Fade Out

Chapter Nine

Looong author's note; an explanation as to where I've been. I took a bit of a hiatus for two reasons:

I fell down a very deep fandom hole for a fandom I hadn't been in since I was much much younger and it took up a lot of my inspiration. On top of my hectic working schedule I generally have only enough time for one, maybe two, fandoms at a time and this one sort of surged to the top. I'll be back making Steven Universe content soon enough, I hope.

I have been working on my original fiction for a long time, trying to get it print-ready. In the end I decided to go the self-publish route, that way I can concentrate on writing more and more often rather than waiting on letters from agents. I would hesitantly suggest that if you like my SU works you would probably enjoy my original novel, I work with similar themes, and the better I can do with my original work the more time I can dedicate to writing more original and more fandom content. I'm optimistically going to include a link here and I hope that it catches someone's fancy at least: dp/B07BGSPPBY

And now, the conclusion to Fade Out.

…..

It took the pearls just parsecs to agree that Courage needed their protection.

After that first awkward meeting, after Courage had been escorted out of the vault, Treasure explained the situation to the others in fast, concise gesture-speak. At first they couldn't quite believe it, no gem introduced to them had ever been trustworthy, but Treasure seemed certain. Moreover, if they let this Jasper carry on in her guileless way, she would be shattered in short order.

From inside the vault, they schemed. For all their frailty, they were experts at manipulation and it was easy to root out the gems that were set against Courage. When another Jasper with a slightly higher rank showed signs of plotting against her, Gift casually dropped a few incriminating facts about that gem into a conversation with Pyrite, and she was shattered the next cycle. When Sweetness heard that an underling Jade had been spreading rumours about Courage, she convinced her general, a Carnelian who had Sweetness as a favourite, that the Jade had damaged her during a visit. Carnelian picked a fight, and the Jade didn't stand a chance.

The other gems were easy to fool, but they all kept a nervous eye on Pyrite. She was notoriously fickle, the only gems she had ever liked with any kind of consistency were the pearls themselves, and only because they couldn't talk back or disobey her. Gems had been shattered in the past just for looking at her the wrong way.

One particularly rough cycle, Pyrite had gathered all of her generals in the antechambers outside the vault, and although she seemed to be in a good mood the way she occasionally glared at Courage had all of the pearls on edge. They were flitting around the room, 'entertaining' the guests, and in every spare moment they gesture-spoke their worries.

What's wrong with her?

Nothing's wrong, it's just a bad cycle. She's been like this since Forecycle.

She was angry with Sneaks, but she's not anymore. She's turned on Courage.

They were on the same mission. Sneaks put the blame on Courage for the damaged hull.

Who was last with Sneaks?

Mercy was.

Mercy, I'm sorry.

Treasure crossed over to where Mercy was hovering and slapped her hard across the face. Shocked, Mercy burst into tears, and as all the eyes in the chamber turned towards them Treasure gathered her into her arms.

"What's going on?" Pyrite called sharply. The pearls very rarely wept, but if any of them did it was usually Mercy.

"Her gem is hurting her," Treasure answered.

Still sobbing, Mercy clutched her gem with both hands. She'd picked up on the plan as fast as intended. Treasure's eyes shot towards Courage, who was looking concerned and rising to her feet, and gave her a mental warning to stay where she was. Courage, thankfully, understood the message.

Pyrite stalked over and pulled Mercy away, yanked her hands away from her gem. Mercy just sobbed harder.

"Looks okay to me," she grumbled.

"I think it's a hairline crack," Treasure said quietly, leaning in towards Pyrite meekly. "They don't show on the surface."

"Hairline crack?"

"Yes," Treasure nodded. "Charm had one before she broke, remember?"

As she'd expected, Pyrite's cheeks bloomed with fury. Charm had been a particularly beautiful pearl and when she crumbled Pyrite had every gem who had been with her in the last half-orbit shattered.

"Who was she last with?" Pyrite growled.

"Sneaks. Wasn't it, Mercy?"

Sniffling, Mercy nodded.

"Was Sneaks rough with you?" Pyrite asked, though they could already tell she was in a shattering mood.

Mercy nodded again.

Pyrite didn't say another word, she just grabbed Sneaks and dragged her from the room in front of the rest of her confused guests. The pearls sighed quietly to themselves, relieved.

They had bought Courage more time, but for how long?

…..

The vehicles had ground to a halt. The occupants gaped, looking from the fusion to the remains of their leader blowing away in the wind to each other. Pyrite's rig was a smoldering wreck, and the other vehicles weren't much better.

