Summary: Questions are asked with no answers.
"You wanted to see me?" Moon asked her son, sitting down with the Kelly girl, and next to them a mirror calling Star.
"Yeah, um, I think it's best if I show you." The boy pulled out …
"Where did you get that?" She asked the boy, holding a familiar object in his hands.
"Oh, it was a gi…I found it randomly tossed in the trash one day. The glass wasn't shattered, so I took it, after all, you don't waste a perfectly good mirror."
"Hmm …" She frowned. "Alright, so explain."
The boy held up the mirror. "Come on little guy, show me what we saw on the screen." What screen? The mirror glitched, changing itself to reveal a picture of some man and … Moon's breath caught in her throat.
"Quartz…what are you…" She felt herself choking on air, never wanting this conversation to come up ever. "What's with…why are you showing me an image of the Rose Guard?"
"Uh..well, Lion took me to see the realm of time a while ago, and Father Time showed me these giant tv screens that show off the history of the universe. When the scanning thing took a look at me though…this image appeared." She knew letting that creature hang around her son would come back to bite her eventually.
"Wait, why was Father Time off his wheel?" She diverted the conversation.
"Ah…he tripped and fell into some mud, and wanted to stay in the mud since he never felt anything else before in his life, kind of depressing in all honesty." The boy muttered. "Anyways, I didn't know why the thing would show me the Rose Guard when it scanned me…."
"Until I noticed she has the same Gem on her that Quartz does." Kelly spoke up. "I saw it during the … Blood Moon."
"Wait, the two of you went to the Blood Moon together?" The most intimate and romantic ball the underworld hosted?! Why was she suddenly getting hit with all these sudden turn of events?!
"Well yeah, dad picked out my tux and everything." … She was going to have words with River. "So I wanted to ask why I had the rock. I might be their kid!"
"Come on mom, you've gotta tell us!" Star shouted from the mirror. "It's literally his favorite hero of all time! If she really is his mom, that can only make things better! We can actually be better than her and Skywynne during their time!"
The enthusiasm was a slight comfort…but she decided a long time ago it was better that Quartz lived without that burden of legacy laying on him. "Quartz, the truth is that the Rose Guard disappeared years ago and no one has seen any trace of her for decades. And your pa…birth parents…" She felt a hint of guilt lay in her heart. "Whoever they were, they were short sided fools who couldn't understand the gift that you truly are."
"But..if there's a chance that she's my mom…"
"I'm your mother, Quartz!" She interrupted him, shouting more passionately than she meant to, kneeling down and grabbing him by the arms. "That's how it's been for thirteen years, and that's how it'll be for decades afterwards."
"But I just want to know!" He shouted. "I want to figure out why they decided to leave me in a stream!"
"That is enough!" She shouted, grabbing the mirror. "I will not hear any more of this, and Lion will be taken back by Hekapoo!"
"Mom..!" Both of her children yelled at the same time.
"Star, I suggest you go back to your magical studies before I reconsider Saint Olga's." Star flinched back in fear. "And Quartz, until further notice, you are to head to your room and stay there. I suggest you say goodbye to your friend. You won't be seeing her for a while."
"... Fine." The boy growled, stomping away to his room, slamming the great doors shut.
But sadly he forgot that the girl was still in this room, sitting there awkwardly. "Sooo…this didn't go at all the way we thought it would." The girl named Kelly just kicked her feet in the air before standing. "...Well, it was…an experience..meeting you for the first time…your highness." Moon gave a polite nod in return.
This would be for the best anyways in the end, for both her son and her daughter. There was no need to dig up the past and reopen those wounds.
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Tad felt the need for anger and violence against Quartz, still never forgiving him after the Blood Moon Ball. "THAT!" But for now he was going to let it go. "WAS!" Because the boy was venting pretty hard. "HORRIBLE!" By punching through solid concrete.
"Hey, hey, hey! Watch the walls!" Star tried to get her brother to reel back all the punching. "My magic's strong, but my room is hanging onto the Diaz house by a thread."
"So exploding bubbles was the safer option in monster fighting." Marco noted. "Who knew?" They did. He and Kelly have seen the boy in a 'crisis mode' once and lift a full on boat off of Kelly's legs. He was grateful to him that day, until he had the full context he had now.
"Yeah, yeah, my brother's really strong, now back to the main topic!" Star called everyone's attention to herself. "Alright, we've officially entered conspiracy mode. Mom has a secret and she refuses to tell. Got to imagine Dad's going to be the same way if we confront him about it."
"Well we have one lead, Mr Universe." Kelly looked at the CD. "We need to start interrogating everyone we know about him."
