in the back, a couple empty chip bags on the floor and such. But one object caught his attention... a black marker.

He knew he wouldn't always be able to pilot Earl, and she might possibly go every which way, this could possibly help.

He opened the marker, and wrote down something on Earls arm, hoping that this would work.

"Come find me in Beach city"

All that could be hoped for now is that she wanted to see Elliot again as much as he wished to see her... and that she understood written English.

Chapters end.
____________________

 

[Diamondseed345]

It had been almost two weeks since Earl left Utah while being puppeted. Traveling east while puppeting Earl felt like some kind of double life almost. During the day, he would train with Peter and the others, hung out with Steven, the likes of that.

During the night, he was piloting Earl, traveling east to Delmarva. It was interesting, being able to see the sights of the west and Midwest, like when Earl traveled through Wichita in Kanbraska.
A small part of him wanted to visit the local art museum, but he knew he shouldn't. If someone were to wake him up in there, Earl would possibly get stuck in there.

Speaking of waking up, piloting Earl seemed to effect him in his waking life. Whether someone woke him up or not, sometimes a form of amnesia seemed to wash over him for about half an hour. He couldn't remember where he was, or who he was. Was he Elliot, was he Earl or... someone else? He tried not to think about it during the day, or when Piloting Earl, but he would inevitably have to face it no matter what.

A day or two earlier, he had managed to hop a train headed towards Delmarva. He didn't know when the train would reach it's destination, but it seemed clear that it might stop soon.

From the endless corn fields of Misery, to the cities of Illinoy and Outdiana... he could could catch the scent of the ocean.

He perked up from the scent of the ocean, and when he got up from where he was sitting in the open boxcar, he could see the Atlantic. The moon was above, and illuminated the ocean in its white glow... Elliot had to admit, it was beautiful.

Elliot had been mesmerized by the scene, and enough so that he wouldn't notice the familiar voice.

"That has to be who those two were talking about... this is gonna be awkward if I'm wrong... HEY YOU! IN THE TRAIN!!"

Elliot looked up to see a purple owl perching on the boxcar door. He could see a gem in the center of its chest and realized it was...

"Amethyst!?"

"Holy shit, you're a gem!?"

"It's me, Elliot!"

"That's even worse! Why do you sound like him?? Why on Earth is she a gem!?"

"I can explain everything, just gotta make it quick! I can poss-"

"Yes kid, I know all of that!" Amethyst said, shifting back to her normal form.

"I've been eavesdropping on your conversation with that Peter guy, and was thinking about helping! But why the Hell is she a gem??"

"Ok we can tall about that later... but she won't have any idea where to go when I'm awake! You have to guide her back to town!"

"Are you crazy?? She's a gem! A pearl maybe, but there ain't no way I'm bringing a Homeworld gem all the way to the temple! Have you not been listening to Pearl at all since you arrived?"


"She's nothing like those gems! She's been on Earth for as long as I can remember, and rescued me from my Mother! Please! I wouldn't hurt any of you, you have to trust me! I trust her!"

Amethyst looked like she was thinking for a moment before he spoke again. "Before I met Peter, she was the only friend I've ever had! I heard you tell Steven that if he trusted his friend, that you'd trust them as well! Doesn't that apply to me too?"

"...Fine, give me your hand."

He took Amethysts hand, and she shapeshifted into what looked like a Pteranodon, and she grabbed Earls shoulder.

In this awkward position, Earl/Elliot was lifted high into the air and it didn't take long to see familiar landmarks.

Over the hills, Beach City could be seen illuminated by the moonlight. Even the temple and the lighthouse above it.

"Holy shit, Beach City! It looks beautiful from up here!" Amethyst zipped over a building, almost causing Earl to loose her legs.

"Hey Amethyst, not to complain and all but can you fly a bit higher?"

"Hold on bro, I'll just drop her in the water!"


"No wait, Earl might not be able to swi-" Amethyst flew over deep water, and dropped Earl/Elliot mid sentence.

"Not my problem Elliot!"

Amethyst was about to speak again when she noticed Earl wasn't speaking at all, just staring at the sky blankly as her eye stopped glowing.

Meanwhile... "EARL!!" Elliot yelled shooting up from where he was sleeping, waking Steven in the process. "Wha... what's going on?"

He heard the door opening and not being closed, and the sound of rapid footsteps becoming more distance as Elliot booked it towards the ocean.

He didn't care if it was cold... she needed him.

"HANG ON EARL I'M COMING!!" He yelled, jumping into the freezing water.

Peter and Steven had walked out onto the balcony, and were watching as Elliot swam further further, yelling out for Earl.

"What is he doing?? He's going to get sick!" Steven asked.

"Hell if I know! I think it's about Earl!"

"Wait who's Earl?"

Meanwhile Elliots mind was racing with guilt.

Does she think I abandoned her?

Even if I possessed her because I wanted to see her again, does she really want that?

What if she hates me?

Why didn't she come find me by herself?

Did she not know the way to go?

Did I bring her all the way to Delmarva against her will?

Then... he felt a hand grip his, and saw... Earl, with her face half in the water

"EARL! oh my god.... I finally found you! Or did you find me?" He was almost becoming hysterical.

"Thank God you're alright! Amethyst literally just dropped you... I can't describe how glad I am to see you again. Are you... glad to see me too?"

"Glad to see... too."

"Seriously? You're not tired of me, like at all?"

"Seriously, not tired at all."

"Sorry... for possessing you while you slept, I thought you wouldn't know where to go... and I'm so sorry for just leaving you in the temple. I tried to get off the warp pad but... I was too late! I promise I'll be more careful now! Let's just... get out of this water, I don't wanna get Pneumonia."

It took them a few minutes to climb out of the ocean, and Elliot was about to grab a towel when... they saw a welcoming committee. Peter and Steven were nowhere in sight, and there was only Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst.

"Shit... I think Amethyst might have already told the others. But Garnet and Pearl are nice, if we explain maybe they'll understand?"

Pearl's expression couldn't be seen, but when she faced the duos direction, it told them all they needed to know

Fear and anger.

"Or... maybe they won't."

Chapters end.
_____________________

 

[Diamondseed345]

"Sorry... for possessing you while you slept, I thought you wouldn't know where to go... and I'm so sorry for just leaving you in the temple. I tried to get off the warp pad but... I was too late! I promise I'll be more careful now! Let's just... get out of this water, I don't wanna get Pneumonia."

It took them a few minutes to climb out of the ocean, and Elliot was about to grab a towel when... they saw a welcoming committee. Peter and Steven were still on the balcony, and Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst were on the beach.

"Shit... I think Amethyst might have already told the others. But Garnet and Pearl are nice, if we explain maybe they'll understand?"

Pearl's expression couldn't be seen, but when she faced the duos direction, it told them all they needed to know

Fear and anger.

"Or... maybe they won't."

"That's her!" Amethyst yelled. "That's the homeworld gem I was telling you about, she's definitely dangerous!"

"Amethyst, I appreciate you trying to help... but you've got it wrong, the pearl isn't the one that's dangerous. It's Elliot."

"I'm... sorry what?"

"The hell are you on about Pearl?"

"I've been a complete idiot. We knew you were like Steven, we just didn't..." She went silent for a moment. "Know what gem you had. But with that Pearl, it has become all too clear. That Pearl has been the attendant of the leader of Homeworlds Empire... White Diamond."

"That's impossible! I didn't foresee thi-"

"You didn't need to foresee this at all! The gem may have rotated, but that is indeed White Diamond!"

"You... think I'm pretending to look like this? I don't even know who or what a diamond is- wait. Is that why you kept calling me a diamond Earl?"

"Don't waste your time on that White! She can't even answer that even if she tried!"


"Is he keeping her from telling us or something??"

"She's under White Diamonds full control, and no longer has any free will... and only does what White commands her-"

Then, a familiar voice pierced the air, a more innocent voice... Steven.

"Hey, guys? What's going on?"

"Get back inside Steven! This isn't your fight!"

"Who's that? Is that this "Earl" person Elliot was talking about?"

"Like I said! Get back inside!!"

"Wait, if he's controlling her, is that why the pearl sounds like him?"

No! It can't be true, I think you've got it all wrong! You can tell them, right Earl?" Both their eyes started to glow white again

"No! Can't be true! Got it all wrong!"

"She saved me from my abusive mother! Other than Peter, she's the first friend I've had in years!"

"How the fuck do you think we still believe you!? You're still controlling her! Forcing her to smile and play along with this, it's obvious you're puppeting her! I mean, both of you have your eyes glowing white!"

"...I... only did it while I was asleep. I was only trying to reunite us! That's it, I swear!"

"Oh, there's no need to worry about that. I'm not letting this go on any longer than it needs too." Pearl said, summoning her spear.

"PEARL, STOP!!" Steven yelled. Garnet seemed hesitant, but summoned her gauntlets. Amethyst was backing away, the while Elliot brought out his staff.

"Amethyst, grab the Pearl! Me and Garnet will deal with the Diamond!"

"Please!! I don't wanna hurt any of you! I'm not what you think I am!!"

"Pearl, Get back! She's going to-"

For a moment time seemed to stand still.

Pearl was just about to impale Elliot, when Peter ran from the balcony and jumped infront of him. His physical form had been poofed back into his gem from being impaled, but Elliot didn't know that from what happened as Peter jumped.

He had slammed his staff into the ground, and a shockwave could be felt coming from the impact point.

Sand was sent flying across the beach, and when the sand cloud settled, Garnet and Amethyst had been poofed back into their gems, while Pearl was just sent flying.

"Wha... what just..."

He paused for a moment, looking at Pearl before grabbing Peter's gem.

"I'm so sorry..."

Earl and Elliot then took off running. Even if his legs had started to ache, he didn't let himself stop until they were in a nearby forest.

Elliot almost seemed to be in shock.

"Earl... what she said isn't true is it? I'm not controlling you, right? It can't be true..."

Earl only kept her thousand yard stare, except her pupils remained white, as with Elliot.

"Isn't true, can't be true..."

"Your eyes... they're glowing. She said you're only saying that because I asked you to say it. You did everything I asked you to do... you agree with everything I say... I made you do that without realizing it."

He went silent for a moment, before speaking up again.

"That night in the forest back in Oregano... did I make you do that? Did I just make you reach out? Have I just been... talking to myself this whole time?"

Earl stayed silent, only keeping her tiny smile.

"If the real you is in there somewhere, I just want to say... I never wanted any of this. I... never wanted to control you, whatever this is... I..."

He slumped over and fell to the ground, falling unconscious from hypothermia.

Meanwhile, spots of color seemed to form on Earls body, partially bringing her back to her original appearance.

"??"

She then noticed Elliot, on the ground and shivering. She went to pick him up, and found that his heart was practically beating out of his chest.

Something was wrong... she had to act.

Meanwhile, Elliot felt like he was falling. Falling through a void filled with stars, where there was nothing but him.

