Summary:
Should have been quicker on the draw
Sasha looked at Luz as she walked in. "So … Belos is back." The girl spoke bluntly.
"I know, I've had a lot of discussions with everyone about that. Hunter especially." Considering they were raised by him. "A puritan from the sixteen hundreds with delusions of grandeur."
"Yep … so you see why I don't have the time for this anymore." The girl said, gesturing to … everything. "So I'm going to leave and work on a genuine solution."
"And what is that solution?" She asked.
"No clue, we don't have one, which is why time can't be wasted on stuff like this." The girl waved off.
"I understand that. Back in Amphibia, I suddenly found myself at the forefront of an entire war. No time for breaks, or taking it easy, or even a freaking good night's rest." She expressed. "But you don't just bounce back from something as traumatizing like this. You're not going to be one hundred perfect for a while, and if you're not careful, you're going to get sloppy.
"We don't have time for recovery. Every second we waste here is a second Belos fixes himself back up. He wouldn't just show himself unless he was a hundred percent confident he could have killed us all that night. If it wasn't for Vee and Connie we all would have died." She said. "If we waste time talking about how we feel, Belos will just get stronger and smarter because we let him in."
"There are things we have to talk about Luz. You can't just let your emotions bubble up." She reiterated.
"I don't have the time for some long emotional speech!" She shouted. "All this is going to do is take time away from what's needed!"
"What you need is to stop being hysterical and not run off half cocked! That's how people get hurt!"
"You don't think I know that!? I saw Connie getting stabbed right in front of me!" Luz shouted. "A girl I have so many mixed feelings about, a girl I worked so hard to mend fences with! She almost died, do you have any idea what that's like!?"
"I do." She said plainly. "Marcy, one of my friends you met a while back. A girl I had mixed feelings on, who I worked hard to mend fences with. She got stabbed, through the back and chest by a plasma sword. I had to leave her behind while me and Grime made our escape. I thought she was dead for almost three months. Right after I thought we were all friends again."
"Then you know this is useless." Luz growled, making her way to the door.
"No, I know that you need time…and yes, I know you're going to say 'I don't have time', but that's why you're here right now! Because this right here…this is the time to process what happened to you."
"Process….there's nothing to process! Belos is here, hunting my friends and hurting this town because I LED HIM HERE! I made it all possible for him! He wanted to use me to get to the portal door, and he got what he wanted! Belos is winning because of ME!"
"Everyone led him here, not just you!" Sasha shouted. "Stop thinking that it all revolves around you! Life's troubles don't go all back to you! Your friend's misery isn't all because of you!"
"It is!" She shouted. "I gave him everything he wanted from the moments we met!"
"…Moments?" Sasha asked.
"We're done." Luz ran out the door, slamming it shut behind her.
"...Damn it, it's gotten worse." She slammed her head against her clipboard. She got too heated in that argument, seeing the parallels this situation had and Sasha got too angry in the moment. This was going to do nothing but downward spiral.
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Amethyst watched as the kids focused around a board, giving it ten times more effort than what she saw from their Moldavite experience. "Alright. Vee is a vital component to taking down Belos, but at the same time she's not a fighter." Lucci explained. "So she's getting twenty four seven protection from Lapis and Garnet."
"Crystal, I know you're overprotective of her, but isn't putting two powerhouses together limiting our resources." Boscha pointed out. "Feels like we can allocate one of them to someplace else.
"No, he has a point." Luz said. "Vee can drain magic. She's the only thing that can effectively kill whatever the hell Belos is now. Not to mention with the personal history, he'll want her gone more than any of us at the moment."
"But the only two gems left are Amethyst and Pearl." Hunter said. "And only one of them has barely been effective in any scenario we've been on … no offense Amethyst."
"It's cool, I know I'm not exactly the strongest gem alive." She waved off.
"I take offense to that." Pearl muttered.
"Unfortunately that does leave us a bit drained of manpower." Amity noted. "If he can possess people, who's to say he won't go after someone like the mayor and become king again?"
"He probably could've done that first if he wanted to….but instead he chose that loser from the museum." Lucci pounded hands. "He chose a nobody, a blank slate. He's just as scared about being discovered as we are."