"Actually, I can just look him up on the internet." Marco deadpanned, pulling out their phone. "Hold on, update." They waited. "... Still going …" They waited more. "Still going." And even more. "... Still going …"
"MARCO!" Quartz yelled, actually making the room shake a little.
"Give it a sec….there…wow, that's barely enough to fill a wiki page." Marco said dejectedly.
"Well I'll take anything!" Quartz shouted. "We need a lead!"
"Right right. Okay, so Mr Universe, real name … Greg Universe?"
"That's legally his name? I thought it was just a brand." Quartz raised an eyebrow.
"Wait, your name is Quartz Universe Butterfly!" Star shouted. "The conspiracy already reveals so much!"
"Or it could just be the mother of all coincidences." Kelly mentioned. "Either way, it doesn't look like you'll have to change your name by much, probably just have to switch Butterfly and Universe around."
"Okay, so it started off small a couple of years back, and then came back with his depression stage, 'experiencing nothing but loss'. He had one concert in Beach Creek when he was still going with the space theme, and just dropped off for a bit. He's now a moderately successful indie artist…and he still lives in town!?"
"What!?" Everyone in the room shrieked at the same time.
"Yeah…though it doesn't give an address, he has been seen riding around a van from time to time, only going out during gigs out of town."
"Does it say anything on the van? Anything at all we can use?" Quartz asked, very invested in the moment. This would probably be the only moment for the rest of his life he wouldn't hate this guy. Even horrible people shouldn't have to deal with terrible parents.
"Okay, information's getting thin…ooh! Here's something, it says that he actually owns the town carwash right by the Boardwalk."
"A carwash? That's sort of a step down from being a rockstar." Tad commented, and Kelly pounded on his head for it. "What, just saying."
"It doesn't matter what job he has, we might actually be able to go directly to the source and finally get some answers!" Quartz jumped high in the air. "Oh, there's so many questions I have! Like do I get my love of space and music from him? Did the Rose Guard play any music? Am I going to get just as tall as her someday?"
"How tall was she?" Kelly asked.
"I think my mom went to her waistline." Star said. That sounded like a pretty big Mama. "Wait, just imagine it, we might actually get to meet her too if we find your dad!"
"I DIDN'T EVEN THINK OF THAT!" Quartz shouted giddily. "Oh man, everything is just getting more important and exciting at the same time! I have to get ready! Shower, maybe prepare a gift or something, oh I can't wait for this!" Neither could Tad, because the more focused he was on his parents, the less Quartz could pay attention to Kelly.
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"So, he turns into a full grown pink and spiked lizard that webs me up with soda and chips. And apparently the entire cheerleading squad too." Jana recalled probably the most intense and exciting event that happened in her life in recent memory.
"Sounds like you had a fun time. Really kinky sounding." The short but older purple girl snorted. Amethyst could disappear for days, even weeks at a time, so it sometimes took a while for the two of them to catch up.
"I know right." She smirked. "I'm surprised you never pulled that kinda stuff with anyone else, you're a shapeshifter after all."
"Who says I haven't? Tried it once or twice with one or two people. Didn't really pan out how I wanted it." Amethyst shrugged in a way that Jana could tell was trying to hide something that was clearly bothering her.
"So, what's your wacky drama been like?" Jana asked. "Crazy monster fights?"
"Trust me girl, you don't want to know half the drama that's been going around the temple lately." Amethyst rolled her eyes with a tired tone. "Ever since the red eye blew up, Saphire's been going on this crazy theory that Steven's alive, and somewhere close."
She recalled the name Sapphire before, it was a name Amethyst spoke often, mainly to voice annoyance about her being a bum too scared to do anything, but she couldn't recall anything about Steven. "Steven, who's that?"
"Oh…I haven't told you about Rose's kid, have I?" Rose? Why did that name suddenly ring in her head more than it should've? "She was the leader once. She was strong, smart, cool, and best of all … she had this fountain of kindness … way beyond anyone else."
She saw the look of nostalgia on Amethyst's face, this was clearly something personal she was sharing. "Were you two close?"
"Yeah, she was the first person that showed any kindness to me ever…the first person to talk to me…basically whenever I did something for the first time, she was there for me." Amethyst laughed hollowly. "She never asked for anything back…except for one thing. She was going to have this kid. I betted it would've been a Steven if they were a boy, and Pearl swore it would be a girl named Nora. Garnet refused to use future vision just to keep it a surprise." Their laughter became significantly darker.
"We were suppose to watch them as they grew..but there was something wrong with the warp pad when she was giving birth…and the last thing we saw was her face of terror as she disapeared."
"So she … vanished off the face of the earth giving birth to who knows what?" This was both confusing and depressing…conpressing if you will.