He plunged into what felt like an endless ocean at the bottom of this void, and light began to replace the darkness of the void above.

He didn't know how long he descended through the ocean, minutes, hours, days? It was as if he had become disconnected with the reality around him.

Then... he felt a sudden burst of energy. He could move around in this ocean, but... he couldn't breathe. He was glowing... just like the environment around him.

He had been trying to swim for the surface but... he had just kept going deeper and deeper. What was this? Was was going on?

He kept trying to swim, kicking his legs harder and harder, but an unseen force kept dragging him deeper.

Then... he could sense this unseen force. Something was in this ocean with him. Not a fish, not a whale or some kind of leviathan, something... else entirely. Something completely foreign.

Then... he could see it.

Piercing grey eyes with white pupils similar in shape to his, with pitch black lashes.

It was staring daggers silently, as if it had been judging him for one reason or another.

It then began to reach out for him, with transpare white hands and pitch black claws... he couldn't escape it.

It held him in its grasp, but it just kept... staring at him. It did nothing but stare, and he stared back.

He couldn't speak, and it didn't speak, and all he could hear was the sounds of the currents and bubbles around him.

Why was this happening? What was this... thing? Was this White Diamond? A pair of eyes and an arm? Or was this... him?

Chapters end.
___________________

 

[Diamondseed345]

Piercing grey eyes with white pupils similar in shape to his, with pitch black lashes.

It was staring daggers silently, as if it had been judging him for one reason or another.

It then began to reach out for him, with transpare white hands and pitch black claws... he couldn't escape it.

It held him in its grasp, but it just kept... staring at him. It did nothing but stare, and he stared back.

He couldn't speak, and it didn't speak, and all he could hear was the sounds of the currents and bubbles around him.

Why was this happening? What was this... thing? Was this White Diamond? A pair of eyes and an arm? Or was this... him?

They had been staring at eachother for what felt like days... while this pair of eyes and arms started to... change form. Could it really be said she had been changing form? More and more features were able to be seen.

Facial features, eyebrows, a mouth, hair, and... the gem.

The gem wasn't positioned the same way as what Elliot had, as it had a much more vertical position and... it was so much bigger. It looked as if it would be six feet tall... bigger than Elliot entirely.


Her expression was entirely unchanging, just constant wide eyes, and a smile showing teeth. She wasn't even blinking... only an unending, unknowable stare.

Then... she spoke.

"Hello Starlight... I-"

The monotone robotic voice was cut off when the light became blinding and everything went white.

But when Elliots eyes opened, instead of more blinding light, he was met with gentle sunlight. Instead of an endless ocean, he was in a bed, with a comforter placed over his body.

"Wha... where am I?"

He looked around, to see Pearl sitting by the door... she still looked angry, but not angry enough to try and kill him.

"Pearl? Where am I... what happened??"

"You had pretended to lower your body temperature, Stevens father found you and wanted to help you recover."

"Pretend... I was suffering from hypothermia?"

"You didn't move for almost a week, Steven was concerned for you but... I didn't let him see you."

"What? Why?"

"Why do you think White?? I know what you'd do to him!!"

"You... still think I'm a diamond? I thought I was like Steven??"

"You- you're nothing like him! He would never want to associate with the likes of you if he learned what you've done!"

"I... I..." Elliot didn't know what to say, and then could feel a hand on his shoulder.

He turned around to find it was Earl.

"Earl??"

Elliot was completely silent, not knowing what to say. What was with those pink spots? Was it some kind of sunburn? What did it mean?

"She's never left your side since you've arrived, hasn't let me come within five feet of you. I don't know why, but she doesn't seem to have any sort of grudge against you after everything you did."


"Earl... what's with those pink spots? Did you get a sunburn or something?"

"I should ask YOU that question! What on Earth did you do to her??"

"I... don't know?"

"OF COURSE YOU KNOW! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DID-"

"PEARL!" Garnet yelled, coming into the room.

"Quit yelling at the boy, I'll handle this."

"Garnet! Don't you see what she's-"

"HE doesn't know what is going on. For all he knows, you just made him confused then attacked him."

"She's White DIAMOND! Don't you know what this means??"

"I can see that now, but there is obviously more to it than just the gem embedded in his skull."

"I-"

"Let me talk to him. There's no reason for you to yell at him when he hasn't done anything wrong. Tell me, even if Steven technically is Rose, should we say that he was the one who started the rebellion?"

"No-"

"Exactly. You should go tell Peter is awake, and let Steven know too. They'll both be elated."

"She's a threat though!!"

"He was merely defending himself. Now let us talk, alright?"

Pearl left the room, Garnet brought the chair close and sat down.

"My apologies for what happened a few days ago, I believe we were all just caught up in the moment."

"What... what do you mean? Didn’t you and Pearl want to kill me earlier?"

"I was going to do you know harm, as I knew you never meant harm. I knew what was coming next, even if neither Amethyst or Pearl didn’t. If I was to be a casualty, I was to accept it."

"I... don't understand?"

Earl was listening to what Garnet had been saying, and seemed to understand.

"All will be understood in time, and I can see that you have a question to ask?"

"Oh, yeah. How'd you know?"

"Like I said, all will be understood in time. You may ask your question."

"Pearl claimed that I was White Diamond, who was that?"

Earl just pointed at him.

"That's not exactly what I was asking Earl... I meant before all this happened. I can't... remember anything about her."

"White Diamond... I don't know much about her, only the bare minimum. You don't know much about the diamonds, yes?"

"Only that they're gems really."

"Alright, this is going to be a long one. You see, the Diamonds are the matriarchs of the Gem Empire. There were once three, but she was shattered in a war over five thousand years ago. Yellow, Blue and White were all that remained, and it seems clear now that you're in a similar position to Steven. His mother was a rose quartz, THE Rose Quartz, while yours seems to be White Diamond. The diamonds were the most powerful gems, and they mostly run things on homeworld unless they're out monitoring the creation of a colony. That shattered Diamond, Pink, tried to colonize Earth before human civilization even began."

"Were the diamonds just trying to make settlements on the surface of the planet? I think there's plans to do that with Mars and the Moon in the next few years."

"That does happen, but not always... they were going to hollow out the planet."

"Wait, WHAT??"

"Yes, it's happened before, and no doubt has happened ever since Pink was shattered. The planet is terraformed somewhat by multiple Lapis Lazuli..."

Garnet went on to explain the whole colonization process, or at least everything that she knew.

"And after the life is drained, and it is cracked open to extract different resources. Not what is needed to create more gems, but precious metals. Once those are gone, the cities will then be built.

"Kinda reminds me of locusts..."

"Did... White ever have any colonies of her-"

He was interrupted by the door opening, and an older man walked in. He had a bit of a goatee, as well as longer salt and pepper hair.

"I knew I heard voices! Is the kid alright Garnet? I figured he'd need to eat after being out of it for the better part of a week."

"Yes, he's alright, will stay alright too."

"Um... who are you sir?"

"Oh geez, I haven't introduced myself! I'm Greg, did Steven tell you about me?"

"Not really..."

"Oh, well I work the carwash, not really much I do these days otherwise."

"Greg was the one who found you. "Earl" there brought you to him." He looked to Earl, and she nodded in confirmation.

"Oh... am I using your bed? I can get out of it if you want me to."

"No need little buddy! I sleep outside in my van, might be you that needs a proper bed, considering the one you're on is only a cot. By the way... there's two people that want to see you."

Greg paused for a moment. "Alright! You can come in Schtu-ball!"

More footsteps could be heard, then Peter and Steven walked in.

"Elliot!!"

Elliot was grabbed by Steven in what was essentially a bear hug and all he let out was a sharp squeak. Let's just say... Steven didn't know his own strength.

"You're... crushing me!"

Steven suddenly let him go.

"Oh, uh... sorry!"

"They said you were suffering from hypothermia..." Peter said. "Are you feeling any better?"

"Oh, I... guess so."

In the afternoon sunlight, more details could be made out on Elliot, especially considering he wasn't wearing his hoodie, so what almost looked like dried blood could be seen on his collarbone. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be an Ominent logo, or at least looked like it. Instead of the "Ominent" name being on the emblem, it was some kind of number, "#001"

Peter put two and two together, and realized Elliot held some kind of connection to Ominent real quickly, but he seemed to be special. Peter, and just about everyone he met in Tullwend had this marking, but theirs didn't appear so... faded.

What did this mean? Was he one of the first?

"Hey Elliot, I don't mean to alarm you but... you've got a tattoo on your collarbone."

"Wait... what?"

"Look for yourself..." Peter grabbed Elliots phone, which Earl had placed on a nearby table, and snapped a photo. He proceeded to hand the phone to Elliot, who went completely wide eyed.

"What? Why... why do I-"

Pearl suddenly cleared her throat, having silently entered the room a moment earlier.

"I'm afraid that now that he's awake, we can leave now."

"Already? Is he even healthy enough for that?"

"Yes, but there is something at the Beach House that he's become allergic to, he can't stay ther-"

"No there is-" Pearl shushed Elliot as he began to spoke.

Um... I know this isn't none of my business and all, but maybe I can lend a hand?"

Chapters end.
___________________

 

[Diamondseed345]

Greg paused for a moment. "Alright! You can come in Schtu-ball!"

More footsteps could be heard, then Peter and Steven walked in.

"Elliot!!"

Elliot was grabbed by Steven in what was essentially a bear hug and all he let out was a sharp squeak. Let's just say... Steven didn't know his own strength.

"You're... crushing me!"

Steven suddenly let him go.

"Oh, uh... sorry!"

"They said you were suffering from hypothermia..." Peter said. "Are you feeling any better?"

"Oh, I... guess so."

In the afternoon sunlight, more details could be made out on Elliot, especially considering he wasn't wearing his hoodie, so what almost looked like dried blood could be seen on his collarbone. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be an Ominent logo, or at least looked like it. Instead of the "Ominent" name being on the emblem, it was some kind of number, "#001"

Peter put two and two together, and realized Elliot held some kind of connection to Ominent real quickly, but he seemed to be special. Peter, and just about everyone he met in Tullwend had this marking, but theirs didn't appear so... faded.

What did this mean? Was he one of the first?

"Hey Elliot, I don't mean to alarm you but... you've got a tattoo on your collarbone."

"Wait... what?"

"Look for yourself..." Peter grabbed Elliots phone, which Earl had placed on a nearby table, and snapped a photo. He proceeded to hand the phone to Elliot, who went completely wide eyed.

"What? Why... why do I-"

Pearl suddenly cleared her throat, having silently entered the room a moment earlier.

"I'm afraid that now that he's awake, we can leave now."

"Already? Is he even healthy enough for that?"

"Yes, but there is something at the Beach House that he's become allergic to, he can't stay ther-"

"No there is-" Pearl shushed Elliot as he began to spoke.

Um... I know this isn't none of my business and all, but maybe I can lend a hand?"

"What makes you think that you can help Greg?" Pearl asked.

