Summary: Sometimes, magic is not meant to mix with certain enemies
What … was this? 'Stay calm' Who was that? Who was talking? 'Speak nothing' Why were thoughts forming? They…who were they? 'If you talk, they'll notice you. That's when the pain will start.'
"Subject Number 3 is completed mam." Voices … did you notice voices?
"Excellent, take it to the cage." How did you pay attention?
Something grabbed them. In an instinct, they reached forward- Childhood, Emperor Coven, Basilisk resurrection- Three instantly stopped their movement, keeping their eyes closed.
"Was that involuntary, or is it awake?" So much new information coming all at once? There was…an Emperor? Why…all the Basilisk were dead? And what the titan were covens?
'Stay unconscious. We will help you through this.' We?
"GRAAA!" A scream ran out.
"Ignore Number Three and put them in a cage, Number Two is acting up again." The female … Kikimora, stated. "Such insolent parasites. If you weren't important to the Emperor's plan, I would've let you stay dead."
The…scout….dragged them by the neck until they reached the cage, being forcefully thrown inside, the door being slammed right behind them. It took a lot of self control to not cry out in pain for the lack of gentleness.
What was this, what was going on? Why were they redirected and studied for the sake of an Emperor? 'So you are a Phantom'. A … a what? 'A race that lives the lives of others … would you like to hear a story?'
Zap
"Krraaa!" The screaming voice cried out.
"Back to the edge of the cage, you crazy loon!"
'Twicepta likes to hear them … they calm down the dread of our situation.' Twicepta… who… how many of them are there? 'You're the third one they've brought back. Twicepta is the one before you. And I was the first. For simplicity's sake, call me Alpha.'
… Like the first letter? 'We find the number puns morbidly humorous.' Not really a joke I'd laugh at. 'Give it time, you'll be well accepted and knowledgeable of dark humor soon enough. Would you like a name?'
… Didn't they call me Three? 'To them, we are but objects. Mindless animals incapable of speaking.' … Laying in wait? 'That mind you took helps you catch on quickly.' Saw the guy's head, didn't look like he was using it all that much. 'Now you're getting into the spirit of things. So, your name?'
Name? Hm, if they were going for cruel irony here, then might as well go with the number theme. Three… number three… third in a trio… tri… 'How about… Triton?'
"And stay down, freak." The guards walked away, leaving the cages in silence.
'You must let me take the burden at times, Twicepta.' Alpha spoke.
'Heh, and let your weak body shrivel up and leave me without entertainment?' The more female sounding voice in his head countered. 'I'm not going to make it easy on these bastards, not for a single second if I can help it.'
'Would you like to greet our guest then instead of antagonizing our captors? He's in the same boat we are after all.'
'Yes, where are my manners?' He could mentally hear the sarcasm. 'I am Twicepta, a Greater Basilisk. I will make sure your scar count is halved.'
Scar count … What do they want with us?
'In all honesty, you are the closest to that.' Alpha spoke. 'Do the memories of that scout have anything other than studying our draining abilities?'
Something… something about a spell the Emperor wants to learn … something about… eliminating wild magic….
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Pink Diamond laughed as she rolled around. "You were right Spinel, being the ball is fun!" Why didn't the other Diamonds do this? This was way more fun than watching Agates argue with each other.
"I know, right!?" Her stretchy and bouncy best friend uncurled herself from being a ball too. "You bounce and roll anywhere without ever knowing where you're going, and you never get hurt!"
"Pain is irrelevant in the grand scheme of fun!" Pink laughed as she rolled around. Here in the garden, everything was possible. Her own little world where she got to do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted. It almost made up for the fact she didn't have her own colony…almost.
Pink found herself still as she uncurled herself, laying on the floor. "What's wrong, Pink? Did you get that vertigo thing Organics always complains about?" Spinel poked her in the head.
"No, it's just…" Pink looked around her garden. It was beautiful and grand, and the butterflies were always a joy to see…but it was all she got to have for herself. "Spinel, have you ever thought that there could be more to life than just this garden?"
"Nope!" Spinel giggled. "I never have a need to leave! The garden is pretty and you're always here! What more could I ask for in life?"
"Well… What if there was somewhere more fun than the garden, and we never knew about it?" Pink asked. "Then we'd regret never knowing about it."
"But what could be more fun than the garden?" Spinel asked, twisting her head around. "This is where we play all our games. Everything I know about fun happens here."
