Lapis watched as the man walked up to them. "All of you, take your junk and leave, right now, or I'm calling the cops!"
She raised her hand, sending a blade of water to cut out his throat. "Lapis, no!" Vee demanded right as she was going for the killing blow. "How many times do I have to say no to killing!?"
"When Belos and the Diamonds stop being threats." She retorted. "Until then, all bets are off."
"Listen." Ms Noceda spoke up. "Mr …"
"Demayo." The man said, glaring.
"Mr Demayo, I'm sure this is a simple misunderstanding …"
"Hey!" They turned to see the Rubies stepping out of the barn. "Who's crashing around our base of operation/vacational living quarters?"
"Vacational!? Listen hippies, I don't know what kind of hoo doo drug retreat you're going on here, but this is my family's barn! You're all trespassing on private property!
"Oh, so my sperm donor was lying, what a woop." Lucci rolled his eyes.
"Sperm donor?" The man looked to Lucci, who was standing next to Vee. "You mean Greg?"
"Yeah, he's our…dad." Vee admitted her spin on the truth.
"No way …" The man had a look of surprise. "I'm his cousin, Andy!"
"As if one of them wasn't enough." Boscha grumbled. "Are we beating up this loser or not?"
"I mean this is technically his place." Luz relented. "We should probably pack things up and head out."
"Hold on, hold on, are you being for real here?" The man, Andy apparently, shook his head in disbelief. "You mean my screw up cousin, runaway Greg Demayo, got himself hitched with a family."
"Bwaaaahahaha, yeah, a lot of those details are wrong." Lucci snorted. "The bastard never married and didn't even know I existed until about three months ago."
"Technically he knew but I was covering." Vee added in. "It's a … long story."
"Great; not only did my dingbat cousin keep using my parents' barn without so much as calling me; he didn't even bother to tell me I have a niece and nephew!"
"You don't." Lucci said. "... Unless Vee wants you as an uncle."
"I'm very mixed about it to be honest. Greg's kind of been the worst lately." Vee winced.
"Well you figure it out for yourself. I'm getting out of here before my mood gets more sour." The boy hopped on top of Spice. "Take me wherever you want, Spice. Just make it far away from here."
The lion looked away. "GRAAA!" And opened a portal that the two of them jumped into.
"... Did … did … what did you do to the air around here!?" The man shouted, looking around in a panic.
"We have caused a lot of explosions around here, so there's probably a lot of fumes around here." Gus answered. "I wouldn't trust some of the things you see."
The barn crashed open, as a giant Ruby marched out. "Destroy the enemy!"
"So that's just a hallucination … right?" Andy asked as Garnet and Amethyst began pushing the giant fusion away.
"…I don't know what you're pointing to, so I'm just going to say yes and get you someplace with a lot more clean air." Vee grabbed the man by the hand. "Pearl can fix up your plane, when she gets back from her short trip."
Crash
The pale gem fell onto the mega Ruby, creating a crater. "... Lapis, can you explain the situation without … doing something bad please?" Vee begged with puppy eyes.
"Fine, but only because you're so adorable." Lapis stated, walking over to the fallen gem as Hunter tried calming down the Rubies. "Pearl. Greg has a cousin. He's loud and annoying. Fix his plane so he can leave faster."
"I … gah …" The gem groaned out.
"Great, you got the message." She rolled her eyes. "So are we done here?"
"The rubies are setting fire to the corn field!" Gus screamed. "It doesn't make popcorn, it's just causing more fire!"
"You don't need to do this guys, it's just a misunderstanding!" Hunter shouted.
"He intruded on our dwelling! I'm well within my right to annihilate him! " Huh, first time she ever related to a homeworld gem.
=======================================================================
Luz helped Mom inside as they finally made their way back home. "Are you sure you're okay mom? You kinda dozed off near that last red light."
"I promise Luz. The party just got me a little winded at the end." The woman reassured her. "I honestly can't tell what caught me off guard more. The magic portal making lion, Greg's cousin, or the giant red lady made up of five other red lady's."