"Yep, and we searched high and low on every earth warp there was." The girl sighed. "Garnet hasn't fused since, Ruby running off and punching every enemy, Sapphire desperately looking for hope in the future. Pearl tries to be the leader, taking charge and commanding. It's beating her up on the inside, I can see it."
"Dang…I know it doesn't mean much…but I'm sorry." Jana wasn't known for being sincere on most days, but that didn't mean she was devoid of sympathy when it mattered.
"It's fine. It was years ago, and I've just been trying to do my best to move on. I'm always going to be sad about it, but I can't let it drag me down everytime I do something." Amethyst threw a light punch into her arms. "If I did, I wouldn't have so much fun getting into trouble with the baddest girl in Beach Creek."
"Glad to run wild with you too." She smirked. "Want to set a bar on fire?"
"Like you even have to ask." Amethyst already had a bottle and a lighter, before some ominous screeching echoed in the distance. "Ugh, I thought we poofed that thing ages ago!"
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Star walked as Quartz ranted. "Do you think it was a broken marriage? Was she off fighting monsters even if she was pregnant? Will my hair turn pink one day?" It was a miracle he remembered how to breathe with as much talking he's been doing all day. "Oh, do you think she had exploding bubbles too? Did she do that the entire time and no one noticed? What if they were invisible explosions!?"
"He's certainly been lively about this." Kelly mentioned with an amused grin.
"It's his family, I can't blame the guy." Marco shrugged. "I can't imagine my family being fake." Yeah, those guys were lovely.
"It's not like I don't think Mom…Queen Mom and King Dad aren't family, it's just..I realized that there's more that I have that I don't." Quartz looked at his hands. "I tried not thinking about it before, because I didn't think there was anything to find, but now that I do know there's something, I'm grabbing on and never letting go of it!"
"I'm glad." Star smiled. "For once, Quartz is embracing his inner anarchy." He would've never actively sneak out from under Mom's nose like this before. Doing it while she's unaware was one thing, but doing it while he was grounded? She almost teared up at seeing that rebellious seed finally blooming.
"Well you've been embracing pacifism, maybe I should try and …" The boy stopped. "I see it, right down the street!" He screamed, breaking into a sprint.
"Wait up Quartz, don't leave us behind!" She rushed right behind him. It felt like earth was really becoming the greatest place in the universe. Her life was great before with Quartz by her side, but coming here has only made it that much better! She hoped her brother would be able to feel the exact same way now.
The ran up and saw…a mostly dilapidated looking building covered in holes and most of the front logo having fallen to the ground. "...Maybe he just hasn't cleaned up in a while." Kelly tried to excuse the sorry looking heap of a building in front of them.
There was a whistling, they all turned their heads as Mayor Dewey walked up to the front of the place, stamping a 'sold' sign on the lawn, before walking away. "Hey, wait, sir, could you tell us about the owner of this place?"
"Oh yeah, said he couldn't take the memories of the town anymore, so he sold the place." He grinned. "Apparently he's gonna go on a 'soul journey' for the next three years."
"Three years!?" Quartz shouted.
"Yeah, I mean, on one hand, the town loses one of its better draw-ins, but on the other hand, the tourist won't leave the town crying their eyes out after one of his shows. And on the plus side, we can have a functioning car wash again, mine hasn't had one in years." The man walked off after that. "Show your appreciation with your future votes for Mayor Dewey!"
"…" Quartz looked like he had the small flame of rebellion die out and leave a shell. "… Let's go home … I just want to spend my last free day with friends."
"Quartz…no, we've come this far…"
"And look where that got us!" He yelled back. "My magic still blows things up, I wake up sometimes, scared to dance with or even touch other people, and I yelled at mom and snuck behind her back!" Her brother was sobbing. "Now Lion is locked up and we're not allowed to unofficially meet as often."
"..No. Screw what mom says." She put her foot down. "We have the chance to actually get answers for something you deserve to know, and she gets mad at YOU for being curious? No, I'm not going to let us give up that easily!"
"Yeah, your mom wants to lock you up like some kind of prisoner and keep you away from people that care about you?" Kelly corralled around Quartz next. "That's some big BS if I ever saw it. I say we stay on earth, and don't leave until we finally get what we came for!"
"Besides, Greg Universe is just one lead we have." Marco was chiming in now. "There's probably a dozen or so we haven't even found yet!"
"You know what I'm gonna do!?" Star shouted, her wand glowing. "I'm gonna find the fucking can Greg Universe is in and drag it all the way back to this stupidly named city, even if I have to rip him out of his metal barrier with my bare hands!" She shot a beam of energy into the sky. "And anyone who gets in my way will face warnicorns and laser puppies!!"