"What about … a planet where gravity is sideways, and we can fly as we please?" She suggested. "Or flowers that act like bouncy pads."
"But we can adjust the gravity of the garden whenever we want, and we can bounce pretty high already." She turned her legs into springs and bounced super high.
"… When did you start talking like a Pearl?" Pink questioned.
"I dunno, I just really love this place and I never want to leave it!" Spinel giggled, jumping ontop of her head. "It's my whole world, literally, where I have everything I could ever want!"
"But if it's just the same things over and over, that's boring." Pink complained. "There's an entire universe out there, Spinel. Imagine the games we could play with all those planets and people."
"But people suck. You said so yourself." Spinel pointed out.
"No, I said gems suck." Pink rolled her eyes. "So many rules and limits made by White ruining our fun all the time." And anytime she tried to argue against it … yeah, not great.
"But the only people left are organics. And they don't really count."
"We count the flowers in our fun, why not organics?"
"They're kinda fragile, aren't they?" Spinel asked. "You can't have them sing underwater without dying, or twist their head three hundred and sixty times without making that weird crunchy sound whenever they get hit too hard."
"True …"
"So we'll just have to keep making new games forever to compensate for monotony!" Spinel made their necks longer. "Now lets stretch our necks as far as we can to see who can get the closest to touching the nearest star!"
"I'm pretty sure I'll beat you." Pink was so gonna touch that star.
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Triton stared at Ivan, their eyes twitching. 'I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't I can't I can't.' They had it rough, being able to hear the screams of what they ate. 'They were so desperate, so weak…but I was so hungry, I couldn't I can't… I can't I can't!'
'It's what's necessary. We need to survive.' Triton said blatantly. 'It's us or them, and we can't afford to alternate.'
'I .. but …' They stared at a piece of metal. 'I … I need to end it, I need to-'
'Don't.' Alpha spoke calmly. 'Do not give into despair.' After a while he finally learned the truth about Alpha. They were an Alpha Basilisk (leaning heavy on that name), capable of mentally connecting with other Basilisks … even hearing 'stories' from the bones.
'You say that like hope exists.' Twicept grumbled. They were the greater basilisk. They got bigger with more magical consumption, and thus had great physical strength.
'Our race was given a second chance at life. When we manage to escape, we will save our kind.' They spoke.
'You say that like we will escape.' Triton felt like rolling his eyes.
'We will … because they think of us as mindless animals, incapable of learning and evolving, incapable of tactics or understanding of emotions … but if you kill yourself Ivan, you will give into despair, and they will learn that we are capable of rational thought, of being cognitively aware of our horrible circumstances'
'Great, because why not add another layer to this hell we live in now!?' Ivan slammed his head against the door of the cage. 'Constantly poked, prodded, ripped apart, and skinned, and I can't even properly express my agony!'
'Suck it up.' Triton stated. 'Twicepta takes on most of the torture, and Alpha has been suffering beyond us.'
'At this point it's a gamble to see if she can catch up to my mutilation count.' They were all silent at that. 'Too far?'
'No, I believe I finally understand the term 'dad joke'.' It's been on Triton's mind for a while. 'How much longer are we going to take this?'
'You've seen it haven't you?' Alpha asked. 'The scouts come in groups of five.' That's the angle he was going for, clever. 'We wait until they make another, and then replace them.'
'… We're going to let another one of us be born to suffer?' Ivan asked quietly.
'They won't suffer…not for long at least." Alpha explained. 'If there's going to be any kind of future for us outside this cage, we must be willing to endure the hardship.
'There's only one kind of future we could have. A world without witches.' Triton was in complete agreement with the lone woman. '' The moment I get out of here, I'll exterminate the new generation before they have a chance to strike at us.'
'Our kind failed a war once, do you truly think violence a second time with such a low number of allies would succeed?' Alpha questioned. 'Our goal is to survive, not fight.'
'Survive…not live." Ivan groaned. ' Is that how it's going to be for now on? Just 'surviving' day to day. Constantly worrying to the point we sleep with one eye opened? Just feeling grateful for the fact we're able to breathe?'
'Does seem like a bit of a short term solution' Triton noted.
Alpha was silent for a moment. 'If we truly seek to make the world a better place, the Titan will provide.'
