Emerald was sure the Sky Spire mission would be straightforward and simple enough. If Garnet wasn't there, surely her, Pearl, Amethyst and Steven could get it done and still be home by noon.
At least, that's what she thought, at least.
On the way up, while Steven was trying to take care of his new goat friend, Steven Jr., Emerald was getting rather sick of listening to Pearl and Amethyst bicker the whole way up, until she got the strange feeling she was being watched.
She tapped Pearl's shoulder, not wanting to scare Steven with the feeling.
"What?!" She snapped, already annoyed with Amethyst.
Emerald flinched, turning her head back before whispering. "Do you get the feeling like we're being watched?"
Pearl looked confused at Emerald's question, as though she asked her what her favorite color of the alphabet was on a 1-10 scale.
"Please Emerald, Don't you start your games." Pearl asked, as though Emerald was just some bumbling fool.
"I dunno...I can't help but feel like we're not the only ones here" Emerald replied. "We could be in serious danger."
"Who could be here besides us? Humans? Homeworld Gems?" Amethyst replied.
"Well, if there were any, I doubt they're alive, considering those corrupted gems we just fought" Pearl added, pressing on.
Emerald rolled her eyes as she walked behind them, unable to shake the feeling. She held her arms in close, keeping them towards her gem in case she needed her sword.
They continued, with Emerald having to look after Steven as Pearl and Amethyst made their way to the Beetle.
As they reached the room, Emerald only caught notice of two figures before the Giant Bird broke through the walls and swallowed Pearl's spear as she threw it.
Pearl and Amethyst continued bickering as Emerald caught another glimpse of the figures as they tried to hide from the bird. However, there was no time to investigate, as by the time she managed to snag the Beetle, Pearl and Amethyst, now forming Opal, was too busy getting Steven and his pet goat out of the Giant Bird. Emerald put the beetle in her bag as she jumped out of the way of Opal's fall.
The Bird tried to go for another swipe at our heroes, but was interrupted when a large brick clocked the bird across the face. When Emerald looked to see who threw it, they hid.
Emerald was getting tired of this, and wanting to prove herself right, she walked over as Opal shot an arrow through the bird, poofing it.
Sure enough, she found two human boys shivering in fear behind the debris, one taller and one shorter, and neither looked (nor smelled) like they've been home in weeks.
"What are you doing here? Humans shouldn't even be able to get up here!" She shouted. "Where are your Parents?"
The taller of the two didn't reply, he only looked up at Emerald with fear in his eyes.
The shorter of the two looked at her much calmer. "Look, were sorry for trespassing. We'll leave if this is your place." He said.
"How did you two even get in here?" Pearl asked.
The taller of the two silently pointed at the floating spits of land leading to the entrance, looking shy and guilty.
"Look, you can't stay here. Come on." Emerald replied. "We don't bite"
The boys followed Emerald. She wanted to ask them why they even came out here at all, but kept quiet, wanting to get them to a safe place before she questioned their decision to infiltrate a Homeworld structure.
Little did she know, that these boys were not typical teenage boys...