"You'd think an egomaniac would want to be noticed." Boscha said curiously. "Isn't his whole thing recognition for murdering witches?"
"That's when he used to be human himself…or at least could pass off as one." Luz said. "Now he knows if he's exposed, everyone will turn on him like he wants them to turn on us."
"Guys." They turned to a shaking Vee, who was comforted by Garnet. "This planning is nice and all … but he wanted to kill Masha and Connie just for liking witches … who's to say he won't do it again, or go after someone else?"
"That means he could go after Sadie and Lars …" Hunter groaned.
"Kiki and the rest of the Pizzas…." Boscha gripped her hands.
"The Fryman family …" Gus looked at the map.
"We're dealing with a serial killer who hides himself and will kill without the slightest hesitation …" Pearl sighed. "It's Jack the Ripper all over again."
"You guys knew the Wittabanes back then, anything you can tell us about them that could be useful?" Willow asked.
"Me and Pearl dealt with an entire town of Witch Hunters. The Wittabanes specifically were Rose's territory." Garnet explained.
"What about Amethyst?" Amity asked.
"Hung out with Evelyn most of the time. She was the only one who got me back then."
"Come on, we know this guy. We've literally been inside his head." Lucci growled. "He has to have some sort of end game besides indiscriminate killing. I mean, what would even be the point now? He's just as stuck here as us, with no proof of anything he's done."
"My guess?" Pearl asked. "He wishes to 'purify' humanity of its 'corruption' … ie e, anything puritans refused to accept back in the sixteen hundreds, which basically boils down to the equal rights of all beings, up to and including slaves, african americans, asians, women, homosexuals, bisexuals, hispanics, native americans…"
There was a moment of silence. "… Can we … take five?" Gus asked. "I need time to contemplate…. everything about humanity."
"Yeah…probably for the best." Luz got up and walked outside. "I'll just…go and not screw up in general."
Oh boy, self doubt. One of life's biggest bummers. "Hey kid, you feeling alright?" Amethyst followed the girl out the door, where they began trudging through the woods.
"You know, everyone keeps asking that question like they expect me to have a different answer." She responded.
"Yeah, they do … and they always want you to think you're worth it in the end." She agreed as they passed a tree. "They say 'you're not the problem', but we know deep down…they know. They know that sometimes they'd rather watch paint dry rather than acknowledge you exist."
"Because if they're watching paint dry, they won't get involved with the mess that's your entire life." Luz sighed. "How bad were your mess ups?"
"You heard them. My entire thing is being a fighter and I'm not even good at that." She rolled her eyes. "At least Pearl is smart and has a storage space in her head."
"Pfft, I will take you over Pearl anyday…..even then she'd probably be better than me." Luz sighed. "The only thing I'm good for now is cannon fodder, being a living meat shield to stop everyone else from getting hurt, and I failed at that. Connie got stabbed because of me, because I dragged her into this mess."
"Yep. We're both a couple of sucking rocks." Amethyst nodded, taking a seat. "Wanna sing about it?"
"… What is with gems and singing?"
"Just something we do. Gets the brain flowing and the emotion junk out when you can't hold it anymore." She shrugged. "So whaddya say? Got a song in yah?"
The human girl was silent for a moment, simply staring up at the trees. "… Yeah … I think I've got one …"
"Don't leave me hanging." She laughed, sitting on a rock. "The stage is all yours."
Luz sighed for a moment, before speaking. "Eda's been cursed from head to foot, but she still says one happy Coot." She started. "I can't even deal with school, stressed my mom, and left too soon." Yeah, sometimes problems were just bigger than your own.
"Gus's dad's an anchorman, who's now gone completely silent. I think I bored my therapist while playing her my violin." The girl ranted. "Oh my titan, that's so insane!"
"Oh, my stars." She adds into the background, hitting a log with some sticks as a makeshift drum.
"That's such a shame! Next to them, my shit don't feel so grand." She swung around a tree. "But I can't help myself from feeling bad… " Sometimes you just felt like crap and there was nothing you could do about it but continue to wallow in that feeling. " I kinda feel like two things can be sad….!
"one, two, three, four."
"The world's smallest violin ….. Really needs an audience ….. So if I do not find somebody soon!" Luz stuck her hands up as she looked to the sky with a tone of pleading in her tone.