"Greg's cousin, that was by far the craziest thing out of anything there." Amity said, cracking her back. "I'm going to try to figure out if any of our other birthdays are nearby. Willow's passed a while ago before you came to isles, Boscha's was during this semester, and I don't know how old Hunter or Gus are."
"Gus is two years younger than us and Hunter's a year older." Willow answered, popping her neck. "If we can have more birthdays like this, then I'm almost inclined to believe the universe doesn't completely hate us."
"... Are you saying that a birthday where a man crashes his plan and a giant red lady nearly killing us all is a g ood thing?" Mom asked with a bit of fear in her voice.
"Everything before that went smoothly, Lucci kept his temper in check, and Vee's pacifying the guy as we speak while Hunter deals with the Ruby's." Willow shrugged. "By our standards this was the least chaotic birthday we could've had with everything going on."
"Yeah, we didn't even need my Crystal's healing spit." Bosha carried on. "The worst damage we took was a stomach ache. No broken bones or anything. Could've sworn we would've killed Pearl at least. Feel like she got off too easy for the time thing."
"She's pretty much a necessary evil with her skills." Gus said. "She only cares about Lucci in her own way and wants to separate him from things she thinks are …" He trailed off, staring at Boscha.
"... What?" Boscha asked with no sense of irony.
"Nothing, just … de ja vu." Gus shook her head. "We'll, I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I'm partied out. I'm heading to bed, then we can get back to making the portal door."
"Ooh, I almost forgot!" Luz took out the book Masha gave to Lucci. "If there's any truth in this, then combining this with my glyph knowledge, and Glyphon's powers as a best might give us that missing step we need."
"I'll store it somewhere safe." Amity said, taking the book. "Good night Luz."
"Oh, I was going to study it all night-"
"You're not going to tire yourself out to help us." Willow placed her hands on Luz's shoulders. "One night. One night of rest, then we can study the book together."
She sighed. "Yeah alright …" She was still going to read it though, she wasn't that tired in all honesty. Like Willow said, this was a pretty non stressful day. Her only real concern was wondering where Lucci was, and that was more concern for the safety of nearby civilians rather than the boy himself.
"You have such supportive friends Luz." Her mom smiled. "Concerns for their tolerance to violence aside, I'm glad they're able to look out for each other so well."
"Yeah, they're the best. It took a lot of work to get this far though." Luz answered with a small smile. "Most of us weren't friends right away. And some of us are still a work in progress." Mostly Boscha. "You sure you don't need any help for the rest of the night?"
"No, I'm sure I..I-I.." Her mom wobbled a little to the side.
"Mom!" Luz caught her again. "Okay, I'm not taking any chances. I'm calling the hospital right now to figure out what's wrong…"
"Luz, you can't." Her mom reached out for her arm. "I…I already know what's causing it."
"Know what …" Every cell in Luz's body froze in a panic. "Dad." It was just like dad. A disease that can't be cured by fancy hospitals. Coughing away every bit of her life as it just escalated from there and got worse and worse until she was gone and Luz wasn't spending enough time with a woman who was vanish-
"Mija…I'm pregnant."
Luz paused and blinked. "Pregnant with happiness….?" Please let it be a metaphor.
"I'm almost at three months."
"... Fuck." Another reason to stay in the human world when this was over, Mom was going to be taking care of a baby alone otherwise. On the plus side, this literally wasn't her worst fears…unless. "The only person you've dated was….please don't tell me.."
"I'm afraid so."
"You sure? I mean, I wouldn't judge you if you saw more than one guy at a time. You do you, you know, your body, your choice-"
"Greg was the only one I saw." Her mom rubbed her head. "I wasn't in my right mind when it happened, and neither was he. We were both drunk, and…and yeah.."
"I see …" Lucci was gonna lose it. "Don't worry, I'll help however I can." Luz was NOT going to leave her mother alone to deal with a baby. She already suffered enough raising her alone.
"You don't have to do much right now Luz. I'm still able to move on my own. And it'll be a while before I need to take maternity leave." Mom chuckled. "Your friends need you more right now."
"Right." She wouldn't be able to juggle everything forever. Luz needed to get them back to the Boiling Isles after they defeated Belos … then she could focus on the kid here. "Have any ideas what they'll be?"
