Summary: Relationships ... they suck
Lars came inside for his shift, watching as Marco chatted it up with Sadie. Shoving whatever weird feelings that gave him deep down, he went on. "Hey Sadie." He greeted as half heartedly as always, as he went to grab his uniform.
"Hey Lars, you came in on time for once. You actually surprised me." Sadie responded, getting her and Marco to laugh.
"Mom wanted to talk about a recent grade, so I slipped out of the window." He shrugged. "What's going on with you two?"
"I'm asking Sadie for advice." Marco grinned. "Today is the day, no excuses whatsoever, I ask Jackie Lyn Tomas out!"
"Cool …" The girl nodded half heartedly. Why did this both excite and anger him at the same time.
"Sorry, I know it's awkward and stuff but you're the only human I know other than Jana I can go to for dating advice from a girl's perspective."
"What about Jenny?" Lars asked.
"She hangs around Jackie alot, and the moment I go to her, she'll spill the beans to her and everyone in the school, and I'd rather avoid that dumpster fire while I still can." Marco said, scratching his neck. "The last thing I need for her to blabber out is what I do to the pillow shaped like Jackie.." Marco slapped his mouth.
"Wait, what was that!?" Lars grinned, moving in closer.
"Absolutely nothing!" The boy said, pulling his shirt back as he scratched his neck harder. "Especially not like the time I wet the bed in the fourth grade."
"Hhahahaahaaa, wow, I knew you were pathetic, but I didn't think it went that far!"
"Lars, this is serious!" Sadie scolded. "I think something is wrong."
"Nothing is wrong-" Marco screamed, gripping the table hard enough to crack it before convulsing on the floor … as a second and smaller head popped out of his neck.
"Except for the fear he'll mess up talking with the girl of his dreams." It spoke.
"AAAAGGGGGH!!!" He and Sadie hugged each other for dear life at the disturbing image before them.
"What the hell are you!?" Marco screamed at the abomination growing out of his neck.
"Nobody too important. Just make sure you greet the day as honestly as possible, so you don't have to worry about people knowing you cover the mirror in the shower so you feel less insecure about your body."
"I would be recording this if I wasn't so disturbed." Lars spoke honestly.
"Of course you would, because Marco only feels slightly better about his self image because he knows how ashamed you are of actually taking risk, and is still waiting on the day you actually suck it up and make an Ube Roll."
"Why you little-" All of the fear left Lars and was replaced by rage.
"I'm gonna go before this thing keeps blabbing!" Marco shouted, running out.
"He's completely afraid right now of being sweaty around the only girl that's expressed an actual interest in him because he's still confused about who he likes and feels guilty about choosing!" The little abomination yelled out one last time to the two of them.
"..." Lars just sighed before walking to the back. "I'll grab the stock, don't worry about it." He told Sadie.
"Yeah…thanks." Nice going, Diaz. You become a freak of nature and bummed out the only friend Lars had. Why couldn't he keep the freakiness all to himself.
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"Parry, Parry, Thrust!" Kelly moved with the gem, trying to keep up with their technique. "Backwards, counter, downward strike."
"Downward strike!" She brought the sword down on Pearl's spear, only for the Gem to block it and knock it out of her hands.
"Your form has improved, but you're putting too much of your power into your strikes." Pearl sighed as she picked Rose's sword up. "I know it's tempting to do such, especially with a blunt blade, but precision in your blows is key, as well as speed."
"Understood." She needed to be calm, stable, and strike when needed. That would help Stelly in the long run.
A beam of light came forth as Garnet walked out. "Oh, Garnet!" Pearl walked up to the gem. "I used human technology and set up sensors on multiple sites. It'll be easier to track Peridot now!"
"Mmm." The fusion just nodded before walking off.
"That was two more seconds worth of acknowledgement from her than I got last week, I think we've finally begun to bury the hatchet!" Pearl said with a level of enthusiasm that did not fit her personality at all.