"That's right, that's right!" Amethyst bobbed their head back and forth.
"I'll blow up into smithereens…..And spew my tiny symphony! Just let me play my violin for you, you, you, you!"
Amethyst whistled as Luz closed her eyes, dancing around in circles, just letting herself feel free in the moment, the kind of feeling she herself strove to have everyday. Don't think about the crap, just do what felt right for you in the moment.
"Lucci is constantly always angry, Willow almost drowned in grief." She went on. " Everyone sees me as the fool, so I got so much left to prove. All my friends have made new friends. Even Boscha's good at making friеnds. Hunter's on the verge of caving in. Is that entertaining yеt?"Everyone she knew had problems.
"Yet somewhere in the universe, I know for sure other's got it worse. Wish that made it easier, Wish I didn't feel the hurt." The hurt was definitely the worst part.
"The world's smallest violin, Really needs an audience, So if I do not find somebody soon …" Luz stared at a tree…and began punching it. " I'll blow up into smithereens, And spew my tiny symphony. All up and down a city street. While tryna put my mind at ease-" She punched it over and over again, and again, and again, to the point where blood came out.
"Whoa, kid, slow down-"
"Like finishing this melody. This feels like a necessity.So this could be the death of me.Or maybe just a better me!" She kept going on and on, singing without even taking a single breath. " Now, come in with the timpanis! And take a shot of Hennessy! I know I'm not there mentally! And for that there's no remedy! So let me play my violin for you!"
The girl finally stopped, finally taking a breath with her hand covered in blood and splinters. "That … didn't help at all." Luz groaned.
"Probably didn't help that you spent the entire last verse punching a tree." She said. "Luz, I am the least qualified to give anyone life advice, but from my perspective, the thing you need right now is a win. Any kind of win at all, no matter how big or small, just one win and you'll feel better."
"Oh sure, like a win is just around the corner." Luz rolled her eyes. "It's more likely to be Belos planning on stabbing us until Lucci can't heal us." The girl rolled her eyes. "Why can't I just press a magic button and undo everything?"
Magic button…that made her think about something. "I don't have a magic button per say … but I do know an hourglass that could do the same thing."
"Hour glass?" The human asked.
"Yeah, you use it to go back in time." She explained.
"No." Luz shook her head firmly. "Time travel was what started this mess. I'm not going to cause another time loop and give Belos even more power."
"Fair enough. You could still always help us find it. Pearl's been complaining for the last thousand years, and I'd like to end it." She said. "You find it, you save us trouble and get an easy win."
"… Alright." Luz sighed. "How hard can it be?" They both sat in silence. "I just jinxed myself, didn't I?"
"Probably, but the worst thing that could happen is that we leave without the glass." Amethyst shrugged.
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Lapis grunted as she pushed the water back, making sure to stop it from coming in before it could topple down on all of them. "Stupid defense system." She groaned as the others warped in. "You guys better make this quick. I'd rather be hunting down the bastard that hurt Vee."
An immortal bastard who made the girl simply go figure out how to kill people faster … oh she had wordsto give someone like that. "Trust me Lapis, I feel the same way." Garnet stated very firmly. "But given the circumstances, it might be beneficial to have the hourglass as a last resort."
"An underwater lair." Willow looked out at the glasses in awe. "We're really underwater … so many plants under the sea … completely untouched by the hands of man, woman, and child." Well at least someone enjoyed the place.
"For tyrannical maniacs, you have a decent layout of designs." Boscha noted, looking at the carved walls.
"With so many digital devices, it's kinda nice seeing an hourglass." Gus said, looking at the rows and rows of them along with Vee.
"So sparkly.." So precious. Seriously, this Belos guy was dead the moment she saw her.
"Remind me why an hourglass is important?" Lucci spoke, half heartedly gazing at everything.
"Time Travel." Luz explained.
"Riiight. Okay, let's start smashing them and make sure it never bites us in the butt." He cracked his knuckles.
"No! The moment you do; you'll trigger even more defense mechanisms." Pearl shouted.
"You had more defense mechanisms than water caving in to crush us all?" Amity asked skeptically.