"Not yet. I've been a little afraid to know." Her mom chuckled brokenly. "I..I can't help but feel like I've betrayed your father. I just-I didn't know what to do anything and I just broke things off with Greg-"
"Hey, dad wouldn't want you to blame yourself. And neither do I for that matter." Luz hugged her mom. "All you need to do is rest … and maybe take maternity leave." Sure money would be tight, but … well, it was better than something bad happening to her. "If you're going to be fainting, then best to take chances."
"Luz, it's fine. I just have to remember i'm eating for two now, that's all." Her mom laughed. "I ate so many peanut butter and pickle sandwiches when I was having you."
"Gross, but doable." Luz snickered. "Alright young lady, let's get you to bed."
"It's fine."
"I know, but maybe it'll help me tire out." Luz justified as she carried her mom … her pregnant mom … another life to help along the way. She failed at being a witch, failed at being a hero…maybe when everything was said and done, she'll make a halfway decent sister. Mom could finally have one kid that wasn't crazy and weird…a kid that wasn't her.
=======================================================================
"So Greg said you could use the barn because no one else was using it." Andy recapped the speech.
"Yeah … sorry about that, he never really talked about other family." The young girl, his apparent niece (technically second cousin twice removed, but why bother with details) apologized. "Greg hasn't exactly been…well, in the past few years."
"Sounds about right. Little punk was always a mess up. Never appreciated what he had." He said. "Always focused on music, ditching family … then again, everyone ditched our family."
"Tried not to … but when he says you wish you were never born, it becomes hard." The girl winced.
"That dingbat said what!?" He exclaimed. "Where's the moron and where's the nearest cliff I can push him off of!"
"Don't know, and please, don't try to beat him up. I already have a hard enough time keeping Lapis from going too far." His niece sighed. "It pointless to hold on to a grudge. I find life easier if you just let go of the things that annoy me."
Andy stared at the girl for a moment. "... You're a bit of a pushover, you know that?"
"Probably … but it just gives me an icky feeling to watch someone get hurt, even if you don't like them." They rolled their eyes. "Greg spent years being mad at the world and that got him nowhere. Rather be as far away from that as humanly possible." They looked around. "I mean, you can beat them up and feel better for a short minute, or you can move on with your life and do something worthwhile."
"Wow … I take it back, you're smarter than most adults your age." He chuckled, rubbing her head. "So … who's the unlucky misses he got shacked with?"
"She's gone … although I pretty much see Garnet as a mom." Vee explained. "She's the woman with blocky hair you saw."
"The broad with glasses that punched the giant red leafy i'm still not sure was a hallucination?" He asked, turning to said lady, who was carrying a bunch of smaller red ladies with that kid with the scars.
"She works out a lot." The girl nodded. "The key is to never skip leg day."
"Kinda hard to have a leg day when you sit all day in a plane." He smirked. "Traveling the world and taking in the sights while visiting family …" Andy sighed. "Cause they all moved away …"
"Have you tried visiting them?" She asked. "If you can travel all around the world, then you probably have the time to see them, even if you're not all together."
"Not really, I tried once or twice, but … it's just … hard, you know? Being the only one who cares about family."
"If you were the only one that cared, they probably never would have wanted you to visit." Vee insisted. "Just because you're all apart doesn't mean they don't care. People change,they grow interests and do things differently than they did. Sure what Greg did wasn't the smartest choice, but you're flying all over. Can you really say it's all that bad?"
Andy thought it over for a minute. "... I did see some pretty cool things."
"Yeah, you always look for the good in life … because some part of it will always be beautiful." The girl smiled. "So just take in all the good things that come your way to live your best life. Like now. I didn't know I had an uncle on Greg's side, and so far I see it as a good thing."
"... I can see that." He nodded. "... What about that Lucci kid?"
"... I'd stay away for now … he prefers his mom's side of the family considering Greg is …" His mom..?
"Don't tell me Greg knocked up two women without taking responsibility."
