onyx: Tales From The Citidal

Chapter 21 - sometimes family isn't a thing you can change.

After the party onyx just had to find one more thing before heading back. "so why did you drag me along for this. how am I supposed to know what to get her?" Olivia asked. "you know a lot about gemstones, I need to authenticate if one of these necklaces are a true aquamarine." Onyx responded as they entered the jewels shop. "all right, let's take a look at these." Olivia responded looking at the gems stone. "and that isn't even a real diamond, it's a cubic zirconia." "well, that name makes more sense now." Onyx said remembering her brother's bootleg was called cubic zirconia. "and that's a spinel." Olivia continued. "just tell me when something's an aquamarine." Onyx responded.

"this one looks to be one. Although it's kina expensive for an aquamarine." "take it or leave it." the cashier responded, "I'll take it." onyx responded putting her card on the table. "this is going to the last of my money. At least it'll be worth it." onyx responded, "you got it." Olivia asked as onyx pulled out the necklace. It was an aquamarine necklace in the shape of a tear drop. "I should head back, mom's expecting me." She said speeding off. "did you find what you were looking for?" pearl asked. "I got it." pearl said showing off the necklace. "she'll love it, but she's in the middle of something. You'll need to ask her about it." pearl explained. Onyx sped off to aqua's room where she saw her mom on the phone.

"what's wrong mom?" onyx asked. "it's my mom. She's dying, but she refuses to stay in a hospital." onyx froze and started stuttering from the shock of the statement. "I'm... so sorry." Onyx responded. "she wasn't a good person and I don't want to tell sapphire or ruby. I know that sapphire hated her but how would she react, would she be happy, sad, angry. I don't know and it scares me." Aqua admitted. Onyx looked in her pocket where she continued to feel the necklace. "you need to tell them, I know you ruby and aunt sapphire didn't have the best relationship with your mom, but you need to see her one last time. If there's anything I've learned from my dad, it's that much. If not for them then do it for yourself, you will regret not seeing her for one last time. I know I do." Onyx explained, remembering that the last time she ever saw her brother, she was setting up his death. She placed the necklace on the table, and she left her mom be.

She went to her room where she pondered on what the right thing to do is. Not 5 minutes later sapphire came in and she lay on the bed and she screamed into a pillow. "she told you?" onyx asked "I don't know what to do, she went and got herself a necklace and she tells me that my mom is dying. What am I meant to do?" Sapphire responded. "you go and see her, one last time before it's too late. Also I got her that necklace, don't get to mad at her for that." Onyx explained. "what about you?" sapphire asked sitting up on the bed. "what about me?" "she's your grandmother. Would you come with us, if given the opportunity?" sapphire asked. "I think I would. Especially since it might help mom." "come on then, let's go and see her." Sapphire responded. They got up and onyx readied herself. "are you ready to go?" sapphire asked, "is she coming with us?" ruby asked, "whether you like it or not, she's my grandma now, I need to meet her." Onyx responded.

They made their trek to their mom's and onyx's grandma's house. "onyx no matter what happens. Remember you don't need to stay for me. If you need to run off, don't be afraid to do so." Aqua explained before they ringed the doorbell. "I don't want any." The woman who opened the door said before trying to stop it. sapphire stopped it with by making a cactus in the door and but making it disintegrate. "ok, who are you?" she asked, "it's your children." Aqua responded. "ok, and who's this?" the woman asked as she noticed onyx standing there. "it's my daughter. Meat onyx." "you're too young to be her mom, she adopted?" the woman asked. "listen emerald, she's my dead ex's sister. I couldn't just leave her with no one." "and your ex was..." emerald asked "the zirconia son. I know that's all you'll pick up from my sentence so I'm not even going to bother saying his first name." aqua responded. "you managed to get a zirconia kid. I didn't think you could do it." "yeah, because I'm not you." Aqua responded. "can we move this inside?" sapphire asked.

They walked in and onyx could see just how broke as she was expecting. "so kid, why did you choose my deadbeat daughter over literally anybody else." Emerald asked. "because, she's always there for me. Even if I do something that should make everybody hate me, she has stuck with me." Onyx explained. "well, at least one of you could do something." "we're literally superheroes living with the king." Sapphire responded. Ruby remained as silent as he had been for the past few weeks. "you goanna say anything son." Emerald asked. No response given. "so why are you back here after all of these years." Emerald asked. "you're literally dying. We had to see you one more time, weather we liked it or not." Aqua responded crossing her arms

Sapphire placed a cactus between the two to stop them getting any closer. "all right break it up. Let's discuss something else shall we." Sapphire spoke up. Onyx could see the fear in ruby's eyes. She found it would've found it weird, if she didn't have the same look in her eyes. "how about how you just up and left for your boy-toy." Emerald responded. "how about we all just take a break?" onyx asked in a quiet voice. "and what about her. She's a zirconia. If she wanted, she could have the citadel to herself." Emerald said as she punched the wall. "you know what, I've tried to be nice, I've tried to be respectable. But the moment you insult my daughter is when you lose any respect you could have had from me." Aqua said getting ready to remove her inhibitor.

Onyx had to keep it forced shut with her gravity powers as she neared her heightened state. "remember what happened with lapis." Onyx reminded aqua as ruby helped by grabbing her wrist. "and what about him, he was never going to be anything. We all knew it and he hasn't changed since I last saw him." Emerald asked. Onyx couldn't handle it anymore and she started glowing a deep, almost black, grey and a burst of energy came out of her. "all right, I think we've overstayed our welcome." Onyx said when she got back to her feet. "what was they?" sapphire asked. "I think that was a gravity blast. I know that diamond did it on his first and only day with the gravity core." Onyx explained. "you're right let's go." Aqua said as she helped ruby to his feet. "so you're going to leave me again. You didn't even come by when your dad died last year." Emerald got only last insult out at her, former, children.

Onyx turned around and she just let all of her pent up anger out. "are you kidding me? Do you have any idea what they've been through? Sapphire had to literally run away and take an experimental procedure just to get away from you. Mom and ruby have been trapped in a different dimension for 6 years. I had to spend months to try and bring them back and all you have to say is insults and to bring up their dead dad. You need to back off woman. If I have as much political power as you think, then you had better watch your back. This was a mistake. I shouldn't have made three come here, I'm sorry." Onyx finished running off to the park. "you need to teach her to respect her elders." "I teach her to respect her elders, not dinosaurs." Aqua responded as she formed a wave. Ruby and sapphire jumped on and they rode off.

"do you think she's going to be ok?" sapphire asked refusing to onyx "she'll be fine. She just got in over her head. She was right though; I did need that." "how so?" sapphire asked "I dot to finally tell that woman off. Did you know about our dad's death?" Aqua asked "no, I left when I was sixteen, she said last year, I left a year and a half ago. She never called me about it." sapphire explained. They headed back for the citadel while onyx went to find Adella to talk to someone. in the state she was in she wasn't ready to even try to open a portal. Sapphire walked up to her not to long afterwards. "so how are you doing?" sapphire asked. "she's not doing so well." Adella explained.

Onyx just looked at the adoption paper she had signed as onyx "beryl" zirconia. "why can't I just get a normal family that actually loves each other?" onyx asked, rhetorically. "can I ask you something?" sapphire asked. No response. "I just wanted to ask why you kept zirconia as your last name?" onyx took a second to answer. " I don't want the family name to end with coal, I want it to end with something worth it." onyx responded. Sapphire understood and they both headed back to the citadel after some talking.