"Homeworld was through. The hourglass of time was an experimental device they tried to use in an effort to end the war." Garnet explained. "We were fortunate that they never got the chance to use it for themselves."
"Okay, so let's bag them all, then destroy all the hourglasses when we get back to the temple." Lucci restated.
"No, the defense mechanisms go off whenever any hourglass aside from the hourglass is touched." Pearl explained.
"Then why are me and Vee even here?" Lapis asked. "Wasn't I supposed to be the one to stop us all from dying when the wrong hourglass was touched?"
"We brought you here to clear out the water from the last time we tried to find it, thanks to Amethyst we would've had to wait another thousand years for it to clear up without you." Pearl glared at the short gem.
"It looked so cool, I just wanted to bring it home to use." The purple gem shrugged.
"Okay, maybe we're looking at this the wrong way." Hunter shook his head. "What if we use Lapis to walk outside of the underwater lair, then attack from there to make sure the hourglass is destroyed along with the rest of the place?"
"You guys are really set on destroying this whole place." Vee noted.
"We had experience with time travel." Luz explained. "Lets just say that we need to make sure nobod y on the planet, us or Belos, has the ability to use it."
"Is it that bad? I mean; if I had time travel, I'd use it to go back and drink all the canceled food they no longer serve at restaurants" Vee said. "Or maybe see movie premiere.
"Well for starters, you can't actually do anything with it." Lucci stated. "I tried to stop my mom from getting cursed and it failed completely and utterly."
"Basically, we live in a closed loop where you can't stop events from actually happening." Luz growled. "In fact, you'll end up being the cause of some things happening, and that hits you deep.." The girl's face darkened.
"So in short, we should make sure that the hourglass is completely and utterly thrashed beyond use." Lapis nodded. "If that's the case, then get back on then warp everyone. I'll crush it when your all gone."
"If that's the case, can I save one as a souvenir?" Vee begged.
"Isn't the whole place supposed to crash anyway when you do?" Boscha asked.
"Then I have nothing to lose." They responded, looking over the table of hourglasses. "Eenie, meanie, mini….you." Vee reached out, and selected a tiny one in a round glass ball. "Isn't it adorable?"
"Very…but shouldn't there be some kind of alarm or something going off now?" Lucci asked, looking around. "Shouldn't we all be drowning?
"... Unless that's the real one." Hunter stated.
There was a very long and drawn out moment of silence. "... I guess it's not the size that counts." Boscha deadpanned.
"Nice going Vee!" Luz smiled, hugging the Basilisk. "Now we can destroy it for sure.."
"And we can come back to this beautiful place!" Vee cheered. "Aww, kind of a shame to crush something so cute though."
"Don't worry, that's what we're for." Amity walked up and held it. "You can pick another one though … after we do the honors." She placed it on the ground, gesturing to Luz.
The girlfriend smiled, raising her foot. "Finally, a win!" She shouted, before slamming it down.
Shick
Instead of the sound of crushing glass, there was a loud thud…as Pearl snatched it, holding it upright. "I'm sorry…but I can't let this be destroyed."
The witches froze for a moment … before rushing into action, sending forth vines, abomination much, and fire at the woman. "Pearl; explain yourself!" Garnet demanded as the pale gem dodged.
"I'm fixing the biggest mistake we ever made!" She shouted, looking at the hourglass. "Take me to when we lost Steven!"
Click
" No!" Lucci turned pink and sped toward the woman.
Click
"Lucci!" Luz jumped on top of the woman.
Click
The hourglass began to spark, as the world itself seemed to tilt and turn around the three of them as everyone tried to snatch the hourglass from Pearl
"Luz!" Amity yelled as a white flash appeared in front of them.
Ding
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Ding
Pearl fell into snow, rolling down the side of a familiar cliff. She quickly regained her bearings, looking around. It was Gravesfield … during WINTER. "It worked …" The gem smiled. "It really worked …" She was back to that wretched day!
" Why you-"She felt herself getting slammed against the cliff, as Lucifer held her by the neck. " Give me one good reason why I shouldn't poof you again!"
"Because … I can … fix-"
"If you plan on stopping that Van from crashing, stopping me from getting rescued by Eda, stopping me from going to the Boiling Isles, stopping Vee from getting taken in by you, then NONE of that counts as fixing it!"They shouted, squeezing tighter. "You just plan on making my life worse!"
