I'm Here

Corruption and blame

"What..." Danny shakes his head, "what happened to you...?" he mumbles.

"Danny?"

The fusion looks over to his left to find Sam and Andrew coming out of the jungle, looking as if they had been through a rough battle. Sam runs over and checks Danny over, looking for injury, "Danny are you okay? That corrupted gem almost had us beat down-"

"C-corrupted?" Danny looks horrified as he looks down at the spotted gem, "th-this gem is corrupted?"

Andrew sighs and looks down at the gemstone in sadness, "many of our friends became corrupted after Red Diamond shot that beam at earth. We've been gathering them and trying to find a way to cure them."

Danny becomes very quiet at that. He hands the gemstone over to Sam and stands to his feet, his bangs shadowing his eyes. The others watched him in concern as Sam absently bubbles the gem and taps it to send it back to their Temple.

"Danny?" She says hesitantly, "what's the matter?"

Danny stays silent for a few more moments before he suddenly smiles at them, acting as if nothing had happened.

"Nothing's wrong," he says cheerily before he points over his shoulder, "mind if I hitch a ride with you guys?"

Andrew keeps a troubled expression on his face as he nods, "certainly Danny, of course."

Danny turns around and leads the way, the others following behind. They get back to the Temple and Danny stays on the beach, watching the waves come and go. Andrew puts a hand on his shoulder and smiles sympatheticly.

"Don't worry, I know it's your first time dealing with a corrupted gem, but you handled yourself very well for a first time encounter," Danny still refuses to say anything and Andrew's grin wavers, "we'll help them Danny, don't worry. We're trying our hardest to save them."

Danny begins trembling and Andrew finally catches the tear trail running down the right side of his face. Andrew's brows knit in concern as he tries to look under the other male's bangs, "Danny?"

Danny wraps his arms around himself as if to physically keep himself together. He squeezes his eyes shut and grits his teeth, the tears from his light blue eye running faster, "not...your fault..."

"Danny?!" Andrew becomes alarmed when Danny doesn't seem to hear him, carrying on a conversation with himself under his breath that gets louder by the minute.

"It's not your fault. Yes it is! No, it's not you had no control over what happened- if we had never fused in the first place she would have never used me like that!"

Danny's eyes crack open and in his mind, he can see his two component gems fighting, Adventurine trying to talk Angelite down and the other having none of it. Adventurine grabs Angelite's face and forces him to look him in the eye, "you don't know that," the green gem says firmly, "she could have already planned on using your gemstone that way; she just used our fusion as a means to do it without being apposed."

"We could have gotten out!" Angelite exclaims, "if we had never fused, we could have gotten through the mission and gone back home without hurting anyone!" He clasps the green gems hands to his face and closes his eyes in anguish, "you heard it Adventurine! You felt how much pain that gem was in; all because of me!"

"It's not your fault Angelite!" Adventurine insists, "you could never have known that this would happen to that gem, to any of them!"

"THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT RIGHT!!!"

Andrew draws back when Danny yells that, his form lighting up as he unravels. Angelite pushes Adventurine away in the mindscape and Apatite comes apart, the blue and green gems falling to the ground with Angelite still crying on his knees and holding himself and Adventurine falling on his back stunned, not expecting the move.

"And nothing you say will ever change that," Angelite says before he turns invisible and flies away.

"Angelite!" Adventurine calls out, jumping to his feet and preparing to go after him. Andrew holds him back and the green gem whips his head around, baring his teeth at the Mystic Topaz, "let me go!"

Andrew shakes his head, "Adven- Dan-" Andrew shakes his head, "you need to give him some space."

"I need to talk to him!" Adventurine tugs, trying to get away but Andrew's grip is too strong, "it's not his fault! If I leave him alone now he'll just keep thinking it is and then he won't listen-"

"He isn't listening right now is he?!" Adventurine freezes and Andrew sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose with a free hand, "give him time to calm down, then talk to him. The way he is right now you're more likely to push him away than sooth him."

He carefully takes his hand away from the toe head's elbow and rakes his hand through his hair, making it messier than it normally is, "if he is in immediate danger, then go to him. If not, you need to give him space; you need to know when to leave him alone to gather his thoughts."

Adventurine looks down at the ground, the words sinking in and he realizes that Andrew is right.

"I...seem to have forgotten how to do that, after so long," he feels the tug at their connection and his eyes follow in the direction it's coming from, "fine."

Andrew shakes his head, "in the meantime, you need to explain what it is that's not Angelite's fault," he pauses, remembering something, "you're still part of the Crystal Gems, whether you are fused or not. So what name...?"

Adventurine hums, thinking it over, "we're still part of Danny correct?" Andrew nods in agreement, "then...call me Dan, it's shorter and less of a mouthful. I don't know what my charge would want to be called though."

"Just one of you is enough for now," Andrew smiles tiredly, "how about you go to your room and rest for a bit before meeting us in my library? Angelite will return in his own time."

"My room?" the now named Dan tilts his head, "I've never had my own room, or if I did I don't remember what it looks like. I've always been away on missions or with..." he looks in the direction of the pull again.

Andrew nods in understanding, "then now might be a good idea to create your own in case something like this happens again; or, if his gem allows, you can go to Angelite's room."

Dan sighs as he heads towards the door with the five pointed star on it. The green and blue gems on the bottom of the star light up and the door simply disappears, revealing a familiar cloud covered room that he hasn't seen in a long time. Dan smiles softly at the scene, "looks like his gem is willing," he says under his breath, walking into the room and letting the door reappear behind him.