"... This is still awkward as heck, right?" She whispered to Steven.
"Without a doubt. You don't want to see just how messy it was when we were in Keystone." Steven shirvered, and she felt inclined to agree. The only good that came from the Sardonyx ordeal was Kelly realizing she was probably missing a step or two when it came to the whole fusion thing.
"Let's get back to it." Pearl walked to them. "Why don't we try adding Tad to the mix this time? I'll slow down my speed so you can try to coordinate your attacks."
"Yeah…Tad's not really a fighter. The most you can expect him to do is shoot a gun while covering my back." Kelly explained with a slightly sheepish laugh.
"Also he points out stuff we really tend to miss a lot." Steven said. "Like seriously, how do we not notice a single door within a small dungeon?"
"My time being at peace with the world around me gives me more cognitive awareness." That was her boyfriend's fancy way of saying 'I'm smarter than you all'. "Come on, Babe, we can totally whip this rock's butt no problem."
"Suddenly I regret remembering your existence." Pearl groaned before getting ready. "Alright…begin!" Kelly charged forwards with a strike as usual while Pearl aimed for the hair…and knocked Tad out if before anyone had the chance to blink. "Just how often does he sit in your hair?"
"He lives in it." She answered, using the confusion to strike Pearl's weapon. "Haha, checkmate!"
"Hm..impressive, but you're still leaving yourself wide open!" Pearl did a leg sweep and knocked Kelly on her butt before pointing her spear at her again. "I can see why you often partner with Steven in most fights, his defensive style compliments your offensive one."
"Shield and sword." Steven agreed.
"But if you just rely on one for the other instead of being capable of relying on it yourself, you'll forever be unbalanced."
"Yeah…but I don't need to fight alone, right?" Kelly turned to the boy in question. "We're a team, heck you've been a part of a team for thousands of years, there's always someone by your side."
"Be that as that may, I can tell hundreds of stories where that mindset has led to self destruction." Pearl groaned sadly. "As you've no doubt remembered my blunder, I..I let my own desires of self worth hinder the team, because I couldn't be confident that I had worth in my own strength."
"Hey, it's fine Pearl, everyone makes mistakes." Steven waved her off. "Nobody can stay mad forever after all."
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAAA." Pearl let out an uncharacteristic laugh that just sent shivers down everyone's back. "..Oh, I thought that was an attempt at humor. I've seen grudges last for centuries, but it's nice to see you're still optimistic."
"Glad I can-" The boy got a call. "Hang on, hello?" He frowned at what he heard. "Put him on a group call, we have to talk this out." He looked at them. "I've gotta take this."
Kelly watched him head out. "So … just learn to be independent?"
"It sounds easy, but I come from a culture that fundamentally believes gems like me have no purpose outside of who we are assigned to assist and serve for eternity." Pearl explained. "To accomplish that independence, you have to first establish what you want to fight for, what you wish to achieve."
Well … she wanted to fight for fun, and friends. Those were pretty much the only things that mattered these days. Well that and the ships of doom they needed to destroy.
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Tom was playing with his pet bunny. Sure, at first it was just for therapy, but it's grown on him. A living being he could pet to calm down and vent his frustrations too. "Who's a good bunny? Yes you are fluffles, yes you are."
It ate the treats as he got a call on his mirror, lazily answering it. "WHAT DID YOU DO!?"Marco shouted loudly at him, Steven on a separate screen, both glaring at him.
"... Could've started with a 'hey, nice to see you', you know." Tom deadpanned.
"I'm not going to say that especially after what you just did!" Marco continued to scream.
"Tom, this is really coming at a bad time! I'm barely just starting to fix things with Kelly, and I don't have time to deal with another one of your schemes!"
"Look, I have no clue what you two are talking about. I stopped all my evil plans … well, the ones that include you two anyway." He had this one idea involving a mind reading maraca.