"I'm not sure if it could work as a place someone could stay, but there's a place I own just outside of town that I inherited a few years ago."

"This place... is a barn?"

"Oh, yeah! How'd you know?"

"I have my ways."

"So... am I gonna be living like that guy with back problems in Of Mice and Men?

"Um... yeah, I guess you could say that! I need to watch the movie sometime."


It took about fifteen minutes to get to the barn, considering it was only a short walk out of town. Steven didn't come along, as Amethyst had come to bring him back home. Pearl and Garnet had come along, but... Pearl had been constantly giving Elliot the stink eye. Garnet seemed to notice and looked a bit ticked off, but didn't say anything. Elliot could tell that she had something on her mind though. Was she upset at Pearl for what she was doing?

The barn was like any of the countless barns that Elliot had seen before, didn't really think there was anything out of the ordinary about it.

"Been a long time since ANYONE has been here, so it's gonna be caked in dust. Let's hope the dust bunnies don't affect those allergies of yours..."
It took Greg a moment or two to get the barn open the doors, and he coughed a bit from the dust inside.

"Welp... I was right, dusty. You guys go ahead and have a look around, I'm gonna check if the well pump still works!"

Garnet and Pearl then started to walk off the property. "Me and Pearl need to do have a discussion... you three take a look around, we'll be back in a bit."

There was tons of junk scattered around the barn, not to mention it was caked on dust. Never the less... that could be fixed in time, it could be made better.

Even if it couldn't completely be fixed up, it could still be better than this... brilliant you could say.

There was one other thing on Elliots mind other than how dusty the place was however.

"Hey Peter?"

"Hm? What's up?"

"Are you... gonna live with me? Pearl thought I was dangerous but... you know I'd never hurt you, right?"

"Well... yeah, Of course! I was never really interested in living with the CG's anyway, but could you imagine the possibilities of what we could do with this place? Like if we get a WiFi router set up in here, and grab a Roku TV, we wouldn't even need Cable!"

"I don't know about you... but I'm not much of a room designer or... whatever they're called."

He paused for a moment, before looking over at Earl. "What about you Earl?"

Earl only gave a thumbs up.

A few minutes later, after Greg came back and showed the three the ins and outs of the barn, like what to do if a breaker is popped.

"This place runs on gas, so I might have to come back every now and then to refill the generator. Other than that, you have everything covered kiddo?"

"Yes sir, everything's covered!"

"Good to hear. I'll be heading back to the shop now, maybe I can hire you there at some point?"

"Sure... don't see why not."

A minute or two after Greg left though, Pearl could be heard calling for Elliot specifically, and Elliot found Garnet was with her as well. Garnet looked... disappointed? But she didn't seem disappointed in Elliot, but... someone else?

Pearl could be seen holding some kind of spherical object in her hands as he walked over.

"Have you any idea of what this is?"

"Um... no?"

"It's supposed to be a barrier axis crystal. They're used for containment purposes... and will poof the physical form of any gem that tries to walk through. I've placed multiple around the perimeter... that will be as far as you can go."

"Wait... does that mean we're under house arrest??"

"Not Earl and Peter... only you."

"I'll come over every few days so one of the two can pick up supplies." Garnet said.

"Unfortunately, Pearl kept insisting that we do this. I don't know if we have any other options for... now at least."

As Garnet finished talking, Pearl activated the barrier, which appeared to be some kind of yellowish force field."

"You've gotta be kidding... at least I have my-"

Elliot reached for his pocket, only to realize his phone wasn't there. But it wasn't only his phone, but almost all of his belongings, which were still in his bag.. It must have been where he left it back in the Beach house.

"You've gotta be kidding me..."

Chapters end.
________________________

 

[Diamondseed345]

Refurbishing the barn had been going somewhat well. The first issue was all the dust that had been scattered around, that was one thing Greg had been spot on about. Peter had said that when he was human, dust made him go into sneezing fits, so he guessed that was a plus to being a gem? Elliot couldn't really say his opinion on the matter, considering dust never really made him sneeze and or cough.

If anything, it was the products they had used to clean up the barn that had made him sneeze. From the Raid to deal with the Termite infestation the cleaning spray, it had Elliot coughing up a storm.

Peter had advised they stop dealing with the dust, and to deal with all the junk.

The barn surprisingly, wasn't filled with hay at all, but mostly with vehicle parts instead. Upon closer inspection, it was realized that the parts were... from planes? There were all sorts of parts, tail fins, engines, propellers, wings, all sorts... Peter and Elliot had no idea what to do with them. For one, it would take a VERY long time to get rid of all of this junk, and two, there was a force field around the barn, so there wasn't really anywhere they could put the stuff.

But then... after the two came back in after a quick chat with Garnet, all the junk was gone, even the picture on the wall!

All there was just Earl and a couple scraps of trash on the floor!

"Wha... what- Where the Hell did it all go!?"

Earl just shrugged and had a slightly smug smile.

"Hold on... did you do that?"

Earl put her thumb up, and winked... or just blinked? If you technically only have one eye, would it be wink or blink?

"Huh. I'm not sure whether to be shocked or impressed." Peter said.

"Well I'd say that's impressive! I mean you literally got rid of all that junk in like... five minutes!"

Two steps of renovating the barn were complete, now there was the third step... furniture.

Thankfully, Earl was allowed to leave the area when Garnet came to drop off supplies, and Earl was able to head off into town to grab what was needed.

Earl didn't really grab much, but Elliot would at least be able to breathe a sigh of relief, considering that Earl... actually paid for what she found. A couch with one or two holes in it, and a twin sized mattress. Unfortunately though... Earl placed the couch in the dead center, and it had to be moved. Peter and Elliot were the ones that had to move it, and there were some... complications.

"Alright, you ready? One... two... three!" They both went to lift it, though on Elliots side it was lower.

"You gotta lift with your knees!"

"What'd you want me to do?? I can barely even pull myself up!"

"Just try your best and look down so you don't crush your feet!"

They continued to move, but started going too fast.

"Hey you're gonna crush me!" Elliot said

"Sorry I don't know what to do!"

"Alright just... put it down, put it down for a moment, I need to think."

They both put it down, and after a minute Elliot got an idea.

"Alright just, I- I got it. Here's what we're gonna do, take the all the pillows and the mattress out, that should make it easier."

They pulled off everything, and tried again... still the same issues, and they didn't even get very far.

"You know what, screw it... it's not going anywhere and it's good where it is."

As they continued to set up their new home, Earl brought certain objects out of her gem, presumably objects of interest that she had found while cleaning up the junk. A coffee pot and older coffee maker, along with a VHS player with a bunch of tapes of different genres.

The first Tremors movie, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Army of Darkness, as well as a bunch of Disney movies such as that King of Thieves Aladdin movie. Not only that, but an old CRT Television set as well.

"What was tha-" Elliot said, curious about the noise and going silent.

"Oh friggin sweet! I love these cheesy horror movies!" Peter said, picking up a bunch of the cases. "Didn't know Mr. Greg was into these cult classics!"

"Well... at least we don't have to listen to the wind all day right?"

"To be honest, I wouldn't mind listening to the sounds of the wind. Reminds me of times... before even Tullwend."

"I guess it would be nice..."

Soon, they managed to somewhat set up all the furniture bought and found.

Earl brought the TV up to the floor near the rafters, as well as the mattress and... even a recliner chair?? It was busted up like the couch, but just how much was in that barn?? The VHS player had been set up as well, so Peter and Elliot had been giving the Killer Klowns movie a go.

Apparently the alien clowns could be defeated by destroying the nose? If they had managed to become an interstellar civilization, how did they not try to compensate for that? Might have been a plot hole, but for Elliot it just felt cheap. The Spaceship was even some weird technologically advanced circus tent? They really went all out on the clown aesthetic.

By the time of the finale of the movie where four guys confront the clowns, a faint thump could be heard outside.

"You hear that?" Peter asked.

"Yeah... I did, sounded like it's coming from outside."

"You... wanna go look?"

"Sure. I don't see why not..."

They stopped the tape as to not damage its insides, and walked outside.

Nothing much seemed to be different, other than the fact the sun had almost completely set, turning the sky into a tapestry of colors.

On closer inspection though... Elliots bag could be seen laying in the grass, and a familiar purple owl could be seen flying into the distance.

"Holy shit! I... who... who put this here!?"

"I... don't know? Maybe it was one of the gems?"

"Doesn't matter who brought it! We finally have some fresh clothes! Not to mention we could have a movie marathon with all the snacks and... I frankly might need to charge my phone." Elliot said, picking the bag up.

"Alright then. After Killer Klowns, you wanna do Tremors?"

"Oh for sure!"

Chapters end.
____________________

 

[Diamondseed345]

It possibly would have been better to have used the "Do not disturb" option on Discord. Elliot had plugged his phone into the wall while they continued to binge their VHS horror movies, and when he checked when the movies were over... what he saw shocked him.

Discord notifications, by the truckload, mostly from the server Sour Cream had suggested he join.

They were worried about him... he hadn't been seen at all in about a week, not to mention he had just gone silent.

"You alright?"

"C'mon man you're making me nervous"

All sorts of texts over the week... he had to tell them he was okay, his conscience wouldn't let him refuse.

His status was "idle" so that was a good start... let's just hope he'll answer. The call was answered in less than a minute, but all that was heard was... high pitched breathing.

"Sour Cream?"

The breathing continued for a moment until SC could actually be heard.

"Did someone call Onion? You didn't need to answer it, just bring my phone to me. Who is th- wait. Elliot?"

"Yeah..."

"Where have you been dude?? We've been trying to call you all week!"

"That's the thing... I was out in the cold for too long without much on and... was out for awhile."

"Well why were you out in the cold?"

'That's... a long story. It might be best if I explain in person."

"Are you able to come over then? Where are you?"

"In a barn, a couple miles outside of town... me and Peter, and an old friend have set up shop here..."

"I thought you lived with Steven? Did something happen between you two?"

"No... it's stuff involving gems. A bit... complicated too."

Elliot proceeded to explain everything that he knew so far. About how he was the son of some kind of alien dictator, the fact that he had her gemstone, about Earl, as well as the fact he was under some kind of house arrest due to his gem. Not to mention the force field around the vicinity of the barn.

"Hold on... I think I know where the Barn you're talking about is. I'll head over when I can, how does that sound to you?"

"I... guess that sounds good?"

"I gotta do some shit with my dad first, so I might be a bit then."

"Alright SC, sounds good to me."

A few days later, Elliot and Earl were cleaning up the leaves in the vicinity of the barn, raking them into neat little piles that can be thrown out when Garnet were to return. Peter had suggested they listen to a guy analyzing an old internet horror story on YouTube. Elliot didn't really focus on listening to it, since he was more interested in cleaning up the dead leaves.


He wanted to make the place better for everyone that came, that's why the two were cleaning up in the first place. Folks that travel to their home might find it irritating to step in a bunch of leaves. He, Peter and Earl didn't seem bothered, but what if it bothered others? Should that really be his top priority?