"Lucifer….I'm sorry.." She lowered her head, and shined her gem at him with one of her Holopearls, forcing him to let go as it stabbed him in the shoulder. "But once I'm done, you won't even remember this." Pearl began fleeing.
"BITCH!"He shouted, grabbing the hollo pearl and slamming it into the ground, before running at her like a wild animal.
"Think about it Lucifer!" She jumped onto nearby trees as he began tackling through them. "This pain you're feeling, all the emotional and physical stress you've suffered all these years; they'll never have happened in the first place! The Boiling Isles doesn't have to be your burden!"
"It's not my burden, it's my home!"He shouted, running at her. "And you're taking it away, for what!?"
"Because you're Rose's son! You should be protecting earth, not-"
" Fuck that, you clearly don't give a damn about anyone but yourself! You don't care if the planet is protected or not!" He accused.
"That's not.."
" You can't out lie me; bitch! I've seen you. You're not like Garnet, or like Amethyst. They care about this planet because they care about the people here, you don't!"
"I made a mission of … protecting this planet …"
"For what reason!? NO ONE PROTECTS A DAMN ROCK WITHOUT A DAMN GOOD REASON!" He shouted while tacking her
"ROSE WAS THE ONLY REASON!" She shouted, stabbing him in the legs. "I hated humans, I hated witches, I hated it all and wanted to leave and never get near them! But she loved them so I forced myself to defend them! EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY!" She screamed, continuing to attack the boy. "And she chose to have you, so I wanted to defend and raise you right! But I CAN'T EVEN DO THAT WITHOUT RESORTING TO THIS!" She pointed to all the blood.
"You fell for the wrong person ." He said while turning off his pink state. "If loving Rose means you have to do something you hate….then you shouldn't have loved her at all."
"…." She stared down at him. "And if I said you shouldn't have loved your mother at all because she's a criminal giving you trouble … you'd never give me a second thought …" Pearl began to stumble away. "We don't choose love … it chooses us …" She shook her head and looked ahead, seeing a road…the road that she and the others would be driving on. "That's why when you were a baby…I was going to rip out your gem to bring her back. I don't know if it'll work…I don't know what'll happen afterwards … but that's for me in the past to decide." She just had to remove whatever it was they ran into and let the timeline proceed.
"NO!" A familiar sword shoved her off the path. "I'm not letting you hurt Lucci!"
"Luz!" Pearl shouted as she dodged the swing. "Get out of my way! I don't want to hurt you, but I will if necessary!"
"Don't you get it!? You've gone too far!" Luz shouted. "It's one thing to stab Lucci when you don't know who he is, but now you're intentionally hurting him! That's not love! That's obsession and delusion!"
"The injuries won't matter when I fix everything!" She retorted, pulling out her spear. "The Boiling Isles will no longer get in my way!"
"They will matter! Everything that'll happen from here on out will be on you! Any mistake, any consequences, anything that happens when you try to change the past, you'll only have yourself to blame, and that's a guilt no one can live with!" Luz and her clashed, sparks flying as they traded blow for blow.
"I will live with it, I've lived with so many things my entire life!" Pearl shouted, pushing forward. "A little more to the mix won't be a problem!" Luz was better … but she didn't have the experience or strength to win this fight. "I'm sorry that we won't be able to help your friends Luz… but soon you won't even have the opportunity to know me!" Giving it everything she had, she slammed the girl across the road…hitting the only car out in the street by the side…Greg's van.
Crash
She saw the van flip over, falling onto the side, the back opening as young Steven went flying …
Crumble
Before a rockslide crushed them all inside … just like last time …
"You …" She glared at the two of them. "You caused this!"
"Oh don't you start this snorseshit, you're the one interfering with my life !" Lucci yelled. "We're only here because you wanted to come here! You can pass the blame all you want, but everything that happened is on you!"
She reached for the hourglass. She needed a second chance, she needed to undo this before it began, the day before. "I wish to-"
Clink
A shield knocked it out of her hands, and into Lucifer's, who put it in a bubble. "Come any closer to me and I send this doohickey to my mom, and trust me, she'll take advantage of this more than anyone else in the whole universe."