"Oh stars I hope not." Vee shuddered. "Garnet and the gems raised me for the most part. Lucci…he was raised by another woman that took him in. Recent circumstances have had to make him live here for a while, and he's not the most accepting of it."
"Locked down, I can see it." The man nodded. "... So, when my plane is fixed and the runway is clear, you want me to show you the skies?"
"Yes please! I have never been on a plane before." The girl shared with starry eyes. "I can't wait to feel the wind in my face!" Nice kid … if a bit of a strange life.
=======================================================================
Lucci groaned as he exited the portal. "Spice, have you ever had to deal with an awkward family?"
"Gggrrrr."His trusted companion responded as they shook their mane.
"Guess it would be weird to be the only guy in a pack of all girls, but that's not exactly the type of awkward I'm getting at." He sighed. "Was it ever this bad for your last master Sugar?"
"Hssssssh." He was a rather clueless fellow for all his endearing qualities. Couldn't make a decision to save his life.
"So it was just me then for infuriating family members coming back to haunt me …" He paused. "Well, me and Amity I guess … and Hunter since the only family he has is Belos …" If they ever did a tri fusion together there was a good chance every parent on the planet would be obliterated. Huh, that was an idea to store away for a rainy day.
"Honestly, this is one of those situations that make me relate to Superman more. He cares more about his adopted home than his birth home, and everything from said home tries to kill him." It didn't help that the leaders of said world were galactic conquerors compared to the peaceful scientists, but the essence was still there. "So, where'd you take us Spice?"
"Ggrrr." Lucci looked up to see a field of flowers on a mountain.
"Hm, this feels like something Willow would like more, but it feels serene enough." He looked around. "Nice and quiet, no annoying gems or humans to annoy me, and enough space to punch the ground without restraint."
"Hsss." And more importantly, no crystal devils and no Luz to inspire more horrible ideas!
"Not every bad idea comes from Luz." He defended. "The last bad idea came from Amity with the prom thing."
"Hhhss." The Hourglass wish that almost whipped everyone from existence if it didn't amuse an eldritch nightmare?
"I blame Pearl more for forcing us to travel back in time in the first place." Lucci rolled his eyes. "And the crystal devils will be fine once we calm them down."
"Hss." Ignoring something strange they found, you're just keeping them around as an excuse to make Luz happy when you already sacrificed a lot as is.
"We've all had to sacrifice something. Luz shouldn't have to bare all the crap. I just don't want her to think she has to give up everything." It honestly felt like she didn't plan on coming back to the isle at all.
"Raaa." Spice yawned, before falling asleep on the grass belly up.
"Aww, who's a good tired boy." He rubbed the feline. "You just rest on the soft fields, you pink fluffy menace."
"Hash." That could describe you as well.
"I know, why do you think I love this guy?" He asked. "You two could probably bond together if you work out your differences."
"Sssh." Like you and Hunter?
"I only gave him food poisoning yesterday instead of hitting him into a wall. I like to think we've come to a respectable tolerance with each other." Lucci smiled, laying down on top of Spice. "The only pain I have at the moment is Pearl, but everyone hates her now." The other gems didn't seem on board with shattering her, but it wasn't like he listened to them anyways. He just needs the right time and excuse.
"Now what to do with the Rubies …" He muttered, whipping away his stinging eyes. "We can't just bubble them, and we can't let them leave with Jasper. The Cluster is stopped but the moment Homeworld's aware they'll come back and it'll be … well, annoying."
"Hsssh." Not to mention Jasper being in a bubble in general. She was important enough for a whole team to be sent to grab her. If the rubies don't come back, homeworld might send even more.
"Right." The boy rubbed his running eyes again. "It's not like I can put a bubble around the entire planet to keep more aliens from coming." And he couldn't be here forever, the Collector was destroying the Isles as they spoke. Who knew what was happening to King, mom, and everyone else. "We can't just overpower him, but talking it out seems out of the question too."
"Hsssh." He's like Spinel, but twice as insane and a hundred times more powerful.
"Yeah …" Lucci once more shook her face, vision blurring. "Maybe we could try getting them to talk it out, she'd be a decent buffer or …"
"Hhhss." Are you alright?