He was pondering if that should be his top priority when his train of thought was interrupted.


"Ellie!" A familiar voice yelled.

"Huh?"

Beyond the force field, was SC and Steven, this time with his hoodie completely zipped up. His sword was in its scabbard, which was held by a leather strap on Stevens shoulder, allowing it to rest comfortably by the hip.

"Steven?? Wha- What're you doing here?? I thought Pearl didn’t want you coming here??"

"Oh, Pearl and Garnet have actually been talking about that the past few days. Garent convinced her to let me come here!"

"Oh... that's nice I guess?"

"So..." SC said. "Is this the forcefield you told me about on Thursday?"

"Yeah... our own little world I guess you could say. Like I told you earlier, it's from gem technology. Supposed to "disrupt the light projection that is my physical form or something like that."

Just as Elliot was going to explain more, SC could be seen going to poke at the barrier.

"Wait!! What are you doing dude?? You shouldn't touch that!"

"I don't have a light projection whatchamacallit or whatever it was called. If I don't have that, it won't work on me, right?"

"We don't know that for sure! Pearl and Garnet never told me if it works on organics or not! So let's not do anything-"

Sour cream walked right through the force field without warning. The electrical patterns of the field concentrated around SC as he walked through, like when a hand is placed on a plasma ball.

"Reckless..."

The silence that followed was palpable.

"Uh... are... you okay??" Elliot was too shocked to speak properly.

"Yeah, pretty sure I am. Just felt like TV static, and I guess I was right that it wouldn't work on me."

"Yeah, I guess you were, but you know how reckless that was?? We didn’t know what it would do, you could have died or something!"

"Chill out bro, what's done is done. Wait... hold on a minute."

"What is it?"

"You only have your moms gem, right?"

"I... think so?"

"Since you only have her gem, maybe your human half would let you pass through that forcefield?"

"Um..." Elliot thought for a moment.

"That's... probably not a good idea. We don't know what it would do to me and Steven. You know what happens buddy?"

"Honestly, I have no idea."

"Well shit... What'd we do now?"

"Dunno... maybe we can watch a movie on your phone or something?"

"Well, we were listening to something... but I don't see why not?"

He went to grab his phone off a nearby rock, and just when he went to grab it... a smaller hand grabbed it. The hand turned out to belong to Onion, and he was just staring up at Elliot with that same dead eyed stare.

"How the- when the fuck did you get in here!?"

Chapters end.
____________________

 

[Diamondseed345]

Strange music could be heard echoing throughout the room. A macabre song, with a monotonous, mechanical theme to it, with an artificial sounding overtone to it. Far below, what looked like countless gears could be seen spinning, but upon closer inspection... they turned out to be people in dresses shaped like gears.

Everyone in the room was dancing in unison, yet... there didn't seem to be any emotion in what they were doing. Even with the ones who weren't wearing dresses shaped like gears, there hadn't been any emotion with them either. They only stepped from side to side, or back and forth.

Elliott thought it all looked miserable, it was as if all .the people... no... gems below were all parts of some massive machine.

Why was he here? This didn't feel like a normal dream... it felt like those visions "mother" always told him weren't real. Did she know what they meant?

He was attempting to figure out what everything he was seeing meant, when his train of thought was interrupted by the sounds of the gems below going quiet, but the music didn't stop.

He looked forward to see the curtains ahead part and out came... Steven? He had a dark pink vest on, with crimson pants and arm sleeves... and that wasn't the only thing off. His eyes had Diamond Pupils, and light pink irises. His gem was also... different.

It looked somewhat like the X-rays Elliot had seen of his skull when he was little....of what was said to be a "bone deformity' but completely upside-down and a bright pink color.

"I'm so sorry White! Spinel didn’t want me to leave-"

"Now now Starlight!" Elliott said- wait... did he say that? He didn't say that!

"We can't let anyone interrupt a ball, can we? Noone should interfere once it starts, even you." Why was he saying this?? Was something talking through him??

"I-"

"SSHHH!" Elliott 0had placed a finger over his mouth. "My gems... take her to the tower. She will learn in time."

Two Yellow gems with stones on the sides of their faces grabbed Steven by the arm, and just as he yelled, Elliott woke up in a cold sweat.

"What... what was that?" He looked around, to see he wasn't in that... ballroom? He was on the second floor of the barn, with the TV playing one of the Disney movies he and Peter decided to binge. Did Peter rewatch the movie while he was sleeping?

Did it really matter that much though? It was 5 in the morning, and he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, so he minus well get up for the day.

For once, Peter was actually sleeping down on the couch with a book on his stomach. It was the book on American sign language they were all reading. For Peter and Elliott, it was so they could understand ASL... for Earl However, it was so she could speak through it. She couldn't write in English, yet she could understand it?

It was an interesting read, although it was time consuming.

Speaking of Earl, she didn't seem to notice that Elliott was awake, as usually she was by his side almost instantly. Here, she was leaving the barn, and going towards the... forcefield?

Instead of Garnet, SC or Steven, it was Peael, who was behind the forcefield.

"Earl... is it? You probably know why I'm here."

Earl attempted to communicate through the sign language she knew, Elliott couldn't make out what she was saying from his position at the barn door."

"I... don't know what that means? I know you can't speak, but there has to be-"

Earl stopped her, and what looked like a hologram with symbols he couldn't understand appeared from her gem. It looked like... hieroglyphics? Not like the ones from Egypt, but more like from ancient Assyria?

"What? It's not just some cult! You have no idea what you're even talking about! This is Earth, not Homeworld! Don't you see? We're offering you a way out of your servitude! You need only to let us explain, the rules of Homeworld don't apply on Earth! You can leave White Diamond! Be your own Gem! We are our own gems! So why can't you?"

Earl only produced more hieroglyphs.

"It's not what you think! I know how hard it can be but... perhaps you could spend some time away from your Diamond to see for yourself.

That was enough for Earl. The hieroglyphs dissappeared, and she stormed back towards the barn.

"No! Wait! I didn't mean-"

Earl slammed the door behind her, and almost caught Elliotts fingers in the door, noticing him in the process.

"Oh- I didn't mean to eavesdrop! I just woke up from another one of those dreams but... are you feeling alright? I heard everything Pearl said, about... leaving White- er... me, and being your own person or whatever that was..."

Earl proceeded to do the Diamond salute for the first time in a long time.

"N-no, wait!" He put a hand on her wrist.

"Everything she said about you serving me, you don't have to do that! You've never had to do any of that! I don't care if I'm a Diamond, or if I'm the son if I'm a Diamond. It doesn't matter if I'm from some Royal Family from up in Space. If what I've heard about the Diamonds is true... I'd rather not be like them, even if I was... or am one of them. Leave it in the past, so please... no more salutes... for our sake."

He paused for a moment. "We should put this diamond business behind us..."

Elliott almost immediately pulled Earl into a hug. She was shocked, but once in a blue moon moments later... she was in tears. They sat there for who knows how long in eachothers embrace.

Chapters end.
_______________________

 

[Diamondseed345]

The asks had continued to come, even after the incident that had occurred when Earl came back. Some were about Earl, some were about Peter, but most of them... were about him.

"Why did you change your name to Elliott?"

"Has Earl met Pearl at all?"

"You ever wonder why Earl and Pearl look similar?"

"How does Earl feel about Steven?"

But there were ones that... stood out.

"Elliott, what is with the tattoo on your neck?"

"Elliott, were you a part of the Spac.r Project?"

"What do you know about Ominent?"

Those were the asks that always went unanswered, as Elliott never wanted to talk about the corporation. More memories had back to the light and most of them... were in no way pleasant.

He didn't want to give them their answers, since wasn't that his private business? If he was uncomfortable answering, he didn't have to answer, did he?

Besides... he was starting to have questions of his own. Were there others at Ominent like him and Steven? That felt like a somewhat likely possibility, but if there were others, how many were there?One or two more maybe? Dozens? Hundreds? Could there have been someone like him living down in Tullwend for over a year?

No... he couldn't focus on that now. He had much to do, as did Peter and Earl. When they weren't watching things like Tremors or Stuart Little, they were all putting in their fair share with keeping the barn clean.

Cleaning dirty clothes, taking over the job of fueling the generator, drying the clothes, sweeping, getting rid of the old coffee grounds, it didn't take for them all to do it together. Yet there was one thing on his mind during the work, specifically about the movie.

How does a mouse survive in a washing machine? And just WHY did Stuart have human teeth? He couldn't get it off his mind, as the logic of that movies universe just didn't make any sense to him. Like was there a species of white mice that developed sentience alongside humanity?

He thought it might have been a good idea to bring it up to Amethyst, since she had started coming up every couple days. Steven had started coming up along with her, for casual chats with Elliott and Peter, but... he wasn't here this time.

He was sweeping the barn floor, planning on heading out to talk when he was finished, but he heard... arguing? He was about to leave to see what the commotion was about, when Peter came walking in.

"It's Pearl... she says she wanted to talk to Earl, and found out Amethyst was here as well."

Earl, who was making herself a coffee, made an attempt to use Sign Language again.

She had essentially told them that she wasn't going out to talk, so Elliott figured he would go and handle it. Peter thought he would be able to break up the argument, though considering he... didn't have the best of mental health at the time, it couldn't be broken up.

When he left the barn, he could see that this time Steven wasn't there, but instead it was Pearl and Amethyst arguing.

"Do you have any idea how much danger you've put us all in?! Talking to White Diamond like that??"

"What? Putting YOU in danger?! You can't be fuckin serious Pearl! He's behind the barrier, ain't no way he could be a danger!"


"I told you to stay away for a reason! I had to protect you and Steven from White, and you're acting as if this is some kind of GAME!"

"Uh... guys?"

"If you didn't want me sniffing around here, maybe you shouldn't hide shit from me!"

"We didn't hide any-"

"Bullshit! You've always hidden things from me! You know all of Roses secrets, and keep them for yourself! You haven't even told her SON any of them!"

"Guys, you don't need to fig-"

"Agh! Where on Earth did you come from!?"

"You forced him to live here remember?"

"You guys don't have to-"

"White Diamond, this doesn't concern you."

"Then how come you come to HIS house??"

"She was looking for one of the Pearls he travels with." Garnet said, walking over.

"Garnet!?" They both yelled, scrambling to find words. "I knew for sure you'd both be here."

"How come everyone is able to visit the kid but not me!?"

"This is war! Not a visit! We're holding White Diamond prisoner!"

"The Hell are you on about!? Do you see any way out here?? The only war that's happened in these parts happened a century and a half ago!"

"You never take anything seriously! Why do you think we don't tell you anything??"

"Please..." Elliott said, leaning on the fence.

"Can't we just talk this OH FUCK-" Elliott yelled, knocking over the fence and... going through the barrier. White "circuitry" could be seen all over his body, and he could be seen shaking for a moment, before collecting himself.