The fusion was huge, even by fusion standards. She wasn't as thickly muscled as Courage or as slender as Treasure, but had a strong athletic build with impossibly long legs and four supple arms. She had Treasure's long aristocratic nose and Courage's strong jaw, her skin was a pale rippled green and her hair was a thick cloud of forest-green curls. She had no weapon beyond her own powerful fists, and it was possible she didn't need anything more. Her enemies were too blown away by her to even try to attack.

The fusion turned on her heel and picked up what was left of the rig, along with the gems inside, and walked off with it. They crossed a gorge with a simple jump, climbed up a set of dunes and wandered in the general direction of the rising third sun.

After the smoke from the wreckage was a good distance behind them, they finally put the rig down and fell apart. The fusion's form burst and they ended up a few feet from each other, sitting in a daze in the sand.

"Holy crap, that was awesome!" Steven called, scrambling out of the rig ahead of the others.

Treasure and Courage just stared at him, struggling for words. The pearls descended on Treasure, running their hands over her hair, her arms, her back, looking for damage.

"I'm all right, don't fuss," Treasure mumbled at last, waving them away. "Courage?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," Courage exhaled.

"That was impressive for a first time fusion," Garnet mused (the relief was palpable in her voice.)

"Yeah, and not a moment too soon," Amethyst muttered, giving herself a shake.

"They had a clear goal in mind," Pearl cut in, though she was standing beside the pearls rather than the Crystal Gems. "That's all it takes, really."

"She's gone," Courage mumbled, stroking her gem. "She's really gone."

Steven was confused. This was a happy time, wasn't it? He would have thought Courage and the pearls would be ecstatic to have their enemy ground into dust. They didn't look happy. In fact, they looked more scared than anything.

"Yeah, she's gone!" Steven enthused. "She won't be able to bother you again. Unless her followers keep up the chase, but they looked pretty bummed out so I don't think so...so you can do whatever you want now, you can even..."

He trailed off when Garnet put a firm hand on his shoulder and a finger to her lips.

"Let it sink in for them."

Baffled, he let Garnet lead him away to an overhanging rock. There he sprawled in the sand with her and Amethyst, watching Amethyst fiddle with that water-gathering device. He couldn't help but notice Pearl stayed with the pearls.

"I don't get it," he said at last. "Why aren't they happy?"

"They probably are, deep down," Garnet told him. "But it could take them a while to realize it. They need some time."

The third sun was setting. Amethyst filled a bowl with water and Steven drank greedily. The air was full of smoke and dust.

He could see the pearls 'talking'. Treasure was leading the conversation, and Pearl's hands were fluttering to rapt attention from the others. A little shred of panic ran through Steven; having met with other pearls, would Pearl still be their Pearl? Even having survived several near-death experiences, she was more interested in talking with these stranger pearls than making sure Steven was okay. That wasn't like the Pearl he knew, and it frightened him.

Looking for a way to take his mind off of what he knew was a selfish, childish notion, he got up and walked around the overhanging rock. Maybe there would be something new on the other side...

….nope. More sand. And a few little green things.

Wait, what?

"Hey guys, look at this!" he called.

Garnet and Amethyst peered over the side of the rock.

"Is that...grass?" Garnet asked.

"I think so," Steven said, crouching in the sand and lowering his face to get a closer look. "I mean, it doesn't really look like grass from home or anything but it's pretty close."

Amethyst called to the others, and in moments they were all staring dumbstruck at the little green shoots.

"This is impossible," Treasure whispered. "Nothing has grown on this planet for hundreds of orbits!"

"But it is growing," Gift said, poking at a sprout.

Pearl's gem flickered and whirred and shot a beam of light at the grass, scanning it carefully. Then she beamed a screen in front of the pearls with a lot of numbers and symbols on them.

"There's clean water under the ground, it's closer to the surface than anywhere else," she said. "And with the overhanging rocks in the area it probably missed the worst of the suns' glare. Your maps show that this area gets overlooked by the regular mission routes...the planet's trying to fix itself."

The pearls were stroking the leaves of the little plants thoughtfully. For a little while, they were all lost in thought. Then Courage broke the silence.

"We need to go. Tripcycle is coming up and we should try to get to the warp pad before then."

Just before they left, Gift gathered up on of the plants, root and all, wrapped in a torn piece of her skirt.

…..

