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weeping-petals · 5 years

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Post-War

Word Count - 3,635

Decades following the Gem War, the Crystal Gems search for survivors. While out surveying, Pearl and Spinel discover the aftermath of the songs affects.

Time ground on following the decimating blast which erased Diamond interest in the doomed Earth Colony. Existence was lonely, but as years wound on the remaining rebels began to find ways to pick up their lives and move on, grieve, and remake purpose in an empty world. Portions of the planet most affected by the Gem Song shrugged off the effects, and where barren stretches of land petered off into the sunset, came life and new growth. Not all the continents received the full affects, which gave the Crystal Gems hope that somewhere out there, someone had survived, someone was searching for them as they searched for her.

A century before, during the initial stages of the rebellion, Bismuth gems destroyed warp pads that linked directly to Home World. Unless Peridot’s survived, even if they were Home World loyal, no one was present with the capacity to mend transportation. The rebels were stranded on the world they fought to preserve, and struggled each and every day to reconnect with some form of gem-life. It didn’t matter if they were enemy, pebbles, whatever – any sign of others would be appreciated.

They took turns returning to the field, where the last stand had come. Usually in pairs, if Garnet was able to keep her shape. Sometimes being alone was good too, it gave them time to reflect with private thoughts and feelings. But being with someone, to prattle onto and help with burying the fragments and Gems left behind, it alleviated the loneliness and isolation each of them felt exiled to this world.

Rose spent a good time with Garnet, keeping the fusion together – in an emotional sense. Sometimes Ruby and Saphire couldn’t bear to be a part, sometimes they couldn’t bear being one. Saphire felt immense guilt that she had not foreseen this, and thought perhaps she was defective after all, and that she belonged on the Earth. As if something could possible be wrong with her. Ruby assured her, she was the problem, she dragged Saphire into this, she was the unaccounted variable. There was cycling, blaming them self, fighting to alleviate the pain and confusion the other felt, and twisting around to assure the other gem that no, no-no, it wasn’t you, it was me. I did something wrong.

Some days Pearl and Spinel couldn’t bear to be around the fusion, retracted from the cruel irony of the rebellion. Garnet was – for this time – the only Crystal Gem that didn’t understand the truth. Pearl couldn’t speak on the tragedy, and Spinel was frightened of revealing the truth. Thus, it couldn’t come to pass that Garnet would learn, since she never came together and confronted them about it. There was some stupid comfort in that.

“We’ll get through this,” Pearl assured.

Spinel scoffed. “Is that you talkin, or Rose?” She ignored the fierce glare sent her way, and shrugged.

The forest was a nice change of pace, the search extended to new terrain, recently unexplored territory where they hoped, hopelessly, that someone might be found. This location was pure and untouched by the colony’s advancements, certifying that no gem could possibly be here, but they held out for possibilities. Unseen pathways. The improbable which Garnet begged them to consider.

“Ye, of course,” Spinel resumed. “Like we have a choice. Hello, Home World. This is the rebellion calling. You missed a SPOT!”

“Keep your voice down.”

“Oh, who’s gonna hear? The trees? The flowers? The non-sentient rocks?” She shuddered. “We knew it was coming. She… sensed it. She could’ve saved… more. She could have.”

“Rose barely saved us.” Pearl crossed her arms and stepped into a small clearing where a patch of light plunged. “You can’t keep revisiting what ‘could have’ and ‘might have’s’, it’s over and done. You could be so… immature at times. We have to move on.”

“You always do that.” But Spinel didn’t want to elaborate. Since the Song, Pearl had viciously latched onto every word, every passphrase of encouragement which kept them collected and sane.

Not that Spinel was any better, she redirected her resentment onto Pearl. They were the precise opposite of Ruby and Saphire. More could have been done, it was your fault, not mine. Their co-existence stagnated. Their satchel of truth drove on the whirling spiral of resentment.