'Would you stop it with the 'Titan' crap? It's just a corpse.' Twicepta spoke with annoyance. 'There is no higher power at play here. If there is, then they're the cruelest, most sadistic being in the universe to let an entire species suffer for no good reason. We're all just playthings to the cruel randomness of reality.'
'Seriously, hope may not be the end all be all, but it wouldn't hurt to have a bit.' Alpha said resolutely.
'Keep telling yourself that, old timer. Keep telling yourself that.' What Triton would give to have some. No one in the universe could understand the agony they've experienced.
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Five hundred years. It's been five hundred years since the Diamonds put her in this cell, and it was pure, unbridled torture . Just the nothingness. The sheer, unending nothingness of a blank cell. She wouldn't even poof with the small ray of light coming into the room.
Endless pools of shadows covering her every sight, every touch, every sensation. She couldn't even remember what she did wrong to get put here in the first place. Did she let the spores spread in Yellow's chamber? Splash dirt all over Blue's robes? Or did she let those giant rats into the ballroom?
Pink was supposedly sent her to 'think' about her actions, to 'reflect' on her 'impections'. She had no idea what they were getting at, so that was almost immediately forgotten. So she had nothing but the own expanse of her own mind … she liked to think she was still sane. "'Shut it Pink, you ruin everything!' 'But Diamond, I'm having so much fun doing as I please!' 'We can't do stuff, we have expectations!'" The perfect picture of sanity.
What was the point of having so much power if they couldn't do anything with it. Heck, she wasn't even a diamond in the proper sense! They still never gave her a colony, or even a full court! No Amethysts guards, no Agates, just her Pearl and a couple of braindead rubies. Heck, she had to make her own Pebbles. Just … come on, it was annoying. She shouldn't have to work so hard for a little attention.
The door opened, as a familiar face came in. "Please tell me you learned something this time, Pink." Blus spoke in a tired tone.
"I learned that any time I try to be serious I'm sent to the tower."
"That was your take-stars above, help me." Blue groaned. "Pink, you're NEVER serious about anything, that's the issue here."
"I was!" She shouted. "Everyone was so unhappy, and struggling, and I wanted to help them smile just for once!"
"You let a gem stray from their task!" Blue yelled back, making her arua spread and cover the room with her blue light, with her depression, despair, and anguish. "You paraded around a Zircon in the most ridiculous fashion as they rode on a giant mole through Yellow's court! Do you know how many we had to shatter for the defective mindset you imprinted on them?"
"You … you shattered them?" Pink asked quietly as tears rolled down her face.
"Of course, we can't have incompetent gems filling our courts. Just the slightest mess up, just the slightest issue in following orders, and everything falls apart into anarchy!" Blue screamed. "That's the price for acting out, Pink. You can't let these silly games and childish ways overtake your life if you wish to be a real diamond. You want your own court, don't you?"
"I … I do." So much.
"Then no more games, no more acting wildly. You follow every rule to the letter. Am I understood?" Blue let the aura fill the room more.
Pink felt nothing except the sadness, the misery, and the pain … all of it came from this woman … all this pain this..Diamond was throwing her way … she was hurting her for no good reason … was this what the Diamond's called love..? Was this the only way she could feel love? "I…I understand."
"Good." The aura vanished. "Please Pink … I do this because I love you."
"I love you too." She responded almost automatically. This wasn't love … she didn't feel anything but hate and disappointment from her … from any of the Diamonds. This … this was hell.
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Triton had never experienced a hell such as this. 'Clothes … are … the worst.' He itched, scratching himself all over. Why did we have to put these on?
'To make it more believable that guards we put in our cell are us in disguise' Alpha explained. 'It's not the most perfect plan, but it should distract everybody that sees them long enough for us to escape.'
'Did we have to beat them up after we knocked them out?' Their latest companion, Vee, questioned. Alpha wasn't sure what her special ability was yet.
'It was to make sure they couldn't move out of there.' Twicepta stated. 'They should be lucky we didn't break their spines.'
'Why….hurt?' The youngest among them asked innocently.
'Although I am opposed to death, violence is sometimes necessary.' Alpha spoke. 'The ability to defend … admirable.'
'Keep talking me up.'
'You did take a bit long on the arms though.'
'I never wanted him to cast again!'
'Hello, we're getting off topic.' Triton reiterated. 'Ivan, the echo mice, it'll lead us out of here?'
' That's what they told me." The fourth member of the group nodded. 'There's only one checkpoint we have to pass through. After that… freedom."
