Red As A Bloody Rose

Resentment

"Why did I agree to this again?" Tamara asked.

"Because you don't have anything better to do." Steven replied smugly.

"Ha ha." She responded.

Apparently, Greg got a call about a guy who wanted to buy some of his music. Steven invited Tamara along, wanting to see how she'd react to being outside of Beach City.

Once they got to a certain point, she groaned, saying "God I hate this place!"

Greg looked in the rearview mirror, saying "Oh yeah, these were your old stomping grounds, right?"

"Yeah," She responded, "I spent the worst years of my life here. I actually used to live right over-"

The van turned, and she paused.

"Wait a second, where are we going?" She questioned. "Greg, who exactly did you say we're meeting?" She asked.

"Some rich guy named Cill.... Cal.... Com?" He said, trying to remember the name.

"Cole. Greg Universe, tell me that this man's name isn't Cole!" She said, slight panic in her voice.

The van stopped, a duo of butlers coming out, rolling out a red carpet.

"Um.... Dad?" Steven said, concerned.

A man then walked out of a giant mansion, saying "Greg Universe! Great to see that you arrived on time!"

The man had pale colored skin, dark red eyes, he was a foot smaller than Garnet, and had an undercut with red hair that was curved into an upward motion. He wore a black tux and matching pants, a smile present on his face.

"Ah, you must be Cole!" Greg said Steven walking up behind him. "This is my son Steven, and this is our friend-"

He felt it before he saw it. In a split second, Tamara was in front of the man with her weapon pointed at his throat. His eyes widened and he paled, as if he was seeing a ghost.

".... Tammy?" He said, voice shaking slightly.

"Tammy is dead, you made sure of that, dad!" She growled in response.

Steven and Greg looked at each other, and then back at the two. This was not part of the plan.

"You.... You've grown up I see." He said, trying to remain calm.

"Yep, scared? Good. How about a taste of your own medicine-"

Greg got in between them, saying "HEY! How about we take a tour of the place?"

Cole snapped out of his shock, saying "Of course, follow me."

He and Greg walked away, Steven pulling at Tamara's sleeve.

"Are.... Are you gonna be okay?" He asks.

She glows red nor even a second after he said that, before taking a deep breath, the color fading away.

"I'm fine. We can still do this." She says.

.

"So, what are we doing?" Greg asked.

"Ah, my office is down that way, we can talk there-"

"Actually," Tamara interrupted. "I think me and my father need to have a little chat. Why don't you and Steven step out for a moment?" She said, a dark glint in her eye.

The two walked out, shutting the door behind them.... Just to put their ears to the door to eavesdrop.

Back in the room, Tamara's father sat down, saying "You're alive.... I can't believe that you're here!"

Tamara glared, saying "What's this about dad? I don't feel like beating around the bush, so why call Universe here?!"

He sighed, saying "I merely wanted to do business with the man.... I'm more concerned about you. Have you been living alright?"

She scoffed, saying "Like you care."

He looked at the ground, guilt washing over him.

"That day, when you left.... I honestly didn't know what to think. I didn't even think that you'd last that long out there, so to see you in front of me...." He said.

"I left because I had to. I was in a bad situation, and I saw an out." Tamara told him.

"Neither one of us were in a good place right then, huh?" He says. "I made a lot of mistakes back then, hurting and losing you was one of the biggest-"

She scoffed, saying "Mistake? I relied on you SO much back then, and all you have to SAY IS THAT IT WAS A FUCKING MISTAKE?!"

From the other side of the door, Greg and Steven were both shocked to hear her use that kind of language.

"Tamara-"

"NO! I was only 9 years old! I could've died, and then what?! If something happened to me, then maybe that would've been what you wanted!"

He stood up, saying "I never wanted that! I just wanted to do everything in my power to protect you!"

"You call beating me to the brink of death protecting me?!"

"It was a mistake! It'll never happened again!" He shouted.

"Again..?! AGAIN?! YOU BASTARD! IF YOU THINK THAT I'M JUST GOING TO TAKE YOUR WORD FOR IT THAN YOU CAN GO-"

Her skin flared up.

"TO-"

She glowed, pupils becoming triangles.

"HELL!" She finally shouted, energy bursting from her, leaving cracks in the floor.

The two stayed in silence, before Cole said "You're glowing.... Oh my god your glowing."

"Yeah, no kidding." Tamara responded.

"You.... You're already glowing? When did this start?!" He questioned.

"What do you mean already?" She asked.

"Before you were born, me and your mother discussed things that might happen when you got older.... Let me guess.... Traumatic nightmares? Glowing issues? More angry than usual?" He asks.

She gave him a puzzled look, calming down.

"Oh dear.... Tammy, to put it simply, this is your gem half combining with you human half, giving you the gem version of puberty. You're sixteen, right? Since your body is changing your gem needs to match it, but due to the past stuff that's happened it's reacting like.... Well, this." Cole said, gesturing to her.

"Okay, well how do I stop it?!" She demanded.

"Ah, just let it run its course." He responded.

"And how long will that take?"

"Well, that depends...." He said, leaning against a wall. "How stressed out and traumatized are you?"

She thought about it, before saying "Uh oh.... I'm in trouble."