“I wish she had left me in the Garden. I wish she never brought me here, never asked me to play this stupid game.” She never lost a game before. “I could still be my oblivious, stupid, gullible, naive-self.”

Pearl shivered and shook her head. “What if. Might’ve been,” she repeated. It looked like she wanted to say more, turning around to face Spinel, but rethought. “Come along. We have miles to cover before we can avert our course.”

They walked in silence for some time. Spinel noted Pearl was doing no sort of charting; they walked onward aimlessly, forgoing duties. Nothing mattered anymore. They had nothing to work towards, aside from burying foe and friends.

“Do you still love her?” Pearl posed. It made Spinel flinch.

“Of course! Everything’s gone all wrong, but… I can’t help— She’s all we have left! I mean, look at this place?” She rotated while walking, extending her arms a little further out to showcase the tallest trees, the beaming sun, the blue sky. “This is my Garden now. This was worth hhHHH—”

Her foot caught on a root and she tumbled. Really went down for the count. Pearl gawked, as if Spinel said something repulsive. Or maybe because Spinel had gotten her limbs into a tangle with foliage and her eyes spun counter-wise in their sockets.

“I’m stuck.”

“How can you be stuck?”

“I’m stuck,” she repeated, dourly. Limbs tugged and slithered, but she couldn’t put her body into sorts. This was so embarrassing. Unfortunately, no one else was present to see this. “Um, I think maybe….”

“Try… never mind. Don’t move, let me see.” Pearl knealt and worked to loosen the knots. “I don’t see how you managed this.”

“Bet Garnet could’ve seen THAT coming.”

“You’re making it worse. Stop moving!”

“That tickles.”

“You’re impossible. You’re doing this on purpose.”

“No, I really am stuck. Wait, wha’s this?” She twisted an arm looped behind her back and ripped up her hand, undoing her fist. “Huh? This ain’t gem tech.”

Pearl cupped her chin and tilted her head. The gem in her forehead scanned the wadded material. “Hmm. It’s not wires. No metal components. Completely organic. Yet, unnatural to the native fauna? A trap, perhaps?”

“Pathetic trap.” She used her free hand to snap at the tangled mess barring limbs. “Okay, if you could push my foot counter-clockwise, and bend my elbow.”

“That makes no sense!”

“Look, would you just trust me? I don’t tell you how to pull a spear out of your head!” Tentatively, Pearl followed Spinel’s instructions, ludicrous as it was, and the moment she spun Spinel’s shoulders on her torso, the lanky gem snapped back into her typical shape with a ssSSSSssss – POP!

“Mulch-mulch, better.” She dusted off her limbs. “I think that’s enough expedition today. Can we head back?”

Pearl fanned her hand. “No. I still want to— ” A muffled, distant shriek caught her attention, and she shared a look with Spinel. “It can’t be.”

“A gem! It has to be. Which way?”

“Spinel, wait!” Pearl groaned, and took off in the direction the gem bolted. “It might be reconnaissance! We should withdraw!”

“Home World wouldn’t bother!” she hollered back, zipping and dipping through the foliage. “They’d send something Eye Balls! Last I checked, Eye Balls don’t scream.”

“Red Eyes!” Pearl corrected. “We can’t take the risk!”

“Risks are my specialty!” The shrill came again, a different resonance unlike the first. Spinel changed course, and Pearl skipped across a shallow stream, struggling to keep up. “Don’t be silt! If it’s another gem, I wanna meet them!”

The two tore through the undergrowth, tackling pathways that met their physical prowess best. Within traversing the mile, a clearing burst open around them, expanding for meters this and that way in neatly trimmed lines. Spinel nearly toppled again as her feet lost traction on the ribbed terrain. Pearl yelped when she plowed into a hedge of tall plants and artificial lattice work. Spinel skid to a halt for the novelty of pointing and laughing.

“Spinel! Control yourself!” Pearl wretched within the collapsing material and became more ensnared. “This isn’t funny!”