"I'm fine …I think the flowers are giving me allergies though …" Lucci notted, rubbing his wet eyes. "Seriously, now I get what Boscha complains about when looking for ingredients back home, it's just …" He pulled back his hand … with both his sleeves drenched in water. "I … this doesn't feel right."
Something was tickling the back of his brain. Something faint but present, a low buzz. Something that was…sad. Depressing. Something that was sucking away tiny bits of his will to do anything.
"Spice …" He shook the lion. "Do you … smell anything?" Lucci asked as the weight of emotions began to slowly pile up and weigh on his limbs.
"Grrr." The lion, looking unaffected by the sinking feeling of futility in the air, pointed his nose to something beyond the bushes nearby.
"Have to … stop this …" Lucci crumbled to the agonizing misery in his back, falling to the ground. "It … it …" His throat was sore, rotting away screaming for a soul that would never come back."Too … much …" Suffer, suffer, suffer forever and ever until the universe disappeared in a pool of its own decay. "Stooop it!" A short sonic wave bursted out of his mouth as he glowed pink for a short second.
There was a brief moment of silence, the emotions left as Lucci felt a brief moment of relief. "I think the sound came from this way, My Diamond." A voice spoke as the bushes began ruffling. Did … did she say … a woman walked through the bush … a blue one … with a blue … Pearl inside of her chest, with a fluttering clear dress, and a familiar long nose. "It appears to be a human."
"... Spice." He whispered. "You need to get us out of here, right now." This was a Pearl talking about DIAMONDS and if that raging sorrow came back Lucci didn't know what to do.
"Bring it over here Pearl." Another called out, one that sounded very subdued, very melancholy, but one thing was clear…they had power.
Lucci began to try and crawl away. "I'm serious Spice, get me-" He was grabbed by the arm.
"Come along now." The Pearl spoke in a tone much colder than he's ever heard the pale one speak.
"HHHSS!!" Sugar threatened.
"Sugar, shussssh, this isn't the time to overreact!" He yelled a whisper. He had no problem fighting this blue Pearl, but if she was leading him to who he thought he was, then showing off powers of any kind would be an automatic death sentence.
He was carried into an area, a lot more barren … where a pink … dressing room? Tower? Outhouse? … A box, a broken pink box stood … next to … her
This woman was an enormous size, like he was around her ankle. Her skin, pure blue, not too dark or light on the spectrum. A long blackish cloak rested from her body, covering her head in a hood. White and mangled hair covered her face just a bit … showing diamond shaped eyes that held sufferinginside of them beyond what most could dream of. And in her chest … a blue gem that he could almost instinctively fear on every level. A giant…blue.. diamond.
"How curious. A mere human, roaming around these parts all alone. And to think I felt her presence." The woman said in a tone, both steady and full of mourning. "My grief must be toying with my imagination."
Shit, shit, shit! He almost exposed himself to pure accident. He just needed to down play himself, let her think he was just some normal, unassuming human. "Yeah, just your regular everyday human with no notable qualities whatsoever!"
Pearl gazed at him curiously. "I wasn't aware humans around this area spoke, as some other organisms put it … 'english'."
"... Hss?" Did Spice send them to a DIFFERENT COUNTRY!? Honestly he was more confused that the space aliens were speaking it.
"Well, i…travel a lot. Just…roaming the planet at my own pace." He chuckled nervously. "Just, living life to the fullest.
"A gazer …" The Diamond looked up at the sky. "Tell me, what do you think of the stars?"
"Stars…well, that's a loaded question. Usually nowadays I see them as big balls of fire that can burn away anything just by getting close to them" He still felt scars from the shooting stars
"That sounds like an answer Yellow would usually give …" She chuckled, looking back to the box. "Pink loved them … she thought that for every star in the sky, there was a planet for us … organics to collect, and colonies to make …" They frowned. "This was supposed to be her first." Now that Lucci was up close, he could see it, this almost fluid aura of hers expanding from her body. "She was so happy when White told her she could finally make one …" He could see her large, sad eyes, dark circles around them indicating stress and lack of rest. "We told her she wasn't ready, we told her she was in over her head, that she was overconfident.." He really hated the comparisons. "But she wanted to prove herself … so the first gems emerged, quartz soldiers …"
"And then … that vile Rose Quartz came along."The aura she built hit him. Rage, fury, despair, anguish.She wasn't just weakening things around her, she was randomly SHOVING her emotions into anything around her. He could see the Pearl next to him cry from the misery. "She ruined everything … if we had just listened when Pink said she was a threat none of this would have happened. Why didn't we listen?"