"I'm talking about the talking wart that just grew out of my neck!"
"Poor Marco, obsessed over the one chance he has of finally receiving love, only to remember it's two chances." The neck demon …
"Oh right!" Tom remembered. "I put that on him the night after the Blood Moon and forgot about …" Tom paused. "It took you THIS long to ask a girl out?"
"Don't make fun of him, you put a curse on my friend and DIDN'T REMOVE IT!?! I thought you changed!"
"I did!" Tom shouted. "Look, it's a harmless curse. It doesn't hurt the victim at all, mentaly or physically. It just latches onto them and spurts out insecurities around the girl they want to confess to … when you open a bottle slightly to pour water in, it just tears the whole thing off."
"You mean I have to deal with this abomination every time I just so much as take a look at Jackie!"
"Relax, the moment you let out every insecurity you have, it disappears in a poof of smoke." Tom explained. "You can't have that many, right?"
" Tom, you're talking about the guy that wears a bike helmet in the shower." Steven groaned.
"..." Tom cracked his neck. "There's no way to get rid of it, but we can soften the blow as much as possible. Will that help?"
"It better, or one way or another, I'm going to get Steven's lion to gnaw on your neck before tossing you into the deepest parts of Earth's ocean where you'll be crushed to death by a crazed giant water manipulating alien hellbent on nothing but the death of everything around them." So cousin sheral but wet.
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Pearl was regretting this day. Her body was straining to stop the machine she led Garnet into, because she was hyper focused on trying to make up for hurting Garnet in the first place.
It seemed like there was a chance at redemption when her alert system actually managed to pick up a reading, leading the team to one of the old abandoned gem warships, where it would provide the perfect opportunity she needed.
Unfortunately, the universe wasn't so kind to her today, starting with Steven and Marco not joining them on the mission due to an issue involving human relationships. It was by the insistence of Star and the word of Garnet that she didn't drag them back here.
That just left said gem who's barely talked to her in weeks, Amethyst, who only made passing jabs and pitiful looks, an unfocused Mewman princess, and a Woolet she had mixed feelings about at best.
Not to mention Peridot had this place rigged to high hell, making it difficult to navigate and move without setting off a dividing wall, death trap, or just giant boulders … a surprising amount of them.
"Hah! You Crystal Clods are so gullible! As if I would actually try to make this archaic vessel fly again! You fell for the oldest trick in the data drive!" Peridot's image kept mocking them from the monitor screens.
"Peridot!" She shouted with rage, straining herself as she tried to use her spear and hands to slow down the trap in any way she could. "As soon as we're out of here, i'll get you!"
"Pearl, calm down!" Garnet shouted. "You've been endangering everyone with this drive you have."
"Yeah, you need to..Ah!" Kelly was doing her best to dodge and avoid the lasers aimed at them. "Cool your jets for a second! This isn't worth losing hair over!"
"But I need to stop her!" Pearl shouted. "It's my fault, I need to make up for it!"
"It's your fault we spent three days straight watching a needless stage performance instead of finding Peridot? Yes, yea it is." Star fired off crystallized cupcakes at the blasters. "But ya gotta let the guilt go! I almost broke the universe twice and my conscience is clear as day!"
"So much melodrama, is this what living on this rock does to gems?" Peridot asked. "The red hooded one must use those mental tricks on you all a lot, no wonder it was so easy to trick you."
"He tries, and it's the one thing that annoys me about him!" Star fired off a narwhal at another laser. "What's the point of running, you crazed lime flavored corn chip? You can't get off the planet and no one is coming for you!"
"As long as I can turn you all to dust, I can be satisfied with how I go about my business." The green gem said smugly. "And since your Mewman, I know for a fact a way off this miserable rock still exists! You should've run back while you could've, because in a few earth lunar cycles, there's not even going to be an earth to stand on!"