“I can’t – I can’t—” Spinel pitched forward unable to stay upright, while wild cackles zipped through her body. It didn’t work for Pearl to fight her way out, the more she struggled the more tangled she became, the more ridiculous she looked. “Do you need—” She broke into intense giggles. “I swear, I’m gonna poof!”

“WOULD YOU— ” Another cry, this time very close. It was peppered with new sounds, shouting and wailing. And something else.

A wretched squeal unlike any song or shriek, pierced the blue sky, spurring birds from distant trees into flight.

Spinel stopped laughing and sat up in a mashed patch of leaves. Pearl did her best to meet the source, eyes wide. “What was that?” the Pearl mumbled. She snatched a spear from her head, and in three sharp slashes, tore down the threads and wood.

“I don’t like this,” Spinel uttered. She picked her way over the rows and stood beside Pearl. The cries became more panicked, some of the phrases made sense but came in varied pitches. Always, there came the wretched bellow. A trail of smoke lifted from distant structures, designed by purpose and not by chance.

“We’ll see what’s there,” Pearl reasoned, “and then leave.” Spinel shook her had and took a step back, but Pearl snatched her hand and moved. Spinel protested, but Pearl led her onward. “It won’t alarm us if we’re together.”

“What happened to, ‘Eugh. Let’s go back’?”

“Just a peek.” The two didn’t get more than five steps from the structures perimeter, when a creature sprang out and crashed through a built square frame with an animal pelt drawn tight. The being gazed back, teeth bared and face etched with lines. Very expressive.

Spinel growled. “It’s just a hooman! Or course they would survive annihilation! What nerve!” She snapped her hand out of Pearl’s grasp.

“Why is it so frightened though? That’s not typical behavior.”

“They experienced a spontaneous whiteout sponsored by Home World! What sane animal wasn’t freaked out!”

“Humans don’t live that long….”

“You would know, wouldn’t you!” Spinel threw her hands high. “It felt just like yester—” Intense yaps and shrieking cut through her words. More of the humans raced across the open gaps among their small village, some carrying small children.

Then they discovered the source of the bestial snarls.

It was a big thing with vibrant colors across its body, thick forelimbs and no real distinct head. But it did have a maw filled with gnashing, jagged teeth. The creature seemed to have only front limbs, and only a back end that was serpentine or all tail. It dragged itself, stuttering and screaming, shredding through village homes, following the noises the human creatures made.

“My stars, what is that?” Pearl hugged the spear to her chest.

“Uh, ah-ah, hooo, ver, egh…” Spinel choked, trying to come up with the correct word. She snapped her fingers. “Hunter! Nailed it! Nothing to see here, let’s go home!” She swung away. Pearl reared back and snagged her shoulder.

“No-no, wait! It’s attacking the village!”

“This looks completely normal and ordinary to me! They are the hoomans, and that is the hunter. We shouldn’t interfere. Rose said—”

“She doesn’t like it when the humans are harmed!”

“Plenty of humans shattered during the war!” Spinel slapped Pearl’s hand away. “What’s! Your! POINT?!”

“They were warriors! These are… they don’t have the right weapons!” Pearl stamped her foot and gestured to the creature, while it continued tearing through roofs and walls. The large head swept down, checking on the bickering gems. “This is not a fair fight!”

“Pfft, like I care?” Spinel let her arms dangle at her sides.

“You should! They were what we were fighting for!” A look crossed Spinel’s aloof expression, and Pearl had to shut her eyes. “Rose would want—”

“You’re not my Diamond! And I’m not a warrior! Not anymore! You want to help so bad, you deal with this all on your own.” Spinel hopped back several steps, expression dark, scowl deepened in her brows.

“You can’t seriously leave all this to me!”

“That’s your decision! I’m opposed to interfering!”

Pearl growled and whipped around, drawing up a spear. The beast thing bellowed and dipped forward, its long tail portion shot forward spearing the ground where she stood. But Pearl was gone.