Regret. Regret. Depression. Self loathing. All these familiar feelings he's felt before, feelings he's seen on many of his friends and family. This woman, full of rage, anger, who could wipe him out with probably a finger, who from a certain perspective had every right to hate the universe…hated herself most of all.
"This planet … it's all that's left." They cried. "Between this and the Zoo … everything is fading … why must it all go away? Can't I grieve for her?"
… Lucci could no longer, with any conscience, blame any decision involving the war on his womb donner … she couldn't fight this … this woman who loved Pink so much she grieved, this woman who hated Rose so much she'd destroy worlds, this woman … who truly, trulyhad nothing to lose.
This was insane, he should be getting the hell out of here, why did he actually feel sympathy!?! ! "I…I can relate…somewhat. I'm away from my home, from the people I love the most. Circumstances can't bring me back to them, and as far as I know, they're dead and any hope I have of going back is zero to none."
The aura seemed to pause, as the woman stared at him almost curiously. "I see … you understand … that the pain never leaves, even when asked to move on."
"It..it really doesn't." He mainly knew that pain from watching Luz and Centi..and with the basilisk, a species that wanted him dead. "You do your best to keep a strong face for the people who have left, but that facade…it cracks and you have to let your feelings out."
"It's so much weight …" She sighed. "... I would offer you a way back … but it's pointless." The Diamond spoke. "This world is meeting its end soon."
The cluster. Which was destroyed, after he empathized with all thousand shards and felt their agony bad he broke them apart. GAH why can he never not relate to people he has to kill!? "Figures. That's what I would expect."
"I would offer you a way to live on through the Zoo, but it's in shambles after a disaster …" Blue sighed. "I'm sorry for your loss. I know that small part of you will never fix itself …" She looked back at the pink box. "I've had six thousand years to grieve, but never once have I ever stopped hurting …" Good to know the guilt never dies.
"It's fine. I'd feel guilty if I was the only one who got to live anyways." He answered honestly. "Even if I've lost the people closest to me, there's still others in my life I don't want to lose either."
"I suppose I could see the joy in that …" They agreed.
"My Diamond." The Pearl spoke up. "Yellow Diamond is requesting you on the line."
"So soon? But I've only been here for three weeks." …Blue Diamond's been on this planet for ho w long!?
"So, quick question. How often do you visit this area?" Lucci asked.
"Pretty often. I usually spend six earth months here every forty days.… why?" She was on this planet the whole time!? If Jasper or Peridot, or the rubies had caught wind of her, it would've been all over.
"Just … thought of … spending time together." He shrugged. "You know … talking about stuff, before the world blows up that is."
"I thought we said end, not blow up." Pearl stated.
"End, blow up, they mean the same thing, right?" He chuckled sheepishly. "Either way, it would be something nice to do before the inevitable arrives. Gotta make the last days count as much as possible."
"I suppose you have a point …" They stood up. "It was a nice conversation … human."
"The name's Lucci." He bowed. "Nice talking to you too, giant blue woman."
"Blue Diamond." She gave a soft smile as she walked … to the giant blue hand-how did none of them see that!?
He watched as the gems flew away, leaving him and his magical animal companions alone in the field of flowers. "…Okay, maybe Homeworld is more of a threat than I thought they were."
"Hhss." Not even going to reprimand you, that was terrifying. "Hhss!" She will blame Spice for this situation though!
"Grrr."
"Hissssh!" Doesn't matter if you didn't know a big blue space tyrant was here, you should've warped them out when you had the chance!
"Ggrr." Didn't smell threatening.
"Guys, let's just get out of here before more diamonds show up." He interrupted the fight. Bad enough he was one, now he sympathized with one of those maniacs.
