Another emotional chapter that could depress you.
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Wattreader7389
GachaEvery
Tyra_is_day_dreaming
rosechuck_chuck
RoseTheMagicalFlower
3rd Person P.O.V.
"NO! NO! NO!" Huge Gigantacus slammed his tiny fist on his armrest.
He recently lost more planets to the Crystal Gems, which was embarrassing to him. He could deal with one or two planets being taken from him, because he could always recapture them. He lost more than he was comfortable with.
He wasn't going to let them get away.
"I worked so damn hard to earn my planets, and I'm not going to let them take it all away!" Huge Gigantacus yelled in fury as he navigated to his pilot room.
He felt surprisingly better today, mostly because he no longer has a robotic arm and two plates on his torso. He still can't process that Rose gave him a more healthy and even young body. He isn't even sure if he ever wants to see Rose again, after the 'crush' issue he still needs to work out.
"Well, no more Mr. Nice Warlord! The gloves come OFF!" Huge Gigantacus said as he took off his actual gloves. "Seriously, these things make my hands sweaty!"
"Uh, boss?" Iron Boarder spoke. "Since when were you Mr. Nice Warlord?"
"Shut up! And get me a different pair of gloves! I think these are faulty or something." Huge Gigantacus said as he wiped the sweat off his grey palms.
Iron Boarder went off to the other room on his board after saying, "right away, sir."
Huge Gigantacus' hands raced to his face, hiding his shame and embarrassment of his planets being taken from him, despite all of his hard work put into it. Whether you consider him good or bad, you cannot deny he worked harder than anyone, let alone anyone his size. He went from being an abandoned little man on a toxic wasteland of a planet to a warlord who is in the riches and can have whatever he wants.
Those planets are in his possession, and he doesn't like it when someone has something that once belonged to him. His issues of control and not wanting to share came from his early life. As a child, he never had anything to play with.
His family never treated him like a human being as a child up to his adulthood because of his usual small height and size. Being at home and school was hell for him, he never had solace without hearing someone mock and berate him for his height. All his life, he was always the laughingstock of anywhere.
He never got over all the insults he had heard.
"Look out! Baby man walking!"
"Aw, baby's first step of the day!"
"Shorty! Shorty!"
"Babies can't eat big-people food!"
"Why couldn't I give birth to a normal child?"
"That's NOT my son."
Huge Gigantacus hands were clenching as hard as they could, his anger nullifying the pain in them. If his family were still alive, he wouldn't kill him, he would work them to death, that way he would make them suffer for the rest of their lives and get productive use out of them. All of the negativity in his life and being told that he can't do anything because of his size motivated him into being this way.
Which is why he has this particular obsession with Rose. She's not like everyone else, not just because she's a magic talking flower. She never once insulted him about his size, only occasionally teasing, but mostly complimenting him by calling him cute and adorable.
Those may have been embarrassing, but nothing compared to all of the insults and mockery he received from his family and school bullies. Rose is the only one who treats him differently and even gives him the positivity his own family was supposed to give him. Is that why he feels this potential crush on her?
Despite their rivalry and her being a pain in his side, she never went out of her way to berate him and complimented him.
Huge Gigantacus' face heated up. "No... No... No... There's surely an explanation to why I'm feeling this way..."
"Who are you talking to?"
Huge Gigantacus jumped in his chair as he flinched from the jumpscare.
"WHAT?!" He asked, furious that his employee snuck in unexpectedly.
"Uh, I got your gloves." He said, tossing Huge Gigantacus a pair of fresh golden gloves to match the color of the horns on his purple helmet.
"Good. Get the ship ready." Huge Gigantacus faced away from Iron Boarder, hiding his blush. "We're going to go stop them."
"We're going to kill 'em?" The Iron Boarder asked.
He thought of it. If Rose showed up, the chances of killing her would be small, smaller than him. The Crystal Gems don't scare him, but Rose is affiliated with them. Does he want to kill them?
"No. We'd put them to work." Huge Gigantacus replied, unfocused to Iron Boarder.
"I don't think that's a good idea." Iron Boarder suggested.
Huge Gigantacus snapped his head back so fast, he could've snapped his own neck. "You question my authority?"
"Well, I do." Iron Boarder said boldly.
Huge Gigantacus made his chair float slowly and intimidating to approach Iron Boarder. "You do...?"
"Yes." He nodded.
"Why is that?" Huge Gigantacus replied slowly and softly, on the verge of shouting.
"Because you were talking about making sure they won't be a problem anymore, and if you really want to make sure they can't stop you, won't it be easier to thin their numbers?" Iron Boarder suggests.
"Oh..." Huge Gigantacus remembered. "Then, we'll lock 'em up."
"You sure?" Iron Boarder asked, checking to make sure if this is something he really wants.
"Yes, I'm sure." Huge Gigantacus snapped. "You really need to stop questioning me, or else I'll give you a pink slip."
"But I like my 401K plan." Iron Boarder whined.
"Then, do what I tell you to do and not question me often." Huge Gigantacus said, getting back to the situation. "We leave in an hour and we're going to stop their next retake."
"How would we know where they're going?" Iron Boarder asked.
Huge Gigantacus pressed a button on the panel. "By monitoring the nearby sectors from the planets we've lost. They'll alert us if something enters their atmosphere. Now, go get the ship ready! I got things to prep."
He leaves while Huge Gigantacus continues to contemplate his thoughts about Rose.
"Hey..." Huge Gigantacus calls out to Iron Boarder before he gets out of earshot.