She tumbled through the rows of vegetation, coming to a halt on her knees and flung her spear. The big beast reared backwards, evading the projectile with ease. The body twisted rotated and it fell onto a building, continuing its mindless destruction. More humans tore through the open gaps among wreckage, and the beast peered at them. It had no distinct eyes, aside from patters along the vague shape of its muzzle. It expelled another shriek and darted among the village structures, using its body to corral a group of humans.

“Hey! Hey, you!” Pearl hollered. She glanced Spinel’s way, but there was minimal change in her expression, aside from a snarky grin. “I said, HEY YOU!” She pulled another spear from her gem and took aim.

The big beast reared up and cocked its head her way.

“Yeah! YOU! PICK…” she stalled, “ON SOMEONE… YOUR OWN SIZE!” Her face burned blue as Spinel was consumed in fits of cackles. “UGH! Immature, stubborn….” She grumbled to herself, and bolted into the fray. The beast lost immediate interest in her, and resumed tearing through roofs.

With a kick, Pearl launched herself as high as she could and chucked the spear with precise accuracy. The creature gave a mournful wail and plowed through a roof – in the midst of Pearl’s descent, the long tail swept sideways and knocked her aside.

Spinel barely managed to recover and wiped the glee from her eyes. “Wow! This is gonna be priceless! I need to find a better spot to watch!” She darted off, scanning the general zone for a high point. Not far beyond the village’s region she spied a rising hill and tall trees growing on the slope.

“I’ve got to get it away from the humans,” Pearl muttered. Her strategy for combat was eroded, and the unknown creature’s tactics and overall goal was spontaneous. It lost interest in tearing up the village, and pursued humans if they were careless enough to get too close, sometimes it took interest in Pearl’s movement, but lost focus when a flurry of bolts pelted up its backside, and resumed working at the tall structures at its elbows.

In conclusion, the thing was an irrational mess, unpredictable, and with no strategy. All living creatures or sentient things, had an order to follow. The beast was hollow of reaching for base needs; this much was apparent, when it departed the village and began tearing apart the trees that wouldn’t scoot out of its way. It screamed at the trunks, occasionally going after Pearl when she appeared to batter its body. It departed the heart of village, but the humans couldn’t move fast enough to escape the vicinity it claimed as demolition.. It followed sounds, or bellowed and bit into the rocks that gently caressed its limbs.

“No fluid,” Pearl noted. The beast knocked a volley of spears from its torso and wailed skyward. “Breaks in its body, but no organic leaks. What is it?” In her distraction, the creature grazed her with its third arm and Pearl went pinwheeling.

Spinel nearly plunged from the tree, but caught herself with her legs and wound herself back up. She was in hysterics, trying to hug the branch with one arm wrapped tight, and pounded her fist against the bark. Never had Pearl looked so beyond her element – poor elegant, graceful, ferocious, renegade Pearl.

“Had enough?” she hooted. “Huh! Have you? Call it quits! That thing has nothing to lose!” Her grin widened, and the tears only came thicker, wetter, in sappy globs. She sniffed and wiped her face.

Pearl shrugged off leaves from the shrub she crashed through and hastened across the growing path of destruction. A cry snapped out, but it was not from the horrendous creature. Despite its coloration and shape, she had all but lost it among the thicket. If she wasn’t following the howls, then the petrified shrieks of the natives gave course.

A group of humans backed up into a deep alcove, a few trying to climb the steep rock face while a small portion stood at the front with stone weapons, some carried tools like hammers. The primitive tools proved ineffective, aside from causing the beast creature mild confusion when a hammer pinged off its snout.

“Get away from them!” Pearl zoomed in and peppered the multicolored body with bolts, concluding by heaving the spear full force at its body. Another spear, another volley of energy to draw the creatures attention and keep it distracted. She continued to draw on reserves, as the creature rotated to her, knocking down trees and bulldozing rocks. It had been decades since the war, since Pearl was forced to exert herself to this degree. Even without a premonition from Garnet, she saw her chances would be very-very slim.

