What Lies Beneath

Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Steven Universe Future. Rebecca Sugar does. I only own the OC characters

-------

The valley was decimated. Boulders and twisted metal littered every inch of what used to be the rebellion base. Even worse, huge claw and scorch marks dotted the land here and there, the damage equivalent to a terraforming Lapis Lazuli. Whatever had caused this was a serious threat to gem and organics alike.

Garnet ran her hand over a destroyed warp pad. It was obvious that it was nearly finished before it was crushed. The implications for its completion did not sit well with her. She silently straightened up, rejoining Amethyst and Pearl, who were surveying the damage. The young, purple gem was examining every gemstone, gathering the ones that were cracked. She looked up at the former rebellion leader approaching them, which simultaneously broke Pearl out of her shocked trance.

"Well?" Amethyst questioned, barely concealed desperation in her expression. "Did you find anything?"

Garnet retained her composure, subconsciously fixing her visor. "They were definitely here," she informed. This only agitated the young gem further. The same could be said for Pearl. She was trying her best not to chew on her fingernails. "I don't understand," she mused aloud. "What could have caused this much destruction?"

The permafusion once again cast her gaze to the deformed landscape around them. She did her best not to glance at some of the gem shards littering the ground. "Whatever it was," she said, deadly calm, "it poses a danger to everyone on this planet."

Amethyst let out a cry of frustration. "That doesn't matter!" she shouted. "It doesn't tell us where they are!"

"Is there a timeline where we find them, Garnet?" Before the permafusion could follow through with that request, the sound of a gem reforming echoed from the destroyed warp pad. Two gems, one red and one blue, shimmered in the air before new forms encased them. Once the process was complete, they rubbed at their heads, moaning. The one with the tear-shaped gem stretched out their back. "Ugh," she grunted, "that did not go as planned." The other one, their gem replacing one of their eyes, was too busy rubbing at all the sore spots on their body.

Suddenly, a dark purple whip lassoed them together and dragged them towards the Crystal Gems, the others having already summoned their weapons. Pearl aimed the point of her spear at the two once they were close enough. "Where are they?" she growled.

The two enemy gems blinked a few times in confusion before Aquamarine huffed. "Oh, it's you," she sighed. "I figured as much."

Amethyst yanked on the whip, tightening it. "Enough of your games," she spat. "Tell us where you're keeping them!"

Eyeball growled at her. "Even if we knew, we wouldn't tell you, traitor scum!" The Crystal Gems stared at her before turning their gaze back to Aquamarine. "They're not here," she said, rolling her eyes.

"What?!" the gems exclaimed in unison. "Where did they go? Pearl asked.

Aquamarine shrugged her shoulders as best as she could. "How should I know?" she said. "I barely remember much after the stupid halfling went crazy-"

"WHAT?!" the gems shouted, causing the smaller blue gem to flinch. "Can you dull pebbles say anything else?" she huffed. "It shouldn't be surprising to you, since you knew already that he was corrupting." The Crystal Gems didn't say anything, giving Aquamarine incentive to continue. "His corrupted form turned out to be too much for us to handle." She scowled. "I suppose I should have anticipated that, with him being a diamond and all."