Freedom … it seemed like such a foreign word at one point. 'Triton, take lead. You'll be in charge of familiarity.'
Their job, making sure they don't get caught. Triton could store seven years of memory at most. They had to constantly pick and choose what memories to retain and what to let go, and what memories to preserve as a part of their own memory. 'If it gets bad, grab Vee and run.' He told Twicepta as they approached the checkpoint. "Tony, my man, how's it going!?"
"Pretty shit, not going to lie." The guard grumbled. "I was a part of Lilith's squad again. Attempted another capture of her sister, went as well as every other time."
They faked a shiver. "Tell me it wasn't a cabinerry tea party by that freaky house."
"I'll one up you. Caramel, human food." The man shuddered. "Times like this I wish the human world didn't exist."
"Human… world?" Vee questioned. Crap, curse the childlike wonder. If she felt too cornered, she could revert back unconsciously.
"Yeah, the place the lady runs off too … you alright?" Shit, come on …
"New recruit, same place that got Steve." Triton lied. "So you know they weren't trying hard."
Tony scoffed. "It's a miracle they got through as it is … alright, you're free to go. Hail Belos."
"Yeah, hail the bastard and all that." Twicepta muttered under her breath.
"What was that?" Tony stopped them.
'Say pleasantries. We're too close to freedom.' Alpha spoke.
"I said hail the great and powerful Belos, for the iron grip he has over all of us." Twicepta corrected. "For without his rule, we'd just be blind idiots."
"That's more like it." The man patted her on the back. "My bad, have a pleasant day."
This was it … they were in the clear. As soon as they got to the exit they'd be free, without suffering! Everything will finally pay off!!
"Freedom…freedom.." Vee whispered in awe. "We'll finally…finally.." The door opened as the fresh air hit them, the freshest air that they've felt in….forever. This was it, this was it…. " Aaahh-choooo!"
Vee sneezed… and instantly shrunk and shifted to her original form. There was a moment of silence, enveloping everyone there. "... Well…" Alpha was the first to speak. "The dangers of pollen everybody." He nodded slowly. "... RUN!"
"Get back here you rotten little bastards!" The guard shot a fireball at them as they yelled into a crow. "We got code 66, the Basilisks have escaped, I repeat, the Basilisks are free!"
"To the right, to the right!" Ivan shouted, leading them to an exposed grate. "We have to run through here, it'll be tough but-"
Clang
They turned behind them, seeing Alpha close the metal shut, pulling on it until the latch broke. "Alpha, what are you-" Twicepta tried to input.
"Flee." For a single instance, that command overrode everything in Ivan. From their survival instincts, to their minor compassion, to their care for Alpha … he could have forced them to go against their will this entire time … but instead he walked them through it and cared for their minds …
"Live your lives. Do what you want, just run, and be free. Never let anyone get in the way of your freedom."
And with that, they fled … seeing each other's faces for the last time … their only family.
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Rose watched as the enemy soldiers fled. "... They're running …" Their morale must have shattered along with 'Pink'. This was by far the greatest sight she's ever seen, far better than anything she had ever witnessed as a diamond.
"You did it, you actually did it!" Garnet nudged her on the back. "Homeworld's rolling away like a couple of pebbles. I never thought I'd see the day."
"We're winning, bit by bit." Pearl grinned. "Soon this world will be completely free."
Rose looks down at her, the two of them sharing a knowing smile. This was probably the only good thing that being Pink Diamond had ever done for her. "Free … a world … free from the diamonds.
"I just wish Bismuth could've been here to see this." Garnet sighed. "I haven't seen her anywhere, no matter how hard I focus my vision."
"I'm sure she's out there somewhere." Pearl assured her fellow gem. "We just have to keep looking." … Yeah … maybe she should have kept a better grip on that bubble. Rose hoped it didn't pop soon. The moment it did; it could throw away all the hard work she put into being Rose Quartz.
"We got a report on coms!" Crazy Legs shouted. "Every Homeworld Gem is leaving the planet at a fast rate!"
"They are?" Rose asked, skeptically. "That's great…but a little faster than I expected."
"Yeah …" Pearl looked confused as well. "I understand their moral is shot but … they would still have orders from the other diamonds, right?"
"Maybe they ordered them to retreat?" Garnet suggested. "They decided this planet wasn't worth the hassle?"