The humans cringed into the partial cover of the rock cliff, huddling together as the tail segment lashed above their heads.

“Here! Come here! I’m your opponent!”

With a churning growl, the beast wound around and lashed its tail out.

Meanwhile, Spinel was swinging her way down the trees with long sweeps of her arms. “Stupid, stupid, righteous Pearl. Ya dodo. Rose this. Rose that.No one here’s impressed!”

Another dodge, and Pearl ducked in close to swipe at the limbs. It worked more in her favor if she got in close, used her agility to keep the creature befuddled – it kept looking for her, distracted perfectly. Some of the humans were able to inch their way from the alcove, but the beast maintained a close distance and its body writhed and rolled. Pearl very nearly collided with its arm when it slapped a palm down, whizzing past her nose by mere inches.

There in the wrist she saw it. Yet, couldn’t believe it. Unrestrained despair tainted all tenacity for fight and protect.

A gem stone shimmered against her eyes, her face reflected in the polished surface. No. This wasn’t right. Something terrible, something awful had come about. She froze like a board, saucer-eyed, unable to grasp meaning or build comprehension. This wasn’t an animal. This… this was.

A set of jaws clamped down over Pearl’s shoulder, nearly piercing her form through. The beast creature flung her around and around, twisting its body, not letting go, impossibly fast and erratic movements she couldn’t detach from until vertigo overtook her. Any second now she’d be lashed against a boulder, and her gemstone would crack. Any second, she would know nothing. She would shatter.

Something, or a lot of small things, happened all at once. The jagged teeth unlocked from her shoulder, and momentarily her body revolved without restraint or equilibrium. This endured for mere seconds, wherein something caught her by the wrist – one laced across her chest and locked to a spear (it was all she could manage to keep her limbs from snapping loose off her body) – and tugged her out of the dislocating spiral. She was rotating over and over midair, the difference was it had control and poise. She creaked one eye open.

“I got bored!” Spinel spat. One arm was latched to Pearl, the other limb coiled tight around her own entire body. “Got your wits?” Pearl nodded, still stunned, unable to verbalize. “Okay then. Have fun!”

Pearl traced the remaining portion of Spinel’s coiled arm, saw where the hand was fixed to. The beast was mid recoil, a blazing slash dazzled the side of its muzzle. The hand was locked to its teeth. With their interaction concluded, Spinel recalled her arm, whirling her body – with Pearl – at a terrifying speed. Pearl locked her fingers onto the spear and waited the moment when Spinel released her wrist. In a blink she was driven downward, the next instant her spear cut through the core of the beast.

An explosion of green dust settled around Pearl. She stood shaky, turned to see the glittering stone drop among splinters and leaves.

A Gem’s stone.

Spinel crashed through the canopy and bounced across the earth, knees bent way backwards over her head. A graceful faceplant. Her legs flopped to the ground.

“Bad idea,” the muffled proclamation came.

“Spinel,” Pearl uttered. She moved to the gem stones side and dropped to her knees. “Look at this.”

The Spinel stumbled over to Pearl and leaned over. When she saw the precious stone in question, she recoiled. “Whoa-whoa-whoa! What?!”

Pearl shook her head, and bubbled the gem. “I don’t… it was in its wrist. In her wrist.”

“Embedded?”

“I think… it was supposed to be there.” She shook her head again. “No. Not supposed to, but… she formed around it. Formed from this gem. A gem stone. Someone.”

“No-no-no, don’t say that! You can’t say something like that! We don’t know! It— We just don’t—” Spinel gave a holler and stomped away, tugging at her hair. “No! Just No!”

“We need to show this to Rose and Garnet.” Pearl stood with the bubble on her palm, and dismissed her weapon. She looked over, as humans from the dismantled village began emerging from their shelters and hiding places throughout the foliage. “Oh dear.”

“Look at the mess it made!” Spinel stormed off. “You can deal with it! I’m goin’ home!”

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