"God... my head... I think I might have broken the fence..."

"That ain't the only thing broken you know..."

"She just... went through the barrier?"

"It appears so."

"She didn't poof though!"

"Yes, I can see that."

"Wait, he could have gotten out at anytime, and didn't try at all!? What was the point of keeping him in there??"

"We couldn't let her hurt anyone!"

"He clearly won't hurt anyone! Either way though... what now?"

They were all silent and staring, until Pearl and Amethyst grabbed him by the arms, and he started screaming.

"Let him go Pearl!!"

"Absolutely not! We can't let him go, he might poof us all this time!!"

They continued to argue, all the while Elliott yelled for them to let him go, and eventually ended up in one big dogpile.

Peter and Earl meanwhile, ended up hearing the screaming and came running out to see the mess that the gems and Elliott were in.

"What the Hell happened out here!? How'd you get out!?"

"I... think I can explain... I'm not sure if I can completely."

"You know, after all the crazy shit that's happened to me, why am I even surprised at this point?"

Chapters end.
_________________________

 

[Diamondseed345]

Elliott falling through the barrier was something that any of them had suspected. The question was... why did it happen? They all had their own theories on why it had occurred.

Garnet had suspected it was due to his human half, therefore it was... mostly useless against him. The only way it really seemed to effect him was that he seemed to have a seizure for about thirty seconds. Might that have been due to the placement of his gem?

Elliott had told her about an x-ray that he had when he was young, how they thought it wasn't "malignant."

They thought it was some kind of bone growth inside and outside his skull, surrounding his brain, and thought it was "miraculous" that it didn't kill him.

Could it be that his gem didn't surround his brain, but in reality, WAS his brain?
It would explain why it seemed like Elliott had a seizure, the destabilization field had overloaded his gem, causing uncontrolled electric activity in his nervous system, at least until the activity settled down. But there was one other question she had, if Elliott could get through the barrier, could Steven do so as well?

She couldn't foresee Steven being around a similar field, and certainly couldn't have foreseen this happening at all!


Pearl meanwhile, had suspected it was because of his gem itself. After all, White Diamond was presumably the strongest of all Gem kind, other than... the turncoat.
Because of that, wouldn't White at least be able to somewhat resist any form of destabilization? Amethyst meanwhile had the simplest answer in that he was too op.

"Honestly..." Elliott said, looking at the Axis Crystal in Pearls hand.

"I don't know why I didn't poof. That's what was to happen right?"

"Pretty sure, yeah." Peter said. "Don't think it's supposed to cause a seizure either."

"It was only supposed to disrupt your physical form, and only leave your gem." Garnet said.

"But what happened isn't normal right? And I don't think I just reformed very fast, pretty sure I would have felt that."

"There definitely is more to this..." Garnet said.

"White Diamond is supposed to he super op right? What if Elliott was just too powerful to be p-"

"It doesn't matter just HOW White got out, what matters is how we'll keep her contained! We need to make another protective measure, who knows what she'll do!!" Pearl yelled, staring daggers at Elliott.

"I don't believe that will be necessary."

"What!?"

"Hold on what??"

"Think about it, he could have walked through the forcefield and then disable it for the others, he didn't even think of doing that."

"You didn't even test the forcefield to see if you could get through?" Pearl asked. "Why?"

"I... didn't want to risk what might have happened if I went through? Besides... where would we even go? Ever since my mother was arrested... I've technically had nowhere to go."

"Technically?" Amethyst asked. "Don't you have any other family members?"

"There's my aunt and her family, but she thinks I've been a "hellspawn" ever since she first saw me when I was little. Ever since she tried to "fix" me with an exorcism, my mother cut ties with her. Besides, if we ran off, either you guys might have caught us, or what's left of Ominent would."

"Well..." Pearl said. "You could have gone back to Homeworld."


"There's no way in HELL I'm going back to homeworld!! Besides, even if I did try, i have no idea how to get back! Besides, why would I want to go after I learned about what they've done to Peter! They might do the same to me!!"

Garnet could foresee what Peter was about to say. "You... didn't just crash land on Earth... didn't you?"

Peter was shocked, how on Earth did she figure out what happened? Well... no use in lying now.

"Yes... that's not the whole story... but I can tell you I'm not a spy from homeworld. There's much more to it than that."

"There's no need to say it, I know what you were going to say and... it is very concerning, but it correlates to what we've seen in the past few months."

'What was he going to say Garnet??" Amethyst asked.

"That he was once human, and was abducted by gems and... converted into a Pearl."

"Hold on, Still!?" Pearl yelled.

"Wait, STILL?!" Peter asked.

"What do you mean, still!?"

Pearl went silent for a moment. "Homeworld has had the technology to convert organic beings into gems for millenia, but it rarely happened. Only when the being had important information. Tactics, knowledge on a planets resources, military bases, or if they could fulfill a special role such as... leadership. There was also the case if an organic tickled a high ranking gems fancy, or a low ranking gem had earned a Pearl, an organic would be "collected" and converted at the reef."

"Oh... I see..." Peter was about to head back inside the barn when Garnet spoke up again.

"It seems we won't need to use the forcefield anymore... we don't really have a point to do it now."

"Garnet, you can't-"

"It was your idea to lock him up Pearl!"

"And look where that ended up. Besides, he had the occasional visitor, and even he asked why Elliott didn't test if he could leave after he managed to get through. So ask me, what would the point be to keep him contained if he's able to escape at anytime he wanted, yet refused? Peter and Earl both seem to trust him, that definitely counts for something. Besides... I have a feeling it'll stay that way. You even tried to convince her to run away, and she went storming off."

"That's because she's still brainwashed to be loyal to the Diamonds!"

"Give her a little credit can't you? He doesn't want to have anything to do with the Diamonds, and she still hasn't ran away."

They all started to leave, and eventually only Garnet was left.

"Even now, I don't think the others will let their guard down. But it seems Pearl doesn't think that the forcefield is necessary anymore."

"So... am I not in trouble?"

"Of course not. Pearl may think so, but I can see you haven't done anything wrong. Not as Elliott at least... you'll have much to learn in the coming days." Garnet then proceeded to catch up to the others, leaving the trio alone.

"You know... after all the weird shit Lusamine and Ominent did to me, all this gem stuff by far tops it."

"You wanna talk about weird stuff??" Peter yelled in the distance.

"I've got all sorts of stories to tell from down in Tullwend! Maybe we can talk over coffee?"

"I don't see why not... what do you think Earl?"

Earl gave a thumbs up, and then her face went blank when she realized... that the coffee she was brewing earlier went cold.

Chapters end.
_______________________

 

[Diamondseed345]

The past few weeks were... interesting to say the least. Ever since the barrier was brought down, the trio started to go out on shopping trips together. They mostly went out to get new clothes, but to grab some modern amenities for the barn, or what was needed.

They had gotten an extra mattress for Peter as well as a blanket, pillow and a couple sheets for both him and Elliott.
Peter had insisted that they buy the equipment needed for a PC, as since he had been playing R.P.G games, both physical and digital since he was about eight, he thought that there might be a game Elliott would be into.

After shopping for clothes however, theu didn't buy that much. Elliott had just gotten a pair of black Jeans, a beanie along with a knit sweater. Something that could keep out the November air, as well as something different from his hoodie.

Nice and comfortable as well, so that was a huge bonus. Peter however, had gotten a pair of clothes similar to what he once wore before Ominent had nabbed him. There was something else that he bought as well, something that Homeworld had taken from him. A "SCA.B," something that would attach to your wrist, that would record your vitals and tell the time.
Basically a watch with extra steps Ominent stole credit for from one of its former employees.

Other than that, they had bought a bunch more VHS tapes to expand their collection, hell they even bought a cabinet/bookshelf so the tapes wouldn't have to be in one inconvenient stack. By far, out of all the movies they bought would have to be Spaceballs, specifically for the experience he and the others had with that movie specifically.

The last owner had forgotten to rewind the tape, and the first scene the three saw was at some fifties diner in space.

Gus's Galaxy Grill it was called, and it was at some kind of space equivalent of a rest stop. Apparently the special was to die for, just ask John Hurt, as he technically had the special twice. It was especially to die for, considering it would have a tiny hat on and dance out of the room.

Both Peter and Elliott, and occasionally Steven would use the new computer when he came over, but he usually just played Morrowind. Elliott preferred Project Zomboid, and when he and Peter weren't catching up on training or watching movies, he was on Project Zomboid.

Usually it was to keep his mind off of everything that had happened recently, from the memories of Ominents experiments, to what he thought was the beginning of some kind of tsunami.

Worrying about the fact that there's a chance that a group of sleeping infected that could be sleeping in an abandoned building was something he'd rather do than stress about a tsunami or... the claustrophobic dreams he had before it.

Not visions, nor memories of Ominent, something completely different.

It was dark, and it felt as if he was trapped in some kind of gibbet, and couldn't move a muscle. He could hear Stevens voice, asking him what he needed to do. Words came out of Elliotts mouth that didn't feel like his own, telling Steven to "Pull me out" over and over again. He could feel a pressure over his entire body, but then... he was free. He could see a look of determination on Stevens face, and then everything went white.

Earl had been standing close by, and seemed worried, yet had noticed something Elliott had not.

His irises and gem... had turned a deep blue color. They had faded back to their grey and colorless appearances moments after, but it still seemed noteworthy.

About a week later one evening, they brewed a couple cups of coffee, and sat down to have a discussion which Earl had insisted on having. She felt that when the ocean... dissappeared soon after that nightmare wasn't the best time to discuss it.

"Alright Earl... what was it you wanted to talk about?"

"Nightmare." She signed.

"What... kind of nightmare exactly? The ones of Ominent with all the needles and shit like that, or those weird visions?"

"Tsunami?"

"Wait, what?" Oh... you mean when the ocean looked as if it went very low tide? SC said the ocean straight up dissappeared, though I'm a bit skeptical about that."

"Yes. You. Blue." Elliott was still rough around the edges on translating sign language, so that's what he was able to make out.

"I was blue? What do you mean? I don't think we've had any Colloidal Silver in our food. We didn't buy any of that stuff, right?"

"No. No silver. Gem, eyes. Blue.

"My... gem and eyes were blue? What kind of- Elliott was interrupted by the sound of the wooden ceiling giving way, and a loud thud on the ground.

Elliott had jumped up from his seat, spilling his coffee, to see some kind of... sphere on the ground?

It was a mint colored sphere, kinda like Peter, floating slightly above four tiny cylindrical legs, with four holes on its southern hemisphere.

"What the... fuck is that!?"

The legs then slightly separated in half on their axis, now resembling lightning bolts, and was walking towards the door with a slight whirring noise.

"Did that thing... just fall out of the sky??"

Peter then came walking into the barn, and the sphere slipped past him.

"Hey guys, I saw something hit the roof, did you hear anything?"

"Y-yeah! That thing that hit the roof went right through and went past you!"