"That would be the ideal situation for us, but to give up that easily after one thousand years of fighting?" Pearl questioned. "I don't praise the character of the diamonds in the slightest, but I never took them as the retreating sort.
It didn't feel right. Rose looked up at the retreating ships with disdain. All flying away, to space, to the stars … the three twinkling stars … before the sun even set … "EVERYBODY DOWN!" She formed her shield instantly, grabbing Pearl and Garnet and holding them close to herself..
MWWAAAAA
Light invaded everything. White, Yellow, Blue. Purity, Destruction, Preservation. Apathy, Antipathy, Sympathy. It clouded her mind and concepts as the shield struggled to- She was snapped out of her thoughts, Rose's body glowing brighter than it had ever done before.
She didn't know how long she held it up. It could've been hours, days, maybe weeks. She was too scared to open her eyes.
The second she did however…it wasn't a pretty sight. The air around them seem to glow red, as every gem around them, save for Pearl and Garnet, seemed to have been poofed. "Did…did they just poof and run the whole planet?" Garnet asked.
"No … no it was more than that." Pearl shook. "For a second … for a second it felt wrong … that wasn't some laser … what was that?"
"White, Yellow, Blue … the diamonds attacked us directly." Rose stared in horror. "... This was their revenge." But..but that couldn't be possible..revenge would imply that they'd cared about Pink…after a millennia of abuse…. this was the moment they decided to show that they care about her!?
"But…what did they do to our friends?" Garnet asked, picking up Crazy Leg's gem. "Crazy Legs, Biggs, Snowflake…what happened to them?" The gem began to glow. "She's … reforming?"
"They're okay?" Pearl asked. "I … that doesn't seem right."
They grew and grew … and malformed … until- "Craaa!" Rose blocked an attack from some … THING.
"Crazy legs..?" Rose spoke weakly, because the creature in front of them was not their friend.
It looked feral, round and …fuzzy. Round with two raptor like legs, and a nasty row of sharp teeth in front of them. " Gaaaaarrrrrraasggggghhhhh!"
They weren't gems anymore … they … the diamonds … they corrupted them.
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Triton looked over his food supply for the month. "Two bolder possums, a Palistrum seed, and one Snaggleback."
"Please let me go!" The monkey turtle thing shouted as it sat on its back, its hands and legs tied together.
"Can't do that. Food supply is low for me, I don't know when I'll eat again." They responded. "Unless you happen to know where I could kidnap weak witches nobody cares about?"
"Uh..there's a school nearby you could invade..maybe impersonate a teacher and feed on the students?" The demon recommended.
"Sure, and get caught almost instantly." They rolled their eyes. "Thanks for the effort." They sucked up magic from the creature, walking away as the growling in their stomach died down a tad. "Ugh, beast types. Hardly ever any magic in them. Bug types have more stored in them.
It had been nearly ten years since Their grand escape, and just like Ivan had predicted for them, everyday had just been about getting by on survival alone, not living. They were stuck living in the woods and barely avoiding starvation.
"Maybe he had a point … no, I wouldn't stand living in the same house as those bastards." The witches, those disgusting and ruthless creatures who care about nothing but the growth of their own kind.
But that didn't mean they had to be happy with where they were now in life. Sitting by the beach, living off of wild beasts and bugs while occasionally picking out that 'human' garbage that the trash slugs pulled out of their guts. It was gross, but it was the only thing that occupied their mind other than revenge.
Sure, they could always go on a revenge kick, but that would out Triton fast … and then he'd be failing Alpha … "Gah, I need a distraction." They moved over to the trash slug, searching through the disgusting corpse. Nothing of note. Trashcan lids, a couple of books about witches he threw back into the sea instantly, and what looked like some weird looking wand with two lining prongs at the end of it. "Nice, a treat." They rolled their eyes as they began to suck magic from it.
Pew
"Blegh, that's not my magic I've ever tasted before." Triton spat it out.
"Tell me about it. It tastes like a poor imitation aged a hundred years."
… They spent a few moments registering they were not alone, turning to see … themselves. "... What …"
"The …"
"FUCK!?"
They instantly got into attack position and readied themselves for another sucking. "I don't know what cruel game the world's playing on me, but I'm not falling for it!"
"Hey quick question… your a basilisk, right?" The copy asked… wow that was weird in relation to themselves.
"Yeah."
"So why are you trying to fight another basilisk?"