"Wait, what does that mean!?" Pearl demanded
"I'm not telling you, clods!" Peridot snorted as she pressed down on a lever. "Consider your early demise as a gracious gift from the wonderful Peridot!" The floor opened up and slid them down below, Amethyst using her whip to catch Star, but the rest of them fell into the metal pit.
"Kelly, guys, hold on, just give me…!" Amethyst tried to call out to them, but the floor closed back up."
"Crystal heart attack!" Star could heard firing from the other side, only for the dent of metal being hit being heard. " At this rate, I'm going to start hating tech on principle.
"Agggh! Peridot!" Garnet began hitting her gauntlet against the walls, not even so much as making a dent.
"I'm sorry, this is all my fault!" Pearl held her head down. "I just wanted to make things go back to the way they were."
"Catching Peridot won't change a thing." Garnet replied stoically
"This entire thing started because I abused the fact she was out, I need to put her into a bubble." It was that simple.
"That still doesn't mean I'll trust you again." Garnet spoke the words that struck at Pearl's metaphorical heart.
"Hey, isn't that going a bit too far?" Kelly, oddly, came to her defense. "You guys are a team, you fight and then you make up, like normal people do all the time."
"Pearl abused fusion. My entire life has been based on it, on love between people and the bonds they share, and she abused that trust!" Garnet struggled against the walls, which were starting to close in on them.
"Then tell me what I need to do!" Pearl let her scream at the fusion, the tears falling down her eyes fast like a rushing tide. "Tell me what to do and I'll make it right!"
"There's nothing I can do, you have to make it right on your own!" Garnet yelled back. "I trusted you, to take care of the team when I was gone, and you stabbed me right in the back! Why!?!"
"Because it hurt!" Pearl admitted. "With you gone I had to make the commands. It hurt, I'm no good at taking charge, I've been straining myself for a decade and Sardonyx, for the first time in a long while, gave me the confidence to lead again. You were gone, Rose was gone … I didn't have to be Pearl, I could process myself for the first time in a long while.." Pearl sighed. "You're the perfect relationship…I just wanted to be a part of that.."
"I'm not perfect. I came undone over this. Ruby and Sapphire were yelling at each other, and they only hurt Steven without any regard for what he was feeling." Garnet let out a long sigh. "Sometimes I wish I was you, because despite all that happened, you continued to stand even when there was no one by your side." She then looked at Kelly. "I know what I have seems amazing, but it wasn't until a hundred years past that I only began to understand what I am. It's no excuse or shortcut or escapism from life. It's a way of life that affects all parties with every step you take."
"I'm sorry." Pearl could feel her tears. "I just … it was hard without you … without her … without anyone."
"You're your own gem, Pearl. You don't belong to me, to Rose, to Steven, to nobody but yourself." Garnet looked at her right in the eyes, taking off her visor. "It's a choice to be strong, to be strong enough to push past weaknesses. Just like how you pushed yourself and beat Sugilite. That's the Pearl's strength I admire."
"Yeah..you still kick my butt every time we train." Kelly put her hand on Pearl's shoulder. "I want to be as strong as that so Stelly can be even better and more in control like you are."
"You don't need fusion to be awesome!" Star shouted. "And besides Garnet, fusion is overrated!"
"... I still resent that." Garnet spoke calmly.
"Well stop showing me bad examples and get your crap together for once!"
"She does have a small point there." Pearl found herself laughing among the tears. "Maybe I should've kept those child care books Greg bought for us."
"We really don't understand the first thing about humans, do we?" Garnet chuckled a bit. Yeah…maybe being raised on Mewni was the best choice. "There's only one option out of this before we're crushed."
Pearl and Garnet's bodies were practically mushed together, Kelly being squeezed right behind her back. "Only if you're okay with it."
"Yeah, because it's not like what I say affects the matter at all." She could feel Kelly's eye roll.
"One more couldn't hurt …" And for the last time for a long while .. Sardonyx took the stage.