=======================================================================
Doc stood her ground as their earth commander lined them up. "Rubies, I understand that you were defending yourselves from potential hostiles. For your quick reflexes and instincts, I highly commend you for all your efforts."
"We're being praised!" Leggy cheered. Definitely a rare moment in their lives. They've been getting a lot more of that ever since coming to earth.
"However, though you were defending yourselves, fusing all at once and setting fire to everything for total annihilation is what we call 'overkill'."
"It was?" Eyeball asked with surprise. "If anything it seemed like the regular amount of kill. Overkill would be letting a Jasper deal with the situation, or obliterating everything in a five mile radius."
"Very true, that indeed would've been overkill, but remember, you're dealing with mostly humans on this planet. They don't have any particular superior strength or power. At most all you need to do is scare them and they leave you alone." Their commander explained.
"But you aren't scared." Navy pointed out. "Neither are your squad. And you're smarter than the usual organics. If humans can become semi-competent, then why should we take the chance?"
"It's great that you're trying to be more prepared and on guard, but think about it pragmatically. It's takes a lot of energy and concentration to fuse, doesn't it?"
"Not really." Doc shrugged. "We all think the same, so it doesn't really take that much energy."
"I once heard of a Topaz that stayed fused for three years." Army said. "We're all rubies, and none of us are off-colored, so none of us have a reason to think differently or do something different from the other."
"Alright, noted, but it still takes a moment or two to fuse. At most five seconds, right?"
"Yep! We've been trying to narrow it down to three seconds for the past two decades though." Doc explained. "Leggy needs help catching up a lot of the time."
"It's true." The gem admitted. "I think a little slower, so I'm usually the last one to stack on the fusion stack."
"Then until we can break that record, I recommend no fusion until we can improve it." The commander ordered.
"Im-prove?" Leggy asked with a scratched head. "Is that something we can do?"
"We improve every minute." Doc chided. "We learn more about our enemies and improve our accuracy."
"And if an enemy can't melt when we set them on fire, we train our flames to go even hotter until they're nothing but a fleshy pile!" Eyeball shouted.
"Yeah but … what about muscles?" Commander asked.
"Oh right, you're an organic." Doc remembered. "Gems don't have those. We're only as strong as when we're born, and don't improve physically … ever."
"Can't get stronger, can't get faster, just got to work with the flaws we have and hope it's enough." Army nodded.
"Is that so?" The commander looked them over. "One thing I've come to learn, being an organic and all, is that sometimes you're only as strong as you think you are. Have you actually tried to push past the limit you're born with or did you just stop once you reached it?"
"Stopped of course. No point in going past what we know we're capable of." Navy answered.
"And it's not like we have time to train. We're busy fighting enemies and searching for Jasper." Eyeball responded. "It's been a while … maybe we need to take a drill down to the cluster and check on it personally."
"No need…I can check on it for you while you get in that training time. After all, you want to be at your best when Jasper comes, right?" The commander said. "You improve yourselves, impress Jasper, maybe get teamed up with her on more missions from here on out…"
"I'm down for impressing that amazing gem!" Eyeball smiled brightly. "You heard the commander, get to improving!"
" Yes Ruby!" Even if they had to wait, they couldn't deny that staying on earth was far from boring.
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Amity yawned as she and Luz went over the book Masha had given Lucci . "There's so many contradictions between earth's myths and religions. Some of them just feel like the same story with different names."
"Earth has an old saying for dying creativity: there's nothing new under the sun." Luz rubbed her tired eyes. "The Boiling Isles was pretty much a wake up call for reality not meeting up fantasy."
"In a good way I hope." Amity smirked.
"Of course Sweet potato. It even confirmed my theory of griffon spider breath." The girl smiled. "Although even I think some of your stuff is crazy. Giraffes are not evil."
"See, Luz is on my side!" Gus shouted. "We will go to that zoo!"
"Sure. But just know I'm sacrificing you first if they start sucking out our souls." Lucci rolled his eyes.
"Sorry Gus, but I'm with Lucci here." Vee winced. "Garnet took me to the zoo once. Those freaks are not friendly in the slightest. Although that might've been because I'm a Basilisk."