"Because … there shouldn't be another …" Triton paused. "The Emperor."
"He kept making more … fuck." The other grunted. "We can't let this stand. We need to cut this problem off at the source."
"No duh we do, but we can't. I'm not exactly a fighter."
"Neither am I, but there's something we got to do here." They groaned, looking at the wand. "Think that thing has enough magic to blow his face off?
"Maybe …" Triton looked it over. "Must be a way to shake it out or-" The moment they touched something, a beam of light shot out, as … another Basilisk formed from the glow.
"Gah!" The new one shouted. "Two … how, what is …"
"Hey …" Triton asked slowly. "Is your name … Three … Triton?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't it be?" The new copy asked. "It's the name.."
"Alpha gave you..me…us.." The second clone finished, looking at the wand. "The wand…. it duplicated me… us.."
"It made another basilisk…" Triton gazed at the object. 'The titan will provide.' "We … we can get it all back." They smiled. "We can live and take revenge at the same time … we can bring Basilisks back into the world!"
"A world just with us?" The third copy questioned.
"We technically have the parts to reproduce." … They both turned to the second one. "Like we really aren't desperate enough to revive a species?"
"True." They nodded. "And honestly, with myself… I could do way worse. I'm not that bad looking."
"Keep it in your metaphorical pants, we got plans to make." The third one announced. "The biggest threat out there is Belos. If we stand even an inkling of a chance, we need an isles worth of Basilisk to take him on, maybe two isles."
"Well … we do store memories." The original smirked. "Lets see how long it takes these morons to catch onto a subtle invasion."
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Rose held her hand over the boy's eyes. "Guess whoooo."
"My great grandma Patrica resurrected from the dead to finally whisper the long lost family recipe of the perfect lamb chow?"
"No, but I will say that it was quite delectable." She chuckled, taking her hand off and moving in front of him. "It's just me, Rose."
"Aww, I was really hoping for insight into life after death." Caleb pouted. "Can you imagine it, an entire world out there unexplored?"
"I have an inkling or two of an idea." She smirked. Rose had encountered and befriended many humans in the last five thousand years, and she could name about a dozen or so that she'd call special. Caleb Wittabane was definitely one of those people.
To think that this kind fellow was a witch hunter of all things. He was far too compassionate to them to ever be considered a legitimate threat to witch kind, much less a genocidal fool. She felt like it was more a persona he put on for his brother's sake than anything else.
"Ah, multiple worlds. What an oddity I must say." Rolling her eyes, she glanced upward at another voice filled with compassion, yet a hint of mischief. "Apparently the Titan connects all, but only one realm is known to us. How curious is this link."
"Oooh, ahhh, Evelyn, what-what brings you her this fine day?" Caleb practically tumbled over himself as the bushy haired witch practically tumbled over himself greeting her. If there was one witch that could use a pitchfork in the back on occasion, it was Evelyn.
"Just listening all around. They're getting an 'archbishop' to exorcize Rose after she threw a temper tantrum." She explained.
"Hey, they were trying to kill you guys. I was justified in my actions." Rose defended herself.
"You came into the most sacred ground we had, denied our religion as false and disgusting as you tore the church from the ground up." Caleb noted. "Honestly surprised you didn't kill the preacher."
"No, just mentally scarred him for life."Evelyn chuckled. "And they said crystal golems couldn't be foxy."
"First off, it's Crystal Gems." Rose groaned.
"That seems pretty redundant. Isn't a crystal just a gem?" Why did they feel the need to gang up on her today?
"Why are you even here, Evelyn? I've already broken you out of jail five times this week when you got drunk on apple blood."
"Going for a lucky streak. I have an entire income to keep after all."
Caleb looked surprised. "You have a job?"
"… Out of all the things I've told you about the Boiling Isles, that's what surprises you the most?" Evelyn asked with a curious look.
"I honestly thought you just stole everything." Ha.
"Why mister Wittabane, how dare you speak so lowly of mwuh?" The witch spoke in an over dramatic voice. "I only steal half of everything not nailed down. I happen to be quite the entrepreneur in potions. Like this." She presented a vial of red liquid to the man. "Drink this and you can experience your happiest childhood memories like you're actually reliving them."
"Incredible." Caleb gazed at it with sparkly eyes.
"You know, you could probably improve your kind's reputation if you just did this." Rose noted.