Peter looked back, to see the sphere like object waddling further and further away from the barn, towards Beach City.

His eye went wide, for he recognized what this object was.

Earl wasn't familiar with it, for she had come from a time before Rose Quartz broke out of the Earth's crust. A time before Pink Diamond was shattered, before Homeworlds Empire found Earth. Most of the CGs were from the time of the war, but Peter? He was somewhat knew of the current state of Homeworld.

It was one of the robots or Robonoids as they called them, that Homeworld used to repair derelict objects. Did another ship crash here? No no, why would it be all alone? There wasn't anything around here it could repair, but maybe it was trying to get somewhere where its destination could properly be reached?

Oh no...

Peter summoned his trident, and in one swift motion impaled the robonoid. Mint colored goo dripped from the holes made by the trident, and he flung the trident to get the robots corpse off.

A green comet could be seen descending towards Beach City... his fears were true.

"Elliott! Earl!! We have to warn the others!!"

"Wait, what?? About that little sphere thing?"

"That isn't just some little sphere! It being here has serious implications! Just C'mon already!!"

"Um, alright-"

His sentence was cut short when Earl grabbed his hand, and they both started running.

She had transferred her and Elliotts coffee into her gem just as she grabbed Elliotts hand, supposedly so they'd stay hot?

It took about about twenty minutes to get to the Beach, and by the time they made it, the warp could be seen activating from outside, and a hole similar to the earlier robonoid was on the roof.

Amethyst was just outside of the house, and seemed to have heard the warp activate too, and something could be seen sticking out of the stream.

"Wait- where'd you three come from!?"

"No time to talk!!" Peter yelled, fumbling with the door. He opened it to see a hole in the ceiling, and the warp pad glowing slightly from its recent activation, when Garnet and Pearl came running in.

"STEVEN'S FLOATING OUTSIDE THE STREAM!!" Pearl yelled, as she and Garnet ran onto the warp, with Amethyst just behind them.

It activated in a minutes notice, and the CGs vanished, leaving Elliott and Peter staring at eachother for a moment.

"Well I'm not just gonna stand here while Steven possibly freezes in space! I'm going in too!"

Elliott ran onto the warp, with Earl not far behind, and Peter managed to get on just as it activated, as they were enveloped by a blue beam of light.

When they caught up to the CGs, Pearl had been freaking out asking if Steven was okay, who had been pulled back into the stream moments earlier, while Garnet was holding a robonoid specimen.

"-And it looked like they were going to the same place!" Steven said, Elliott unable to hear the full sentence.

"Well where the Hell are they going??" Amethyst asked.

Meanwhile, Garnet was stoic as always. "We're about to find out."

They landed in what Elliott thought was some kind of warp hub in the center of the Siberian Sea, with a large amount of Robonoids near the large center warp.

expelling the same kind of goo that Peter saw when he impaled the one that crashed on the barns roof with his trident. The one that Garnet was holding even broke slightly, loosing a single leg, but it wasn't hindered as it joined the horde in the center.

"What're they doing to the Homeworld warp??"

"There's like a whole fuckin horde of them!"

"Wait, there's a warp that leads all the way to Homeworld here??"

The layer of mint colored goop solidified into a crystalline structure around the Homeworld warp, and shattered moments later, leaving the warp pad... in perfect condition. They almost didn't have any time to react, as the warp activated, and Garnet managed to grab them all in time, as the light dissipated.

What was left was a figure with robotic limbs, wearing a jumpsuit similar to what Peter once wore, except a darker green color. They turned around, and a green triangular shaped gemstone could be seen on their forehead, as well as shades similar to Garnet. A yellow Diamond symbol could be seen on the center of the jumpsuit, similar to Peter when he thought he was a Pearl and nothing more, as what Elliott thought were fingers floated away from the wrist and formed what looked like a screen.

The green gem could be seen interacting with this screen, and then... they spoke.

"Log date 312. This is Peridot, performing Earth hub maintenance check. Warp repair was a success, all seventy nine Flask Robonoids deployed and accounted for. Preparing to locate, and manually activate Kindegart-" they stopped, for a damaged Robonoid was trying to climb onto their leg.

"Aw... the little ones are like her babies."

"No time to talk buddy!" Elliott whispered.

They proceeded to put a foot on the Robonoid, and crushed it under the pressure, creating a puddle of mint goo.

"Now to access the domestic warp."

Peridot stepped off the warp, with the ground shaking slightly under their robotic feet, to find some kind of waffle sticker on the warp pad.

"This site may have been compromised."

They stepped back onto the platform and teleported away, leaving some kind of E.M.P weapon, as it flashed and deactivated all the Robonoids around it.

Everyone else then came out of hiding at last.

"They're coming back! I can't do this! Not again!" Pearl yelled.

"We're so fuckin dead now!!"

"Was that another gem?? What were they trying to do? Where'd they come from??"

"I don't fuckin know!" Elliott yelled, pulling out his staff. "But we can't let them come back!!"

Meanwhile, Garnet had already summoned her gauntlets, and fused them into one massive fist.

"Doesn't matter..." She said, raising the fist.

"She ISN'T COMING BACK!!" The fist was brought down, and shards of the platform were sent flying, and a giant crack formed between it.

Elliott felt like that wouldn't be enough to stop... whatever was coming. If Homeworld was willing to send that many robots and their personnel after five millenia, who knows what else they would send? The prospect even brought up new questions.

Why were they coming back? Were they trying to bring White Diamond home? Continue colonization? Only time could tell really.

Chapters end.
____________________

 

[Diamondseed345]

The revelation that Homeworld gems were for one reason or another, trying to return to Earth had shook Elliott almost to his core. Just... why were they trying to come back? He had heard the Peridot gem mention something about manually activating the Kindergarten, but he felt as if there was more to it than that.

If White Diamond was extremely important to Homeworld society, wouldn't the gems of Homeworld do everything in their power to bring White Diamond or... bring him back? Could that have been part of the reason Peter crash landed with that Green gem out west? Could they have been trying to locate his mother, and if so, just how long have they been searching?
Years? Decades? Centuries? Perhaps even a millenia?

He only wished to leave this Diamond business behind him, but what if fate wouldn't let him? Whether or not Homeworld came to find him or not, he might have to get involved. The Kindergarten being reactivated could in no way be good news, and what if there was more of them? Besides... if they came to Earth en masse, humanity would be totally screwed.

If Homeworld was able to achieve interstellar travel over five thousand years before human civilization, while humanity only landed on the Moon in the early seventies, what would that mean for humanity?

Not as much money was spent for militaries world wide ever since the Völkerbund was established after the European War, what mostly mattered was the National Guard and the Navy. Who knows what Homeworld would be capable of?

Even with his sessions of Project Zomboid, that feeling of dread never went away. The dreaded feeling that the undead gave was preferred much more than the dread of Homeworld. Probably because the zombies were a threat only for his character, and not Elliott himself. Sure, the Knox Event was horrifying and all, as was attempting to raid the military surplus stores, not knowing if there was a horde of infected inside hiding from the sunlight.

It helped to keep his mind off of Homeworld somewhat, as he had to keep track of many different things. Keeping a stock of VHS tapes and magazines, gathering fuel for the generator outside the house he settled in, making sure the infected couldn't see him inside, and welding sheet metal to the windows and moat of the doors as barricades. Planks may have been cheap, but they were the weakest form of barricade, and Elliott wasn't going to take any chances.

Currently, he was forced to stay inside due to a helicopter leading a whole fucking horde through West Point.

"The situation is under control!" The man in the chopper said. "This area is now in quarantine! Please return to your homes! Do not try to leave the area!" He could hear them banging on the door, their groaning and growling, and gunshots from the helicopter, as well as the sounds of it hovering overhead.

He had barricaded himself in the bathroom, shotgun in hand. Then...the sounds of glass shattering, and the blaring house alarm. The banging then was on the bathroom door, but just as they broke through... his phone began to ring.

It was ringing and the sound mixed with the overbearing sounds of the game, and it made him both curse and jump at once.

But when he realized he had died in game, he turned off the computer, mumbling to himself and answered the call... it turned out to be Steven.

"I'm gonna need some more mods..." He said, picking up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey Ellie, You willing to come over? We've got something big going on?"

"Well... what might that be?"

"The others are trying to teach me synchronization! I just felt like you could possibly learn too."

"...synchronization?"

"Oh you know, how they need to be synchronized in order to fuse?"

"Fusion? Wait are you saying what I think-"

"Yeah, fusion is... well I'm not very good at explaining things, Pearl and Garnet might be able to explain it better!"

"Alright... sure, I'll be there in a bit. See ya..." Elliott said, hanging up.

"Hey Earl?" Earl came walking over, coffee in hand. He swore that she seemed to drink coffee like it was water, Elliott wondered if she could possibly be addicted. Could gems get addicted to certain substances like humans could? Wasn't very likely.

"You know what fusion is?"

Her face went blank for a moment, before an uncomfortable expression. "Yes." She signed.

"What is it exactly?"

"No. Good."

"Um... ok? Why is it bad exactly?"

She had the gem equivalent of a poker face as an expression.

"Ok... that doesn't really help. Imma head to Stevens place, something important is happening over there. You wanna join?"

"No. Sorry."

"Alright then, what about you Peter?"

Peter, who was reading "A stranger in a strange land" perked up upon hearing Elliotts voice. "What'd you say?"

"Steven asked if I wanted to come over, said something about fusion."
Peter appeared to be thinking for a moment, before giving his answer.

"Um... sure, I don't think it'll hurt."

"Alright then..." Elliott said, getting up from his seat. "You want us to get you anything Earl?"

"Caramel. Coffee?"

"Ok... sure. See ya then!"

It never took very long to reach the Beach House, as Elliott was able to walk longer distances without getting tired. The faint sounds of music could be heard, along with the slight sound of footsteps... Elliott didn't pay too much attention to it as he and Peter knocked on the door.

"Hey guys... you were teaching Steven about fusion or something?"

Pearl, who had already expected them to arrive, and for a while was able to do so.

"Fusion usually needs the component gems to be in sync with eachother. Many different things can cause the components to be in sync with eachother, but there is the rare occasion that they will all have the same goal they want to accomplish. If they all have the same goal, they won't need to synchronize at all, such as if they're all in danger. There are other reasons for fusion though, and those reasons depend on the components. Some for combat purposes, and some for practicality. Others though, were for more... personal reasons you could say." Pearl said, glancing at Garnet for a moment or two.

"Personal reasons such as... love, were much more rare, but they did happen. What is unique about these fusions however, is that these component gems usually prefer to stay fused as one being. Sometimes, they always stay fused, other times they unfuse to get certain tasks done."

"And... just about any gem is able to fuse, right?" Peter asked.