She couldn't … no … but there was a chance. She began to charge her spear, with as much power as she could, aiming it right at the van, intent on getting the old gems free. They'd find Steven before he could become Lucifer Claw-
Shink
She froze before she could fire…as Rose's swordstabbed her from behind.
"That's the thing that sucked about your sword lessons…you never taught me how to fight in a team…luckily I already knew." Luz growled. "I'm the sword to Lucci's shield… I'll protect him…from the likes of you."
No … She was so close … SO CLO-
Poof
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Lucci walked over to her gem, bubbling it. "Take her, and the Hourglass. Go back to the others, make sure she isn't freed."
"Lucci, I'm not going to leave you in the past by yourself." She stated.
"You're coming back … I just can't leave right now." He looked over to a small child, silently watching them with sparkling eyes. "He didn't fly far enough …" Maybe it was because they interfered or because it wasn't … but 'Steven' wasn't in the right spot to truly be alone in the woods. "I need to get myself close to the cabin before mom leaves the human realm."
"Lucci, I'm coming with you….I really don't want to head back alone right now." She sighed.
"At least wait nearby … Mom's paranoid at this point in her life, she's going to notice two of us hidden in the snow." As much as he also didn't want to leave Luz alone. He picked up the baby. "I'll be back, I promise."
"Gawwaaah."
"Awww, he's so cute and tubby." Luz poked his past self. "Hey little Lucci. I'm your big sis Luz. You don't know it yet, but we're going to be best friends."
The little guy gave her a raspberry while reaching his arms out.
"It's annoying at first, trust me,but you'll get used to her." He said as he began making his way into the woods. "... Carrying myself … oddest sensation."
"Awwaa."
"I want to spoil you, but if I do that to myself, would that be narcissistic? Is this how it feels to want kids?" So weird. He wondered what Boscha would think about it. Did she even want kids, or was she like Amity? Something to ask later he supposed.
He found the cabin, staring at the somewhat younger place. "It's there … a working portal …" He wouldn't go through it, not without everyone … Lucci wrapped up the young child tighter.
"Agaaa."
"Don't worry, someone much better than me is gonna show up … you'll love her." He smiled down, walking about a yard away and hiding behind a tree … and now … he waited. "Someone very special…who'll love you until the end of time and beyond." He waited.
"Dang it, 'come to the human realm during the winter' she says, 'suckers will be lining up everywhere' she says. Most 'wonderful time of the year' my cursed butt." The familiar sassy voice made itself known.
Turning around, he saw her…Mom. In the flesh, with much shorter hair, and a lot more red. "Mom.." He wanted to go to her, to run up and hug her. And tell her how much he loved her…but he couldn't…she didn't know him…not yet at least.
"Oh human realm, nothing about you makes any sense yet I still come back to you." She grumbled as she stumbled her way to the cabin. "Come on Eda, don't be a priss like your sister. What makes humans happy this time of year? Talking snowmen, Ugly sweaters, reindeers with nose infections, nailing a man on a cross."
That sounded like one very weird holiday. He would have to ask Luz what that was all about later. "And don't even get me started on the songs." "Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg." "The batmobile lost a wheel-"
"Aww a wwaa ghuaaa!" You go baby, that song rocked! Batman for the win … unless he was against Superman.
"I don't think that's how it goes, but it's been a while." The woman noted, looking around with her hairs on end like he suspected. If Luz was here, she'd probably notice them and flee immediately. "Here stalker stalker, here any angry strangers trying to murder me."
"Bwaaaah."
"Gotcha, scum!" She aimed a fireball at his younger self, causing Lucci to tense.
"Guwaaa." Luckily she held back, the fireball in her hand as the child tried to reach for it like it was warmth.
His mom looked him over for a minute before groaning. "Let's find whatever you humans have for an orphanage and get this over with." She complained.
"Bewwaaaah." His younger self giggled out as they were picked up.
"You're so lucky that witches eating babies hasn't been a thing in centuries, or else you'd be looking pretty tasty laying down on a silver platter with an apple in your mouth." … Bullet dodged.
"Bwa."
"Nah, Lilly and Gwendolyn would never let me live it down if they ever found out." She rolled her eyes. "Word of advice kid, responsibility is the worst. Avoid it as if your life depends on it." … Sorry about that.
