Chapter 29: Cracks in the Mirror

Summary: Make sure to keep an eye on your probably possed mirrors kids.

Star sneaked into her brother's room. Without her wand the days have been a bit more boring, so she was gonna pull a couple classic pranks to get it back on track. First victim? Marco Diaz and the case of the blue shampoo. She would have gone pink but … not a great color of hair to have around anyone Gem related.

Speaking of, she needed to find ways to prank them as well. Pearl was a pretty easy target, basically just a simple knock knock joke would send her into a frenzy about practically or whatever. Ruby would also be easy, just paint a wall with a monster and she'd rush at it no problem. Sapphire and Amethyst were trickier however, with future vision and prank mastery.

It'll be the best way for everything to finally chill the corn out of everyone when it comes to Gem business. Things were getting too serious for her liking. "Hey bro, got a second? I need your help.."

"…so apparently Kelly has been wearing glasses this entire time and no one noticed. Her hair's so bushy that it covers it, but still, you'd think we'd notice the lenses or something."

"Spot … eyes … Here's a picture …" Her brother was speaking to … himself? Did they need to get the catapult?

"Oh yeah, they look like moles. Never would have noticed it before." She looked around, seeing him talk to … a mirror?

" You…silly….pfffffft." The mirror sent a fart noise to him.

"You really latched onto that sound, didn't you? I'm honored to teach the ways of highbrow comedy."

"..Not exactly what every sister wants to walk in on her brother doing. Really thought I'd see you kissing a girl in private before you went crazy." Star made her presence known.

"Why is everyone on about me kissing stuff, I have options, you know." He argued.

"Kissing … boo … fun with friends … yahhh." Was the mirror including sound effects of the townsfolk?

"I think your mirror's broken bro. It's just clipping stuff."

"Oh no, that's how it talks. Say hi mirror!" The boy showed it off.

"Hi mirror." It responded, before showing images of her brother giggling.

"It can only talk to me using recordings of stuff it sees, so I've been talking to it almost everyday now."

"Quartz…talking…best…part….of day….best…friend….Quartz."

"Aw, thank you mirror, you're amazing to be around to!" Star wasn't sure what to make of this sight. On one hand, her brother looked really happy, but on the other, she was starting to wonder if being alone in the castle those first two months put him over the edge.

"Hey, bro…exactly where did you get this thing again."

"Romulus. He said it belonged to the Rose Guard." He smiled. "It's been a person I can just talk to whenever my life gets complicated … which is a lot recently."

"Wait, so it's something that belongs to Rose?" Star asked. "Then that might not be magic at all, it's probably gem tech like Toffee had. Maybe you have them look.." She asked. 

"No no no." The mirror suddenly looped. "Gems bad … no trust."

"They're really insistent on them not being good people." 

"It belongs to your mom…and it says they're not good people?" Something was up…and this maybe one of those times where she needed to take things into her own hands. "Quartz, look over there!"

"Where?!" The moment he had his head turned she snatched it out of his hands.

"Here here here." The Mirror called out as Star ran away.

"Star, what are you doing!? Give them back!" Quartz ran after her.

"I will, once I clear things up with the Gems!"

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Marco grinned at his new student in the art of being safe. "And that is how you, completely safe and sanitized, make a balanced human dinner."

"I never thought of that before." Pearl, despite being thousands of years old, was very much like a kid in a candy store taking in all the lessons of food etiquette. "I didn't think cooking had so much artistic merit to it."

"It didn't at first, but as humans grew so do the finer details in life." He explained. "Now before Ruby said a beanbag chair was all you had, but there are plenty of things to consider. Such as rain, cold, sun. You need a way for power to flow in so an air conditioner and heater can-"

A dimensional portal opened up, Star jumping through. "Hey Marco. Hey Pearl." She interrupted. "Came to talk about a mirror my brother chats to." She held up an artistic looking piece, with intrinsic designs.

"Oh yes, The Mirror." Pearl noticed. "It was used as a recording device for interrogations and gem history. Last I checked it was broken, however, such a shame."

"Okay, that clears up why it's acting so funny around him." Star sighed with relief as a pink portal popped out, with Quartz and Kelly hopping off. "Hey Quartz, no need to worry, it's not evil, just broken." She said, "Sorry I had to take it and ask them."

"You didn't have to steal it from me to do that." Quartz grumbled, grabbing the mirror back. "And they're not broken. They can talk to me just fine."

"What are you on about?" Pearl asked with a raised eyebrow. "I told you it didn't work. It hasn't played any messages for the last four hundred years."