Luz stared at Vee for a moment. "... Seriously?"
"What?" Vee asked.
"Nothing." Luz grumbled, going back to the book. "Alright, after scouring the book for a good while, I think I might have something that can help with the portal door."
"Hooray!" Willow cheered.
"The only problem is that most of the most helpful bits are from satanic rituals and hellish imagery."
"And that bothers us because …" Boscha asked.
"Because satanic means devil, and attempting to do this will probably corrupt and destroy us from the very soul."
"I share his name, maybe we can get a discount on that." Lucci shrugged. "We got flung across the galaxy in our last attempt to get home, I doubt we can make it worse than that."
"Fair enough." The girl shrugged. "So, did you and Vee have a good birthday or what?"
"Oh I loved it! And Andy isn't a major jerk like Greg is! I got to fly in a plane!" Vee cheered.
"Doesn't Lapis take you out flying?" Hunter asked.
"Yea, but that's with wings, this was with a plane! Man's way of flying in the air!" She smiled. "We did loopty loops, cloud scratching, a little history lesson, it was lovely … then Masha took me into the barn …" They flushed.
"Which base did you get to?" Boscha asked.
"Oh Lucci, did you do anything fun today after Andy came?" She asked in a mouse-like squeaky voice.
"Well … I think I befriended Blue Diamond today." Lucci brought up.
"Aww, isn't that nice. Another friend to the-" Luz began choking on air. "WHAT!?!"
"I didn't mean to, but Spice took me to a random portal and led me there. The scary part is that she stays on the planet for six months every forty days….we've been that close to her and never knew it."
"We could have died in the last months!?" Willow screamed.
"Apparently. And she has this…aura…depression wave. Every negative thought, every iota of sadness, every regret emotional, she pours it into everyone around her. I was barely able to fight it off for a minute."
"Wow …" Hunter looked shocked, looking down at his hands. "Imagine if we had that power. Every enemy would be obliterated."
"I mean we kind of do, with Lucci and his destructive anger wave shout thing." Amity said. "How did you talk to her without dying right away?"
"Weird as it sounds, she didn't seem all that malicious." Lucci answered. "Blue's mainly just super guilty about Pink being shattered … she's drowning in her own misery, and dragging things down with them." He explained. "I think Yellow might be the real problem, but I'd have to get a read on her."
"Which hopefully won't be anytime soon. The situation with the other gems is messy at best." Brought up.
"Fair enough …" Lucci muttered. "You know … I think I understand the gem war a bit better now … even Belos seemed like small chump change compared to … the depths I felt around her." The boy looked up. "They have centuries upon centuries of experience around them…yet for blue, I could only pity her."
"How is it that you always gain sympathy for the enemies we can't talk it out with?" Willow asked.
"Not always … I never sympathized with Belos." He responded. "I'm just never able to kill an enemy I can't sympathize with. Like Philip, or Greg, or Odalia, or Pearl."
"Does Pearl actually count? She still protects earth." Vee tried to defend the pale bitch.
"She lost it the moment she went back in time." He responded. "So, any other plans for today, or is it a lounge day before we work on fixing up the portal?"
"I'll have to make another trip to Amethyst's room to grab more supplies, but we should be able to get the next test go-" Amity stood up…only to fall over as her foot slid through the wood. "Gah!"
"Amity!" Luz rushed over. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah … just tripped over this hole in the floor." She groaned, looking it over … before pausing as she pulled out a book. "The Diary of Rose Quartz."
"Keep it still, I'll shred it in a second." Lucci took out Sugar and put her in lance mode.
"Wait!" Willow jumped in front of him.
"Oh what now!?"
"Wasn't Rose the one that built the portal?" Willow continued. "When Evelyn took Caleb to the Demon realm, Rose took Philip and followed them. They found a way to follow them despite the lack of blood."
"So a way to make a portal must be in that book!" Gus shouted. "Amity, you saved us all!"
"Chirp." For some reason, Flapjack rolled his eyes. Weird, but she wouldn't look a gift snorse in the mouth.