"Oh, of course! Steven hasn't been able to fuse yet, but I feel that due to your... mother being White Diamond, there's a large probability that you-"

Suddenly, the door busted open, and a figure ran in. They looked like a human, but Elliott and Peter couldn't exactly tell what they were exactly. A man, a woman, or something in-between? They had dark pink hair, along with a hoodie on that seemed a bit too small for their frame, and it was a similar situation with their jeans. They had a blue tank top and and star shirt with a gem in their stomach... wait a minute.

"Steven?"

"We managed to fuse! Pretty cool right?"

The others were completely flabbergasted, meanwhile Peter and Elliott were just confused.

"He fused... with his friend Connie??"

Amethyst however, though it was hilarious apparently. She had pointed out how Garnet seemed to be... pleased with all this?

"This is unprecedented! A gem fusing with a human being... i- it's impossible! Or at the very least inappropriate."

Elliott had no idea what to say about this situation, so he just stayed silent in the meantime. First it was only gems that could fuse, but now humans could fuse with gems??

Wait a minute... wasn't Steven a human gem HYBRID? That could be the reason he was able to fuse with Connie, therefore... could Elliott theoretically fuse with a human?

"Wow... you two look great together!" Amethyst said, walking over.

"How does it feel Steven? Connie? Stevonnie?"

Stevonnie. That name made sense, to Elliott at least.

"It feels amazing."

"Yes well, I'm glad you're enjoying yourselves, but you two should unfuse this instant."

"Wait what? Pearl, you were so worried Steven wouldn't be able to do this. Aren't you proud of him?"

Wait... was this Connor or, Connie that was talking, or was this Stevonnie as the individual talking?

"Of... course I am! I- Garnet help me out here!"

"Stevonnie..." Garnet said, moving forward. "Listen to me, you are not two people, nor are you one person. You... are an experience! Make sure it's a good experience, now go. Have. Fun!"

"Alright then!!" They yelled, running out of the house.

"Garnet! You can't just let them run out like that, who knows what will happen? What if they get hurt??"

"That won't be an issue, we can handle that..." She said, looking over to Elliott.

"Oh don't tell me, you want White DIAMOND to watch over them?"

"I keep telling you, they aren't White Diamond, not anymore at least..." Garnet then proceeded to walk over to where Peter and Elliott were sitting.

"This might seem like a huge request coming from me, but would you watch over... Stevonnie for us? Just to make sure they don't get hurt, that isn't too much to ask, is it?"

It took a moment or two for for Elliott to decide.

"Sure, I don't really have anything better to do, we can go catch up to those two, then go tell Earl we'll be home later."

"Why don't you just text her?" Amethyst asked.

"She doesn't use a phone, and doesn't understand written English."

"Oh damn..."

"I wouldn't mind going either..." Peter said.

Elliott then walked right out the door, with Peter not far behind.

"Hey buddy! Wait up!!"

Chapters end.
____________________

 

[Diamondseed345]

"Garnet! You can't just let them run out like that, who knows what will happen? What if they get hurt??"

"That won't be an issue, we can handle that..." She said, looking over to Elliott.

"Oh don't tell me, you want White DIAMOND to watch over them?"

"I keep telling you, they aren't White Diamond, not anymore at least..." Garnet then proceeded to walk over to where Peter and Elliott were sitting.

"This might seem like a huge request coming from me, but would you watch over... Stevonnie for us? Just to make sure they don't get hurt, that isn't too much to ask, is it?"

It took a moment or two for for Elliott to decide.

"Sure, I don't really have anything better to do, we can go catch up to those two, then go tell Earl we'll be home later."

"Why don't you just text her?" Amethyst asked.

"She doesn't use a phone, and doesn't understand written English."

"Oh damn..."

"I wouldn't mind going either..." Peter said.

Elliott then walked right out the door, with Peter not far behind.

"Hey buddy! Wait up!!" Elliott yelled, booking it into a sprint, settling into a jog once he caught up to the fusion.

Peter didn't even break a sweat, presumably due to not being organic, he didn't need oxygen. Stevonnie didn't say anything, and eventually they ended up at a chiff on the beachside. They could smell the salt in the wind. The day had been surprisingly warm, and Stevonnie did the only thing they could think of.

The fusion knew it was deep water from past experience, and dove into the deep blue waters of the Atlantic.

Peter freaked out for a split second, but then realized why they would jump on the first place, so followed Elliott down the cliff in his attempts to track Stevonnie.

They washed up on a beach near the boardwalk, laughing to themselves and somehow... not out of breath?

"How are you not exhausted??" Elliott asked, finally catching up. Was Steven just more active than him, or was it the fact that the fusion possibly had the combined stamina of both components?

"I have... no clue." They said, getting up.
Elliott then pointed out that they apparently washed up near the Big Donut, and... Stevonnie went in almost immediately without saying a word. Elliott and Peter would wait outside for them to come back out... what happened inside sounded extremely awkward. Elliott could even see the look of shock on the faces of the two employees as they left, and their faces were... red?

Oh... oh that's what this is about. Should he tell them why those two were staring at them like that, or...

He wasn't able to finish that thought, as Stevonnie pulled out two donuts from the bag in their hand. What the store called "a Simpsons Donut" was given to Elliott, and Peter was given a cream filled one. In the meantime, they had gone and sat on a nearby bench and looked... conflicted.

"Are you okay? We can stop if you... no, no. Don't worry..." Were Steven and Connie talking through the fusion?

"Hey..." Elliott said, walking over and sitting next to them. "You two feeling alright?"

"Oh yeah, uh... we're fine. We just... can't share the donuts properly right now."

"Oh... I see."

Elliott pulled out his phone go check the asks, when a thought crossed his mind.

"So... are you two sharing a mind or... is something else going on?"

"Oh... it's kinda hard to describe, frankly I feel like my own person. moments earlier though... it felt like I was gonna..." They didn't finish the sentence.

They sat there for a good two minutes. Elliott practically inhaled his donut, while Peter just stared at his.

A reminder of times before, better times.
Times before all that was left of his organic body was the pearl lodged in his eye. When Trevor and Liam were... Stars, he didn't want to think of them now. What would they even make of him now? His brothers, his assistants... and Willow?

Sure, Tullwend... changed them all in different ways, but RS residue could never cause something this drastic. Besides... they all probably thought he was dead anyway. Abducted by aliens... one hell off a way to go. Better than having his insides turned to meat juice by a spider.

Yet he wondered if it would have been better if he didn't regain his humanity. Would ignorance really be bliss? Then again... he wouldn't be able to experience all the little things in life again or... be with Elliott. He... no.

He didn't let the mushy feelings get to him back in Tullwend, why should he now? Besides... there were more important than sentimental feelings. Should he really though? He may have kept them deep down, but they did occasionally show, and it possibly let him save Elliotts life.

Better to keep it buried than show it.

Meanwhile, Elliott had been so focused on answering the asks on Tumblr that he almost didn't notice someone walking up to him and the fusion... Sour Cream.

SC cleared his throat, to get Elliotts attention, making him jump somewhat.

"Oh- oh... hey SC, what's up?"

"Is... that your friend?" He pointed at Stevonnie.

"Um... yeah? What about it?" Stevonnie perked up and looked at SC, though remained silent.

"There's a rave tonight..." He handed Elliott and the fusion what looked like posters.

"What, like a dance or something?"

Yeah, at the abandoned warehouse on the edge of town. Bunch of my friends from the internet are gonna be there. There's gonna be free... glowsticks?" His face was somewhat red.
"Hey SC, you feeling... you know what, forget it. But... I don't mind going, what about you?" The fusion was silent for a moment before answering.

"Sure, I'll go! What about you Peter?"

"Oh uh, what?" Seems he wasn't paying attention.

"We're headed to a party, wanna come along?"

"Um... sure! Sure, why not."

"Alright, see you... all then." SC had his eyes on the fusion up until he was far enough away, and Elliott put two and two together. "Oh my God..." He placed his face in one of his hands.

"What is it?" Stevonnie asked.

"Oh, it's... it's nothing. Let's just go."

The sun had gone completely down by the time they made it to that warehouse. Seemed like the warehouse used to store processed crabs, if the empty cans and sign were to say anything. Question was, what was with the giant hole in the wall?

Might be good not to question it.

In the center of the warehouse, was a huge amount of electric heaters connected to a long line of extension cords, with a large amount of people dancing around them.

"Damn... if I knew there would have been this many people, I would have tried to braid my hair."

"Why'd you do that?" Stevonnie asked.

"Guess I'd wanna look nice?"

"Whatever you say Ellie!!" Stevonnie said, running off intonthe crowd. The two human gems were left alone, and that gave Peter an idea as the mushy feelings began to come back.

"Hey, can i ask you something?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"Do you... wanna dance or something? Stevonnie is over there dancing, so why shouldn't we?"

"Oh, um... the only experience I have with dancing is ice-skating Lusamine had me do when I was little. I'm not... very good at it really."

"Oh c'mon, it wouldn't hurt to at least try and dance, right? I mean we're at a rave after all."

"Alright, alright Peter. Just... give me a moment." He brought out his staff, and had its length decrease in order to use it as a cane. Peter held out his mint colored hand, which Elliott took, and they began to walk in a circle together. Surprisingly, their dance was less awkward and more... beautiful almost.

Elliott began to laugh, as did Peter soon after and their gems seemed to start... glowing? Elliotts "horn" was glowing, as was the rest of his gem faintly within his skull. Peter's eye Pearl even seemed to glow a bright green color, and just when it seemed like something would happen...

"That shit gay!!" A random voice yelled. The gems stopped glowing, and Elliott looked to see a random bearded man had yelled that. He was about to give him a piece of his mind, when he noticed something was... wrong with Stevonnie.

"This is how it's supposed to be, why isn't it how it's supposed to be?" It looked like they were about to have an anxiety attack, when some guy came up to them, looking them up and down.

"Hey baby, get ready..." the guy got up really close and... did he want the fusion to dance with him?

Even after they tried to walk away, he followed them, and interrupted them while they were talking to themselves.

"Hey baby, why'd you leave me on the dance floor?"

"I don't want to dance anymore."

"What're you talking about? We're the best thing that's ever happened to this place.

"Oh that's it." Elliott said, storming over.
Peter didn't even say anything.

"Hey asshole! Quit being a damn pervert and leave them alone!!"

"C'mon, join me on the- wait what?"

"You heard me! Why don'tcha leave them alone before things get ugly!"


"Well why should I? Me and beanstalk over here are angels among garbage people!"


"You're gonna end up in the fuckin garbage if you don't leave em alone!!"

"Alright alright jeez, just wanted to dance with the babe..."

"You wouldn't say that if you knew who they were!!" Peter yelled.

Elliott sighed. "Fuckin assholes man... you two feeling alright? You... wanna head home for the night or anything?"

"Yeah... we weren't in the mood to dance anymore anyway."

"I'll see what I can do about that guy then..."