"Gugah."
"Over hundreds of humans in this dimension and the first one to not curse me away is a baby. Really says something about your race doesn't it, kido?" Lucci did his best to hide his snicker.
"Awsss."
"Just do a favor and wherever you end up, make sure to pickpocket as many snooty people as you can. The world's a weird and often cruel place, so you gotta take whatever advantage you can take, got it?" He did his best, Mom.
"Gaaah." The baby's stomach lit up in pink light. "Agawah."
"Glowing baby?" His mom looked over his stomach, staring intently at his gem. "Come to mama."
"Mama." Awww, so he was attached from day one.
"Is this thing inside of you?" She asked, tugging on his stomach.
"Mama."
"Hey, don't start saying that word in front of me. That implies attachments, and I'm only good at burning those to the ground." Not really, she couldn't get rid of him, king, or Luz.
"Bwaaah."
The woman groaned. "Well the past weeks sucked hard griffon eggs, I'm cold and the only thing I have to show for myself is a shiney rock attached to a probable human baby. I suppose you're not old enough to understand the concept of bribery to give it up, right?"
"Buh."
"That's what I figured. Maybe there's a human that can figure out how to extract it without murder-" The cold wind blew long and harshly. "Come on, this place sucks."
"Huga buba, Mama."
"It seems you understand guilt tripping just fine." She noted. "And would you stop calling me mama? My conscience is already shot as it is."
The baby stuck its tongue out lazily at her in response.
"Alright kid, you'll be coming with me, but just until tomorrow when this blizzard stops." Hah, like that would happen. "Just know if you grow up having nightmares of a horrible realm of flesh eating demons, you'll blame your sperm donor for abandoning you instead of the kind witch that saved you soft tiny butt." He'd never blame her for anything.
"Aww a." He sucked on her finger….and held it in his mouth.
"Don't think just because you're a baby I'm going to let you get away with cannibalism. The innocent act only gets you so far." She grumbled as she poked the baby's stomach. "Spit that out right now before I make it crawl out of your throat." … Was THAT where he got his finger fixation from!?
He watched as the two walked through the portal door, and into the boiling isles…back to home. It was like he watched his own birth, being sprouted straight from the tree…it was so beautiful.
He lingers at the sight of the portal door; and let out a few tears. "I love you mom."
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Luz sat in silence, staring at the bubbled gem. "… You know, we could totally bury you deep in the earth, return to our own time, and dig you up." Luz noted.
She got no response, because why would she? "Rules of time travel say you can't change the past, only create the future…so burying you would do nothing…just like everything else I do in my life…everything amounts to nothing."
She continued to get silence. "In trying to help your friends and the one you supposedly love, you fucked things up and caused the whole mess to being with. Why didn't you listen to us…everyone warned you. We told you what would happen, yet you ran half cocked into the past thinking you had all the answers!"
Luz gazed at the bubble. "Actually, did you really think people wanted you!? All you've done is mess up and cause problems! So many people tell you constantly how you've messed up and ruined their lives!" Lucci hated Pearl, Boscha hated Pearl, Lapis hated Pearl. Amity hated Pearl. Garnet and Amethyst most definitely hated Pearl by now.
"Time and time again! And soon you're causing the biggest and most unfixable problems the world has ever seen!" Luz shouted. "And soon it becomes clear the villain wouldn't be anything without you!" She glared at the bubble more, seeing her reflection. "Don't you realize that the world would be so much better if you didn't meddle where you don't belong! Things would be so much better if you didn't do those things! If you stopped causing trouble! But it's hardwired into you and it becomes impossible …" Luz cried.
"Maybe … it would be better if you never existed … " Never causing those problems … "I … I wish I'd never been born …"
Click
"Luz?" Lucci heard … he heard …
Click Click
"Lucci I …" She sniffled. "Please forget that …"
Click Click Click Click
"Luz, let go of the time thing." Lucci told her.
"The … the what?"
Click Click Click Click Click Click Click Ding
She could see faint sparks out of the corner of her eye, looking down to see the hourglass … vibrating like crazy.
Ding Ding
"Luz, what did you do!?"
Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding
"Lucci….I'm sorry…"
BONG