Sparkly

Flutter

Crystal's heart beat hard, fluttering with stress.

She untied the hostages with telekinesis, trying not to look at the mess on the floor that had been humans.

"I'm sorry." she said, knowing she wasn't responsible for Quartz's actions, but feeling the need to apologize anyway.

The hostages, of various ages and genders, looked at her wide eyed.

She teleported back to her own living room, where Darius was sitting on the couch with a laptop in his lap. His hands were angled awkwardly over it, eyes fixed on the screen, and he pecked at keys.

He'd been sleeping on Caroline's couch while they tried to find him a job. Caroline had decided he should at least learn to type, so he'd been practicing that.

Crystal called her gems back to her and dropped to the floor, exhausted.

At the thump of her weight hitting the floor, Darius looked up.

"Are you okay?" he said, alarmed.

Caroline realized she was covered in blood. She quickly transformed back, floated the blood into the kitchen and down the sink, and resumed her real form.

"I'm okay. I'm okay." Caroline reminded herself.

Darius looked at her, concerned.

"Quartz... she's a murderer. She's not going to defend justice. She's going to hurt a lot of people. And Amethyst..." Caroline felt tears welling up in her eyes at the crumbling of what she'd tried so hard to keep together. She sat heavily on the couch.

"Amethyst is a monster. I can't help them. I can't even stop Quartz from killing people. The most I can do is discontinue the Gem Squad.

This never should have started."

Darius sat next to her, his eyebrows drawn together.

Even though he wasn't involved in the Gem Squad business and couldn't be, Caroline was glad there was someone she could tell about this.

"I thought when I got this power that I'd have so much more of an ability to help people. And when the others started showing up in my dreams, and I realized I could call them, I thought they'd want to do whatever they could to help the world as well.

I was so, so naive."

Caroline paused, her mind drifting back, trying to figure out how she'd ever thought the people in the Gem Squad could be goodhearted, or good enough.

"Quartz was first. I thought she was just a bit overeager to defend justice. But over time, there were more disagreements between me and her and between her and every other member. Diamond's attitude was bad, but she wasn't trying to *murder* people. If I'd known she was a child... and Jade, too. Jade was the only reasonable person there, and she was just a teenager. I can't believe I dragged them into those situations."

"It's not like it was your fault." Darius tried to console her.

Caroline shook her head.

"I should have considered it. With the way Diamond talked, it should have at least crossed my mind. And I should have considered that Quartz and Amethyst might not use their powers for good. From the start, I was way too optimistic."

"Would have, should have. I'm not looking back and you shouldn't either." Darius said.

Caroline lifted her head and wiped her eyes.

"You're right. I need to think about what I should do next." Caroline said, her mind fixed on Quartz's casual slaughter.

Who knew what she'd do next? And on what scale? What if she decided an entire country was evil or something?

"Leave them to their own devices and go on with your life?" Darius suggested.

Crystal felt a flare of anger, then it died and she sighed heavily. He just didn't understand.

"I have to make sure that Quartz doesn't commit a massacre for her brand of 'justice', and that Amethyst doesn't do something similar for her own amusement. The problem is, I have no idea who either of them are. And I don't know how I can learn that."

"Can't you visit people with gems in their dreams?" Darius asked.

"They appear in their gem forms, and I can't trace them either. Still... maybe that's a place to start." Caroline said, putting a hand on her chin in thought.