"It doesn't play messages, it just repeats what I say back to me and talks with my voice." Quartz narrowed his eyes.

"... The Mirror can't do that." She walked up to Quartz, putting a hand on his head. "What's the normal temperature for a human?"

"Why is everyone suddenly getting on the 'Quartz Is Crazy' train today?" Star's brother grumbled. "Come on, mirror, say something."

"…." The inanimate object said nothing as any sane person would expect it to.

"Quartz, you okay?" Tad asked. "I understand it's been a lot lately, but talking mirrors, other than ones you use to call, seems a bit far-fetched."

"I have a magical pink lion that can hop dimensions that hangs around a pack of laser shooting puppies, there's nothing far fetched in this universe." The boy looked back at the mirror. "Come on, friend, show them so we can just go back to talking like usual."

" Okay…friend….only…talk for…friend." Talking Mirrors, go figure. At least it was mundane.

"See, I told you it could talk." Quartz smiled, but dropped it as he stared at the Crystal Gems. They all, barring Amethyst, looked shocked and worried.

"It … can't do that." Pearl spoke again, but this time it was more reassuring herself.

"Quartz." Ruby spoke up from their spot. "The mirror is dangerous, let us dispose of it."

"No no no."

"Dispose…you mean get rid of and throw away?" Quartz's gave a rarely seen angry look

"Quartz." Sapphire started, walking to him. "The Mirror is dangerous, if it gets its way bad things could happen." She held out her hand, about to touch it.

"No. No no no no!" The mirror shouted out, images shifting like a kaleidoscope. "Stop it Stop it!"

"No…I'm not going to give you my friend. They don't trust you." Quartz began backing away. 

"Dude, it's just a mirror, I got like twenty in my latest pile if you want one so badly." Amethyst rolled her eyes.

"It's not just a mirror!" Quartz shouted. "It has feelings, it cares about stuff, it's lonely, it likes fart jokes!"

"Steven, it's a mirror, you shouldn't care about something like this so.." Pearl reached out to grab it, but Star's swatted her hand away.

"You said it's broken, so there should be no problem in letting him have it." Star shot the pale gem an angry look. "Unless there's something you're trying to hide."

"Listen princess, I don't know what you're implying.." Ruby cut in.

"I'm implying that there's a lot of things we don't know about you guys, and we've been pretty open about our biz, yet we hardly know what you four even are." His friend pointed accusedly.

"We told you multiple times, we're gems." Pearl spoke. "Silicon based lifeforms that create hard light constructs from a crystalline core-"

"Like this one!?" Quartz shouted, showing a blue cracked Gem, shaped like a tear, in the back of the mirror. "This isn't just a mirror, is it!? It's an actual person, someone you want to toss away like trash?! Is that the kind of thing Rose Quartz would've done!?"

"It's better for all of us if you just forget that you even saw this mirror.." Sapphire reached out next, only for Kelly to raise her sword against them.

"I say he keeps it. Any objections?"

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Ruby rushed in. She didn't generate her gauntlet, not wanting to seriously injure these guys, so she went in bare handed in an attempt to mangle the person who dared to scratch Sapphire. "GET OFF OF HER YOU DIRTY DISHRAG!" She was perfectly composed when she punched Kelly right in the face.

"How is that helping your case!?" Quartz shouted at them. "They just want to be happy with friends and live their lives!"

"If they were in the mirror, they were in there for a reason!" Pearl shouted, not using her weapon either as she attempted to grab the mirror.

"So that just makes it okay to get rid of what you don't like, just like Rose and Solaria?!" Star kicked Pearl's arm out of the way and talked to the pale gem. "What, is that how it is, people don't see eye to eye, and it's okay to kill them?!"

"That's rich coming from a Mewman!" Pearl struck back with an open palm attack. "Especially YOU of all people!"

"Hey, she's learning!" Marco was faring better, with his karate. "Star's a teenager, you can't expect her to be perfect when she was taught as she was!" His leg was suddenly caught in Amethyst whip.

"Argue, argue, fight, fight, just listen to the Gems and stop it, you kids are out of your depth here against us."

"I'm not!" Quartz shouted. "Nobody should be locked in a cage!"

"What about Toffee!?" Ruby shouted, trying to get past Kelly without getting cut by Rose's Sword. "From what I recall, you rushed in with the sole purpose of cutting his head off!"

"Oh, so death is totally fine when YOU get to decide who lives and dies!?" Quartz sent out exploding bubble after bubble, making the Gems scatter to avoid them. "You weren't there, you didn't see the desperate situation he put all of us through!"

"Because you didn't trust us to help you out, to protect you!" Sapphire called out to him. 