"Not all of us want to play peacekeeper between worlds, miss rose bud." Evelyn snickered. "Some of us are more happy to live freely in the moment, without putting the world on our shoulders."
"And yet you still haven't paid me back for the tears … or for bailing you out of jail … or for the multitude of gem products I 'let slip by'.
"Would it make you feel better if I told you I used that replicator wand to feed starving children?"
"Really?"
"I mean, I haven't, but the idea is there."
"Caleb, remind me why we hang out with her?" She turned to the boy.
"Because she's just so free spirited and enticing." Caleb said with an expression to Evelyn that many a man, woman, and Pearl gave to Rose, an expression that Caleb never seemed to have towards herself, no matter how obvious she tried to make it.
"Aww you charmer." The woman gave a fan to herself. "How about I show you something fascinating? What the world is like from the skies?"
"I'd be delighted." What was Rose missing here? What did the woman have that rose didn't?
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Point Three Hundred and Thirteen finally came out of the trance, watching … whatever the hell was in front of them. A twitching mess of pink. Tall, chubby, lots of hair, and a single horn, multiple compiled bodies mashed together. "Hehe." They chuckled. "Looks like I took down the Manticore Menace." And to think the memories portrayed him so tough.
They-he looked around seeing everyone… freaked out for some reason. "313..is that you?" 300-King asked with trepidation.
"Yeah, who else would it be?" They-he asked. "I was scared for a second, I think the gem magic caused a feedback. Luckily I came out on top." Was very dicey for a moment. "So, who's taking the nobodies over there?" He pointed to Amelia, Edric, and oooh, taking down Kiki-bitch was gonna be fun.
"Hsssh." The snake palisman-Sugar squirmed off the staff, slithering on the ground
"Weren't you supposed to keep a grip on the thing?" They-he asked.
"Hsssh!" The snake jumped on him, and bit him right in the head.
"Gah, you little." Three Thirteen pulled it off. "What was that for Sugar?"
"Hsssh!"
"Why would I need to remember who I am?" They had all their memories. From birth, to Alpha, to escaping, to cloning, to the seven years he took from ...
It was more than just seven years… it was his whole life… Lucci… took 313… Triton's memories.
Snap
"AAAAAGGHHH!!!!" They screamed, cracking the walls and cocoons around them, body shifting as green scales and pink fur mixed and mashed unnaturally. Their brain was killing them. Memories that should not mix colliding and clashing. He had a mother, they had a father, he was a witch, witches should be dead. "GAAAAHHHH!!!"
"Hssssh!" The snake hissed again; biting down deep in his head again.
" Agggggh!" He screamed again, the venom seeping deep into his brain as the Triton memories began to blur a little. He gripped at his flesh, taking deep and potent breaths as he-they-he tried to regain sanity. "They scream in my head, they scream in my head …"
" Hsssh!" You are not a basilisk, their pain is not your pain. You are Lucifer Clawthorne, son of the Owl Lady.
He was the son of a witch, the son of a witch, the son of a witch. "They….escaped." Chuckled a voice. "Ha …jokes on-"
Lucci simply walked forward, and grabbed Kikimora by the throat, choking the little bitch. "You…what you did to us-them.."
" Hsssssssssh!" You're not them! You're not them! You are Lucifer Clawthorne. You live in the owl house. Your best friend is a human. You're in love with Boscha Heirnoymous in spite of everyone saying it's a terrible terrible thing!
"I … they …" Their vision was blury with tears. "She hurt them … for so long there was nothing but pain …"
" Hsss." They're cry out of pain is hurting everyone you know. Whatever reason they have can't justify the hundreds they'll kill if they continue. Everyone you love will suffer if you let them continue.
Lucci looked down at his claws-hands. All that suffering, all that pain … he rubbed his scales-fur-skin, half expecting to keep feeling the scars. "How … how can …" How could anyone live through … no, Boscha was right. What happened inside of that prison killed these poor souls, and left nothing but corpses of self loathing and hate.
"Still…chocking…" Kikmora gasped, still in his grasp, having forgotten she was even there.
"Belive me, you deserve worse." Lucci groaned, throwing her off to the side. "I don't have time to hate you right now. I got family to save."
"You kinda … already did." Amelia weakly pointed to the cracked cocoons … along with the cave being demolished. "You….went…pretty crazy….with that….mind… thing… and… yeah… that was… freaky."
"Alright…" He shook off the headache he was feeling right now. He had a lot of healing to do.