Chapters end.
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[Diamondseed345]

Ever since the incident at the rave, everything felt surprisingly peaceful, around Elliott and the other's abode at least. At this point, all of the leaves had fall off the trees,and the had continued to get lower. Elliott had somewhat been reminded of what could be claimed to be "better times." Pretending to be a dragon when his breath was visible, tomato soup during winter storms, snow angels, and trying to catch snowflakes. At least, when Lusamine wasn't trying to get him to perfect ice skating.

Hours at a time early in the morning, he'd have to practice. He wouldn't even have much of anything warm on, presumably because Lusamine didn’t want him to be weighed down.

Hours of practice in only sweatpants and a hoodie in below freezing temperatures was in no way pleasant, Elliott was surprised he didn't get sick, or worse... frostbite.

That was likely the reason he'd usually stay inside playing Hollow Knight or Project Zomboid, or just read Persepolis or Battle Royale.

A cup of Caramel coffee with a good book during a winter storm was a vibe that Elliott enjoyed, as did Peter. Usually though, Peter kept track of what was going on with Ominent. Who was being arrested, and how those who had gained drastic mutations down in Tullwend were adjusting and recovering.

Even with all those who lost their lives due to the carelessness of Ominent and to the insects down below, it seemed like hope had filled the hearts of those who made it out. Peter could remember those times he had lost hope, when it felt all was lost.

When the Javamatic was destroyed, when the attempts to brew an embiggening cell in his lab ended with total failure. He... never talked about what happened after, other than with his lab assistants. Peter thought it would be better not to think of his own failures when it came to those that survived Tullwend, and to he glad they were on the road to recovery. Besides, there were... bigger issues than his own failures and mental health.

What he and Elliott presumed to be comets, going in different directions.

They had apparently seen them multiple times throughout the week, and there seemed to be something... more to them. They weren't the green comets of the Flask Robonoids Peter was familiar with, so... just what were they? Just regular old meteors?

Could it just be... an ordinary meteor shower?

No. No... it couldn't be just a coincidence, not with everything that had been happening recently. Perhaps bringing this up to the Gems could bring an answer or two?

It was a day later that Elliott at least attempted to bring the information to the Gems, but considering they were in their quarters, and he couldn't really get them to come out... he'd have to wait.

He had gotten distracted by getting into a heavy discussion about the books that he and Steven had been reading. Apparently Connie had gotten him into a fantasy series about... familiars or the likes of that?

"So, you have any idea what Persepolis is about?"

"No I don't! What's it about?"

"Its kind of an autobiography in the form of a comic, or a graphic novel as some folks call it. Its about her life after the Cultural revolution in Iran back in the 80s, and the times she moved out. What's... the Unfamiliar Familiar about?"

"Oh, um... I don't exactly remember what the familiars are, I'll have to call Connie and-" Suddenly, the ground almost seemed to shake for a few seconds, and a sharp whistle could be heard. But it seemed to end as soon as it started, and everyone came running out of their rooms as Elliott was about to speak. Amethyst seemed the most stressed.

"What the fuck is with these things!? This is like the fifth one this week!!"

"We'll find it in the Sahara, c'mon!"

"Wait, Sahara-" Elliott couldn't finish as Steven grabbed his hand and sprinted for the Warp Pad, just as the other three teleported who knows where.

They appeared on the other side in a blisteringly sea of dunes, to find the others giving Hell to what looked like an overgrown Flask Robonoid.

"STOP. COMING. HERE. YOU. STUPID. ROBOTS!!" Pearl yelled, trying to impale the Robonoid from its top. Meanwhile Amethyst had been saying this Elliott would wish he rather hadn't heard.

"Guys, guys stop!" Steven yelled, running over, with Elliott almost face planting into the sand behind him.

"How many of these things will we need to destroy??"

"We don't know!! They just keep sending more and more and we don't even know what they are, we don't know anything!"

"That's okay, I don't know anything all the time, it's like my whole life!"

"But nobody knows what these things are here for!"

"Well... it probably does."

"What, like it's programming?" Elliot asked.

"Yeah, something like that! We could follow it and see where it goes!"

"So... it's like those rovers on Mars or something?"

"Yeah, we could follow it wherever it's commanded to go! If it's commanded that is."

"Are you freakin nuts!?"
"Who knows what could go wrong-" Then, Garnet commanded for everyone to be quiet.

"We can't fight these things forever, well we can but I don't want to. Let's... just do it Stevens way."

Steven seemed to get excited for a moment, while Elliott seemed nervous.

"We're so fuckin dead." Amethyst said.

"Well, let's hope not."

After they just about everyone limbed on, Amethyst removed the whip restraints from the Robonoid, and Garnet jumped on. "Alright big guy, mush!!"

It made a bee line towards the Warp Pad, and on the other side... was a place both familiar and foreign to Elliott at the same time.

"The Kindergarten..." Garnet said, voice filled with dread.

"Wh-why here?? This site has already been damaged enough by the Gems that were incubated here six thousand years ago, that confirms it! This thing is up to no good!" Pearl was just about to pull out her spear when Steven stopped her.

"We don't even know what it's doing here! Can't we see... where it wants to go?"

"Garnet?" Pearl asked, trying to get an answer out of her superior.

"Hm... Stevens way."

"Ugh..."

The Robonoid jumped down into the Kindergarten proper and Elliott was able to get a good view of the place. Alien machines that resembled the bacteriophage dotted the environment, some still on the wall, some on the ground. Others were on the floor, and others were completely broken, with shards of glass scattered around it's local area, with a strange crimson fluid leaking from it. How come it didn't evaporate?

Everything in the area looked... dead. The only sounds being that of the echoing wind, the Gems talking, along with the Robonoid walking. No birds singing, no insects buzzing or chirping, no hustle and bustle of human civilization.

Add to that the hundreds, if not thousands of human shaped holes carved onto the sides of the canyons. Just... how many gems were born in this place? Just how many lives had to be taken for these Gems to be born?

They were bigger than the ones Elliott had seen in the Mystery Canyons as well, both in height and width. Just... what were they trying to create here? Body builders?

"I don't like this at all..."

"I'm kinda with Pearl on this one, place is fuckin creepy."

"Oh c'mon!" Steven said.

"Don't you feel this guys funky flow? He's a funk master."

"I guess if we did it would be better for morale..." Elliott added, pulling out his phone to grab a photo or two, when suddenly... the Robonoid stopped.

"Why'd you stop little buddy?"

"Something's happening!" Garnet managed to grab them all, and jumped off the Robonoid as it reabsorbed its weird stumpy legs. It fired a bolt of green energy into the ground, making a square shaped hole, then took on the shape of an upside down Pyramid as it descended.

"See? I knew we'd find something cool!" Steven said, jumping in seconds later.

"Hey, wait!!" Elliott was the second to jump in, then the others in tow.

"Hey guys! Going down?"

Strange machinery lined the stone walls, seemingly going every which way.

"Are you guys okay?"

"What is all this?" Pearl asked

The Robonoid turned elevator stopped at what looked like some kind of control room, and it's bottom part seemingly... turned to fluid? The room lit up in soft green light before the fluid congealed into a Flask Robonoid, and it crawled onto what could only described as a handprint scanner. It used its multiple legs in place of fingers and managed to activate the so called control room even more. A screen like hologram was projected, and on that screen... was Peridot.

Almost all of them gasped, and hid where the screen presumably couldn't see them.

"Established Gem projection link with control room. Plug Robonoid has successfully landed on Sol three... Planet Earth, and entered Prime Kindergarten control room in Facet five. Will proceed to perform status check of Kindergarten."

"It's Peridot... the fuck is she doing??"
"Is she trying to reactivate the Kindergarten??" Pearl said in a whisper.

"Why don't we ask her?" Everyone proceeded to shush Steven.

"Steven." Garnet said. "We're facing an enemy we don't know, with technology we don't understand. This isn't the time to be asking questions."

"Really sounds like it is..."

"Well we aren't just gonna ask questions to a hostile alien!!" Elliott whispered.

"Okay here's the plan. We can't let her see us, so we wait for an opening. When she's distracted, we destroy the power source on the far wall. Steven. Stays. Here. Elliott, with us."

Elliott nodded, as did Amethyst, and Pearl nodded reluctantly.

Meanwhile, Steven had been climbing up to the main control room, which was quite easy due to his status of being 7'4.

"Steven!!"

"Now accounting for all operational injectors, checking for aberrations in perimeter." Large, hand like machines were interacting with the screens of the control room, and Steven had to duck to avoid being hit by them.

"I swear, this gem tech is simply archaic..." As she said that, black cylinders came mostly of the wall.

"I dunno, I think it looks pretty cool." The machines stopped what they were doing, and the screen reappeared, along with a shocked Peridot.

"Hi! I'm Steven."

Peridot had a look of confusion on their face for a moment, before glancing at their weird hand computer.

"There appears to be an infestation of "Stevens" in the Kindergarten."

"Nah, I'm not so bad once you get to know me."

"And how many more "Stevens" are present in this area?"

"Oh, um... just me."

"Well, that's a relief. So tell me, have Stevens replaced... humans, as the dominant species on Sol three?"

"Oh no there's lots of humans. There's my dad, Connie, Lars and Sadie, Elliott, the mailman... Onion, I think? Lots of people!"

"Hm..."

"Now I get to ask a question. What are YOU doing?"

"Mm, just picking up where we left off." One of the crystalline hands was raised, and was about to crush Steven like a bug, when Elliott managed to jump in and get him out of the way just in time. Garnet managed to finish it off as the rest jumped in.

"Wha- Gems!? The Red Eye didn't report the presence of Gems on this puddle of a planet!"

That's because WE destroyed it!" Pearl yelled.

"Hold on you did wha-"

"You what? But the records say that all Gems on Earth were wiped out! Wait a minute... you're the ones who've been destroying my Plug Robonoids! Are you the reason the Homeworld Warp is down AGAIN?? Is THIS your bizarre icon??" She pulled out the waffle sticker in some kind of display case. "WHY do you keep destroying my things!?"

"Because we are the Crystal Gems!! We're still alive, and still the guardians of this planet!!" Pearl said, pointing her spear at the display, with Elliott pulling out his staff in the Process.

"The Crystal gems? Wai-" They all proceeded to attack the machines, while Steven just stood there, watching the chaos.

"HOW DARE YOU!! I'm doing this one way or another! You're just making it really... difficult!! Hold on-"

She had her eyes on Elliott, and attempted to grab him with one of the crystalline hands, but he managed to jump out of the way just in time.

The Ancient Diamond Authority insignia on the Staff, along with the... Diamond shaped pupils?? Was this Whi-

Amethyst swung one of the fists around with her whip, and managed to destroy an essential console, breaking the connection. Elliott was out of breath.

"Is... is it over?" They all proceeded to look right at Steven.

"Alright... I may have gone a little too far this time."

"Well, you weren't completely wrong. We discovered a new threat because of your decisions. But this was a pretty bad idea overall."

"Heh, you're telling me Garnet... I could seriously use a nap right now."

"You and me both." Elliott said.

Chapters end.
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