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"Thanks for the donuts Steven." Star said, taking a bite of her pink sparkle blast.
"No problem, we needed some way to celebrate Marco getting a girlfriend."
"All thanks to me!" The odd addition of Tom in the mix had Star suspicious, but her brother and Marco weren't kicking him out.
"You mean you were just lucky Jackie didn't care about it." Marco smirked. "Just remember to add some fire salt and we'll call it even."
"This is why we're still on frenemy status." Tom sighed as he poured some of the red vile on his donut. "So Starship.." Steven sent an elbow into his chest. "…everything went fine on your alien hunting thing?"
"Well for once I took the brunt of fusion Drama instead of Steven, and all we got from Peridot was her leg." She lifted a green metallic limb.
"I thought gems went poof when you hit them?" Steven asked.
"Maybe her form wraps around a machine or something." Kelly shrugged while biting into her donut. "A cyborg space rock, why does something that sounds so cool so annoying in real life?"
"Because Homeworld ruins everything." Star deadpanned. "But at least we have earth to make it better." Star sipped a smoothie. "Or however long it takes for it to end." Peridot saying it was doomed was kind of a red flag. "I'm still confused as heck why they keep mentioning Mewni."
"As long as no one but the Crystal Gems travel between dimensions, I think we should be good." Steven shrugged as Garnet and the rest of the gems were just talking to themselves on the side, whispery and all secret like. "Are you guys ok?"
"Just trying to understand this object." Pearl looked at the leg. "It makes no sense for a gem to be that reliant on tech, even if they were a Peridot."
"I guess we can just interigate her or something." Marco ate his donut. "So have you guys cleared out all the bad blood?"
"Something like that." Pearl nodded, rubbing the back of her arms a bit weirdly. "There's no point in dwelling on the past. I need to get over myself and move on." First sensible thing the gem's said in a LONG time.
"Good, because aside from the obvious.." Garnet pointed to herself. "None of us are going to be fusing for a while. It's not a healthy place to go to if we don't need to."
"Yeah, it gets complicated if you're not doing it right." Kelly sighed, giving her brother a look. "We'll just find different ways to get stronger, right?"
"To get stronger in the real way." Steven held out his donut and bumped it with Kelly's like he was giving a toast.
"In the real way…yeah." Kelly awkwardly but surely returned the gesture with a small smile.
"About time, I'm pretty sure I'm fusioned out." Star sighed, hoping maybe, just MAYBE this would stop Kelly from being a desperate emotional parasite, and her brother from getting comfortable with said emotional parasite.
"So I'm gonna head out, have a date with Jackie tonite." Right … that was a thing.
"Good luck Marco." She waved off, ignoring the tapping of her own feet. "Just know we're always here if something happens, and you should call us if something does happen, like Ludo showing up, or if you need an extra tie or something."
"Don't worry, I know exactly who to call if things get hectic." Marco laughed, getting up. "Fare thee well, friends, for Marco Diaz finally has a girl!"
"What a dork." Tom laughed as Kelly snickered. "I don't know why I was ever worried about him getting in the way."
"Because you have overactive homicidal tendencies?" Star rhetorically asked.
"Hey, for a demon, I'm considered tame by the rest of my family." Tom defended back.
"Red flag." Tad deadpanned.
"Why you little-" Tom cut himself off, taking deep breaths. "Relaxing ocean … waves breaking tension …"
"Wow…therapy actually works on demons, who knew?" Star asked.
"It is naturally evil, so it probably just balances him out or something like that." Steven said.
"True that." Star then looked at Garnet, noticing a scaled patch on her neck. "Going for a new look?" She asked the gem.
"What?" Garnet, despite the monotone, actually sounded legitimately surprised. "Yes." She responded quickly the moment she touched the scale, the other two gems looking with wide eyes. "I better head out soon, your mom has concerns about the Commision." Great, even more problems to deal with.