"Because I have no reason to trust you!" 

The mirror started shifting into a rainbow of colors, a small distorted voice of all of them emanated from inside. "Pull … the … gem … out … Let … me … help." It wanted to form! 

Ruby screamed, grabbing the sword's sides with both hands in an effort to keep Kelly contained. "Grab the Mirror!"

"Oh no you don't!" Tad jumped out and kicked her in the face. "... Ow. It's like hitting a rock" The guy whined.

"Steven, you're making a big mistake!" Pearl called out, only for Star to jump on her back.

"How many times do I need to say it!? My name isn't Steven! It's Quartz!" Quartz grabbed the back of the mirror, gripping the gem from behind. "Quartz Universe Butterfly!"

The water from the beach began moving to him, forming a web-like design. "Quartz, not that I disagree with your stance" Marco started, being held down by Amethyst. "But you may want to look down!"

"...Almost….GOT I!" Quartz ignored everything that was happening around him as the mirror cracked to pieces, the tear shaped gem free, floating, and glowing above them.

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The thing within … Lapis came to be, Lapis was a gem, Lapis was a living thing. She was free, she could feel, she could hear. She- Error. Vision Limited. She could almost see. It was amazing, it was all so incredible. She stumbled a bit. "... I'm out …"

"You…you're a gem…" The short figure that had become very familiar to her within the past few months said as she stumbled on her feet to keep balance.

"I'm … Lapis." She stared, memories pouring in. "I'm Lapis Lazuli." She smiled. "And your Quartz … Thank you." It was funny, he didn't really look like any Quartz soldier she recalled. "You talked to me, you actually talked to me."

"Well yeah, you had something to say, and I wanted to hear your thoughts." Quartz helped her to keep steady on the ground.. "I'm just glad you're finally free."

"Free…free." The one thought that lingered in her mind even as everything she was faded into the dull void of madness the mirror had become. She wasn't free, she was still trapped, trapped on earth. "I want to go home now." Back to her friends, and loved ones.

"We need to stop her." She looked, seeing a Sapphire Gem. "She can't be allowed to-" She shut up the short blue one, enveloping her in water.

"You wanted to dispose of me, right?" Lapis asked as she added more and more pressure. "Maybe I should return the favor …"

"Wait, Lapis, what are you doing?!" Quartz looked like he was freaking out for some reason.

"Making sure nothing traps me ever again." She gathered more water, making it as solid as possible to form spikes to attack the other gems. "I'm never going back to any prison. I'm going back home." 

"Quartz, you might wanna calm down your new and dangerous friend!" The blond girl that seemed to be very friendly to Quartz shouted to the boy in question

"Lapis, don't hurt them!" The boy pleaded.

She tilted her head in confusion. "They were trying to hurt us … you called them out on their decisions … they're bad people."

"Even if they are, I don't want you to make the same bad decisions they did….you're free now, don't let them let them hold you back by hating them." He pleaded with her.

Lapis looked at her friend for a few moments, before nodding, dropping attacks. She needed to fly away, she needed to be free from. She felt for her wing- Error. Motion Capability Limited. Error. Response Time Delayed. Error. Orbital Flight Unavailable. No … no! She was damaged, she needed an alternative. She gathered the water and locked herself into a bubble, flying to the ocean as she gathered more and more water. She would make a bridge to her home.

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Greg sighed, looking at his map. He was in Arizona, having made it three fourths of the way across the country. At first he was a bit … reckless, yes. Driving to the point where he skipped out on sleep, food, and forgot that people would be looking for him after skipping out on a legally binding contract. But his son was all that mattered at the moment.

He was likely going to get hell for it later. First Marty would give him about a three hour shouting fest for 'repeating history', then he'd likely get hit with a lawsuit from his manager and the record labels, before he ends up as broke as he was before, only with three times the debt, and that was IF he could avoid jail time.

But that wouldn't matter, he'd do whatever it took to be a part of his son's life now, do whatever it takes to thank the no doubt wonderful people that had been taking care of him this entire time. Then it was a matter of staying able to support himself while avoiding the police … plausible, probably.

He needed something to take his mind off this, let his mind unwind and catch up on the sleep he's been skipping out on. Thus, the news station should provide the perfect boring white noise. "In other news, the ocean has vanished!" 

"HUH?!" That instantly got the shock centers of his brain functioning at full capacity.

"...Satellites have confirmed this strange meteorological event originated from the small coastal town of Beach Creek!" That meant whatever this was, it was a Gem issue, and if this killed his son due to the earth dying, he would ignore all the pain and punch them in the face!