The rig groaned and screamed as they pushed it to its limits. At any moment it felt like it was going to just collapse and throw them out into the sand. Steven kept up a steady stream of chatter to a mostly unresponsive audience.

"...Beach City has a whole bunch of these vacation houses, nobody lives in them for most of the year and they're pretty big so I'm sure nobody will mind you guys using them for a while until we can find you somewhere better...oh, there's the barn as well but it's not that great and it's pretty crowded in there..."

In his head he was already finding places for them in Beach City. Courage could probably help out on Yellowtail's boat, if he needed some extra muscle power. Gift would fit in well at the Arcade if he could convince Mr Smiley to let her work there. Mercy could help out at Fish Stew Pizza, Kiki would probably be happy with another girl around...

"...I mean, you don't all have to get jobs, you can probably just hang out 'cos you don't need to eat or pay bills and stuff, but it's going to be..."

He trailed off as the screaming rig finally pulled up to the working warp pad.

Well, 'working' was a hopeful statement.

It was glowing, which meant it was operational, but it was cracked and shooting sparks erratically. Steven's stomach dropped; all this way and all that pain for nothing.

All of the gems looked crestfallen, climbing out of the rig and staring down at the crackling warp pad, but Pearl scanned it anyway, from all angles.

"It's working," she said, hesitantly. "Just barely. I think one warp would kill it. Two at most."

There was a grim silence. They wouldn't all be able to warp at the same time, they knew that. The Crystal Gems needed to return home, but Courage and the pearls had been planning their escape for who knows how long. Pyrite's captives had fought hard to get there in one piece and succeeded, but the Crystal Gems were strangers on the planet and probably wouldn't last much longer.

We'll figure something out, Steven thought frantically. Pearl can warp with the other pearls, then she can figure out a way to get us out. Or Garnet and Courage can, and then plot another course. They can get a ship and bring it out here...

"We will stay," Treasure said. Her voice cut sharply through the late evening gloom.

The Crystal Gems stared at her in horrified silence, but the pearls and Courage looked peaceful, resigned.

"We can't just leave you here..." Garnet sputtered.

"Yes, you can," Treasure said smoothly. "The warp will only take you. We did intend to warp off the planet, but our real goal was to escape Pyrite. We have done that, thanks to you."

"I'll protect them," Courage said, rising to her feet and standing behind Treasure. "There won't be another Pyrite. I'll make sure of that."

"Don't be stupid," Amethyst spit out. "This place is a dump! Why would you want to stay? We can figure something out!"

"We thought the planet was dead," the fused pearl said, and it was such a surprise to hear her speak Steven jumped. "But there are plants growing again. We can cultivate them."

"We can fix this place, at least on this side," Treasure assured them. "None of the other gems have ever come out this far. We will be quite safe. Some day we may even fix the warp pad."

No, we can't leave them.

But even as he thought that, Steven knew the Crystal Gems were ready to leave.

"We can come back for you..." he said, tears thick in his voice. "We can find a way back and you can leave, if you need to."

"Thank you," Treasure smiled beatifically down at him. "But I don;t think that would be necessary."

With a heavy heart, Steven went with Garnet and Amethyst to stand on the warp pad. Leaving them behind was bad enough, but he nearly screamed when Treasure reached out and stopped Pearl from getting on the pad.

No, you can't have her! She's ours!

He could feel Garnet go tense beside him, and Amethyst's hand crept towards her gem for her weapon. But Pearl's fingers flickered in that graceful looping way of gesture-speak and Treasure moved back, with a gesture of her own. The other pearls matched it. Pearl joined them on the warp pad, and the light started to pull them upwards.

Courage and the pearls watched them float into the sky, until the planet vanished and the light hurtled them towards Earth. Steven looked over at Pearl briefly, and noted that she was weeping in a way he had never seen before.

…..

In the aftermath, Steven often wondered what had happened on that planet after they left. Garnet and Amethyst didn't like to talk about it, but he knew Garnet was looking for a way to track the planet down. Maybe one day they could hijack an enemy ship and go back for them. Or maybe by the time they did that, the pearls would have successfully grown plant life and made a proper home for themselves.

We'll see them again, he thought, always.

Pearl had been silent for days afterwards. She was better now, but still much quieter than Steven was used to. He did his best to cheer her up, and it worked to a degree, but he was now more aware that the pearls had filled a hole in Pearl that couldn't be filled with anything else. Gems could be distant, and even amongst gems pearls were so distant as to be unknowable.

We'll see them again. We have to.