" GGGGAAARRRRGGGGGH!" Star narrowly avoided a splash of green liquid heading her way. It hit the remains of the Car Wash and dissolved into a gooey puddle.
"I see my first victim approaches." She growled at the monster, cocking her wand. "Get ready, guys, this is going to get bloody."
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"Of all the times, Amethyst, to leave your post, you chose now." Pearl grumbled as she summoned her spear, slicing her way through the centipeetle minions. All of them poofed without leaving behind the gem, so the mother was still around, producing them from somewhere. "I feel like I work twice as hard now than previously before."
"Oh really!? Imagine how I feel!" Ruby rushed in beside her, her gauntlet out and slamming more minions into the sand with a poof. "I'm working with one weapon here, and I'm three times smaller than I'm used to being! And Sapphire won't join because she wants to look for Rose's kid! Well they're not around, are they!!?"
"This isn't the time or place to bring up little Nora. Right now, the main goal is to poof the Centipeetle before it reaches the town and causes mass havoc!" She tried to command as firmly as possible, even if it felt wrong on a few levels. Giving advice on strategy was one thing, trying to affirm said ideas to a team was another.
"Right right. Head in the game Ruby, head in the game." They grumbled to themselves. "Go down already you giant walking bug!" The little gem's fist started to ignite on fire. "Burn to ash, you deceased and filthy parasites!" Pearl would choose to believe that the heat of the battle was making Ruby forget that these were corrupted gems that couldn't think for themselves anymore.
"Heyo! Hope you all didn't start the party without me!" Amethyst rolled in, late as usual, bowling down more centipeetles as they pushed on forward.
"Amethyst, what were you doing this time?" Pearl asked as she pierced another through the head.
"Nothing that's any of your business, P. Just hanging out with my friends, because I actually choose to have some instead of being weird shut-ins all the time."
"You were hanging around with that girl again, weren't you?" Pearl guessed. "I can't tell who's a bigger worse influence between the two of you."
"I like to think it's a fun little tie." The gem smirked as she whipped the monster. "But according to her there's these crazy-"
Of all the things Pearl expected to see, the monster being pelted by shuriken strawberries was not one of them. "Die a horrible death you beast!" A blond girl screamed, shooting beams of energy at the corrupted gem.
"...So humans weren't capable of doing stuff like that, right?" Ruby asked as she offhandedly punched away another minion. "I know it's been a while since we've seen Greg, but he couldn't do stuff like this, right?"
"No, he couldn't." She dearly hoped that was the case. "Maybe it's a strange mutan-" Now came in a walking bush with-"ROSE'S SWORD!?"
"What!?" Her two companions looked like they were choking on the air, turning to the bush, though from the look of it the figure did resemble a girl, indeed swinging Rose's trusted sabar to chop away debris that were flung her way.
Okay, priorities. Poof and bubble the corrupted gem, rip the sword from the bush, then interigate/murder them. Yes, that should do nicely.
"Yeah, I'm not kicking that." They turned to see a boy with red clothing standing there. "Wait, Amethyst?"
"Who are…oh right, you're that Marco guy that Jana's sometimes talks about. I'm half certain she had a crush on you a year or two ago." Amethyst commented.
"What?!"
"Don't worry, I'm pretty sure she found somebody else to fill that role." Amethyst was way too comfortable chatting with the civilian populace. "So when did you start kicking monster butt?"
"Got dragged into it by Star. Then it's kinda been a revolving door on who joins, mostly Kelly, Tad, and Quartz."
"Did you just say Quartz?" Pearl asked with a hint of desperation.
"Yeah, Star's brother. He's right over there." The red clothed human turned to the presumably other human boy in armor, curly blackish brown, and throwing pink orbs at the centipeetle that seemed to explode on contact.
"You know, I'd usually say I'm not in the mood to fight, but nothing's been going right for me lately, so I'm all for it!" The boy, 'Quartz' shouted to the blonde, summoning pink lit barriers that looked… familiar.
"Huh…that kid." Amethyst narrowed her eyes. "He kind of looks like Greg when he first met Rose." Yes..there was a certain resemblance…but that couldn't be right…could it? Most humans looked the same anyways.
"Wait, are you guys talking about Greg Universe and the Rose Guard?" The red hooded human asked them. "Because we've been trying to get answers all day, and Star's about to snap."
"Rose Guard..Rose Guard…that title hasn't been used in years! Not since…" Pearl's mind began shaping a picture…one that she wasn't particularly fond of. "No, she left Mewni behind…but the warp..but that's not…"
"Wait, you know about Mewni!?" The boy shouted. "Then you've gotta know the truth right? Quartz has been looking for his birth family all day." … His birth family … "Are you okay?" He was … Steven.