Chapter One: Sacrifice

Things go wrong on missions. Usually Garnet saw them coming.

Not always. Not that time.

xxxx

The Citadel of Sounds.

"That's a pretty name," Steven said, when the mission was first explained. "Was it like a concert hall?"

"In a sense," said Pearl, unusually evasive.

"Once," said Garnet.

xxxx

The truth of the matter was that the war had consumed all of Gem-kind on Earth. No place went untouched. No place had stayed peaceful. Even the Lunar Sea Spire, built as a place of relaxation and contemplation, became just another war base, in the end.

The Citadel of Sounds had started as a concert hall, but it had not ended as one.

xxxx

Past the main entrance way— a beautiful hall carved from alabaster, with graceful murals and slender columns— the Crystal Gems came to a hallway which lead down many branching paths. The group decided to split up: it would take far too long to explore, otherwise.

Pearl went with Amethyst. The two bickered and joked as they headed towards an empty auditorium, falling into familiar stride.

Peridot and Lapis headed off into what could have been considered a storeroom, if it wasn't so big. Open, airy and nicely organised, it was more like a museum than anything. On display were instruments— things which resembled guitars, violins, drums, flutes, harps, but all with strange sizes and names. Peridot prodded and poked, amazed that Homeworld had ever had such things. Lapis was quiet. Homeworld had changed in many ways, and the death of music was one of them.

Garnet and Steven went together. They went past the front rooms, the parlours, the pretty fronts for guests, into the Citadel's backstage. Cramped, plain corridors. Dust on the floor. A series of small workrooms, for composing, reversing, building instruments.

They came to a door. Through it was a medium sized chamber. Aside from a door on the opposite wall, its walls were bare. There was no furniture, no instruments, nothing.

"What's it for?" asked Steven.

"Don't know," said Garnet. Her Future Vision was oddly blank.

"It might be booby trapped," suggested Steven.

Garnet nodded, and summoned her gauntlets. Steven didn't need to be told— he summoned his shield. The two stepped into the empty chamber.

The door slammed shut behind them. Neither were particularly surprised. Instantly closing doors were a standard dungeon feature.

What was surprising was the music.

It wasn't exactly music, but it wasn't noise, either. It was low, almost beyond the range of hearing, more felt than heard. Steven frowned. It grated in his bones, in his teeth, in some nameless part of himself. It seemed to grow louder, the tone drilling into him, and even when he covered his ears, it didn't do anything to block the sound out.

"Garnet?" he began, but then he stopped. Garnet couldn't answer. Her whole body was glowing, pulsing with light. Steven reached out to her— but before he could, she split apart. A very disgruntled Ruby and Sapphire tumbled to the ground.

"What," said Steven.

"That noise," growled Ruby. "It pulled us apart!"

"Anti-fusion feature," said Sapphire.

The strange song was still present, but quieter, more subdued now. Ruby and Sapphire tried a fusion dance— the most elaborate Steven had ever seen from them. They spinned, twirled, and dipped, their gems began to glow— but when they embraced, Sapphire pulling Ruby close, nothing happened.

Ruby grunted in frustration. Slowly, sadly, Sapphire stepped away.

Steven rubbed his arms. They were covered in goosebumps— from the noise, and from its effect. "Should we keep going?"

"Yeah," said Ruby, stubborn.

"We must," said Sapphire, certain.

xxxx

The next door, too, closed behind them the moment they stepped through. The noise didn't become any quieter. It seemed to reverberate through the floor.

This chamber was just as plain as the last, but smaller, and not empty. There was an old rusty workbench in the centre, its surface covered with wires, tools, electronics. Steven, Sapphire and Ruby inspected it for the artefact they'd come to retrieve. They didn't find it, but they found something familiar.

"A destabiliser," Steven said, touching the item gingerly. It looked much like the device from the green hand ship— but bigger, clunkier. An older model. Much older. This thing was not the sleek little weapon Jasper had used to attack Garnet, but something which looked like it would be horribly awkward to drag into a flight.

It also looked like something else. It took Steven a moment to place: a tuning fork.

Though it was inactive, Ruby and Sapphire remained a safe distance away.

xxxx

The next chamber was somewhat differently designed. It had six walls, not four, arranged in a perfect hexagon. They were all plain white, with two exceptions. One wall, directly opposite, was instead a dull, yet reflective grey: it reminded Steven of a one-way mirror, like in cop shows. The wall next to that was bright red, and in it was embedded something that seemed to be...

"A giant speaker?" said Steven.

"Looks like," said Ruby. Two circles, arranged on top of each other, big, black and pillowy. It would have fit in perfectly at one of Sour Cream's raves. Next to the speaker was a series of buttons and glowing lights. The control panel, presumably.

The three looked around. Speakers, controls, a one-way mirror. That was it.

"No door," said Sapphire.

Ruby shrugged. She grinned at her reflection in the mirror, summoning her gauntlet. "I'll make one."

Ruby stepped forward, and crossed some invisible line. Lights flickered on the control panel: blue, yellow, white.

Steven's shield grew. Without even thinking, he stepped in front of Ruby and Sapphire, just as the speaker roared into life.

The sound was a boom. A screech, a scratch, a hiss, low and high at the same time, sharp and piercing—

— or maybe. Steven couldn't quite make it out. The sound seemed to bounce right off and away from his shield, never quite reaching the ears. But he could feel it, vibrating. The impact of each note seemed to strike Steven to his core.

Now Ruby was blazing hot, and Sapphire freezing cold, and fear was written plain on their faces. Steven had a certainty that whatever else, hearing that sound directly would be very, very bad.

"We gotta stop it!" shouted Ruby, over the din. "Walk us there, Steven—" she pointed to the controls— "We'll shut it down!"

Steven nodded. Shield held up, the others huddled close, he took a step towards the speaker. Then another, and another. The sound got louder and louder, the closer he got. It shook at his bones. Soon he was trembling with the effort.

"Don't— know— if I can—" Steven gasped. He could hear his heart pounding his ears. They weren't even halfway there yet. He was straining, straining to keep his shield up, but…

"Don't worry," said Sapphire. She pushed away her bangs, and stared at the controls. She looked Steven directly in the eyes, then Ruby. She said, "I love you."

And she took off.

"What—?" said Steven, too shocked to react.

Horror raced across Ruby's face, pure fear. She reached out to grab her partner, but Sapphire was too fast— already she was out of range, out of the safety of the shield, running dead-tilt towards the speaker's control panel.

Sapphire was fast, but sound was faster.

Her body was flickering, twisting, as she flew. Her dress was billowing out, out, like a sail, or wings— her hair thickened, like feathers— her back was hunching— her fingers curling—

Ruby tried to run after her, then, but Steven grabbed her, his grip horrible strong.

Sapphire reached the far wall. She was hunched over, her body flinching at each beat. She reached out a hand— talon, now— and pressed the buttons, all of them, with a single swipe.

The song stopped. Sapphire fell to the ground.

There was a moment of deafening silence.

Utter stillness.

Then Ruby rushed forward, eyes bright with tears. "Sapphire-!"

The creature which had been Sapphire raised its head, and screeched.

xxxx

Author's Note: Honestly, I've been intending this story for months. I'd gotten about two paragraphs through a first draft when news of Summer of Steven hit, and I decided to wait until the deluge ended. Which I'm glad I did, because not only would writing more during that period have killed me, but because we now know way more about the Corruption and how it works. The entire plot for this really just coalesced and I'm having a lot of fun writing it.

... does that make me a bad person? ;)