He came back. "Yes?"
"If you see Rose, let me know." Huge Gigantacus said calmly, not in a vindictive or violent manner.
"Sure thing." Iron Boarder agreed. "Any reason why?"
The true reason why is because he couldn't face her when he has these thoughts, she could find out about it and she would never let him hear the end of it. She would probably like it, too.
"Just in case she shows up... Because if she is, we might have to withdraw." Huge Gigantacus defends his reasoning, hiding his real reason behind a more desired reason that could be the lucky bonus. "We hardly beat Rose in a scuffle."
"Just use the doohickeys that work on her." Iron Boarder said, leaving and going into a room that only Huge Gigantacus can go in.
Huge Gigantacus realized what he was doing. "WAIT! DON'T--"
He was too late to stop his employee from entering the room.
"Boss... What is this...?"
Iron Boarder was observing the pictures of Rose and the little 'trophies' that Huge Gigantacus collected, whether it was something she dropped or something she damaged that belonged to him.
"It's my... research room." Huge Gigantacus said, having a hard time trying to find a acceptable answer.
"You're researching her?" Iron Boarder said in awe of how many pictures he collected of her. "Is this why you're in here so much...?"
"GET OUT!" Huge Gigantacus said, using his chair to equip his freeze ray. "NOW!"
He obeyed his employer. Once he left, Huge Gigantacus slammed the door shut.
Earth:
"We're off to rescue another planet from the midget." Amethyst said, pumped to go save lives and stop Huge Gigantacus from enslaving the Galaxy.
"I'm coming with you." Spinel said. "About time we show that punk who's boss!"
"Let's go." Peridot said, leading the group of three, including her, to a roaming eye to leave the Earth.
As they left, Rose was floating over to Steven's house, her eyes a little red from crying. She sniffled, despite not having a nose.
"I want to go see HG today..." Rose said, mostly to herself. "He'll make me better, but I don't know where he is~!" She whined like a child at the end, trying to amuse herself and feel better.
Instead, Rose is going to see Steven today and see how he's doing. His innocence appeals to her in a way that makes her feel better as well, but not like when Huge Gigantacus gets angry or annoyed by her antics. Suppose it was better, Rose can't tease him when she's upset.
She went to Steven's house where Phoebe and him were watching TV.
"Hi, Rose!" Steven waved at her.
Rose could hardly believe that a young adult like Steven could act so innocent.
"Hello, Steven." Rose greets with a soft smile. "How was your day?"
"Great! Thank you for asking." Steven said kindly.
Phoebe shifted in her spot. "What brings you by?"
"Oh, I like going around and checking in on everyone." Rose said, surreptitiously talking about these dire times without disclosing too much information and pawning it off as a normal conversation.
"That's very thoughtful of you." Steven compliments.
Rose moved her petal hand to his cheek. "Phoebe is definitely right about you being a sweet boy."
Steven blushed. "Aw, shucks."
Rose seats herself between Steven and Phoebe. "So, how was therapy?"
"Good." Steven replied a little too quickly.
"Rose, have you been crying?" Phoebe pointed out, noticing the slight redness in the bottom of her eyes.
"Oh... um.... I have allergies." Rose lied, one that even Steven saw through.
"Rose, you don't have to lie about your feelings." Steven said calmly, he knew better than to be direct and inconsiderate of her feelings.
"I'm fine... really." Rose fights back against the waterworks.
"Rose." Steven puts an assuring hand on her little cape. "You can be honest with us, and we won't judge you for it."
Rose thought it would be better if she just told them than to hold onto it longer.
"I miss my old life..." Rose said, releasing some of the weight from her shoulders. "The townsfolk, the goats, the kids, George, the simple life, everything..."
Steven and Phoebe listened to the flower talk, not wanting to stop her from talking and venting.
"The people there were so nice and understanding... The king and queen loved me and showed me off... I performed tricks for people without being labeled as a witch... I've ridden many goats, all of the kids loved me..." Rose said, curling her little legs up like a kitten.
Rose leaned on Steven.
"I just wish I could go back in those days and relive them." Rose said softly. "I never knew I had it good until it was gone... But it was my fault..." Rose's voice croaked. "I left them... I left them... all because I couldn't handle George's death..."
Rose began to cry, her face buried in Steven's lap.
"HE LEFT ME!" Rose screamed in anguish, but it was muffled by Steven's legs. "HE LEFT ME AND I LEFT THEM! THIS IS MY FAULT! I COULD'VE SAVED THEM ALL FROM FORECLOSURES AND CLIMATE CHANGES!"
Steven's feelings were very sensitive right now. He doesn't like to see others cry, because then it makes him cry as well. If Rose continued to cry, he'll be joining her as well.
The door was opened forcefully by someone.
"AYO, guys! Guess what I--" It was Howard and he immediately paused when he saw what was happening on the couch. "Whoa... is everything okay?"
Rose looked up from Steven's lap, her eyes red, similar to her head.
Howard looked embarrassed that he showed up at the wrong time. "Oh... Is this a bad time?"
Rose wiped her eyes. "No, dear. It's fine... What do you need?"
"Well, before I start, I guess you guys are feeling down, which might be beneficial for what I have here." Howard said when he reached into his pocket. "You guys mind if I try to make you all feel better?"
They all gave him their approval.
The skinny man pulled out a Scottish bunnet cap. "I was learning how to speak with an accent, and I realized how funny I would look when wearing this and with my voice." He puts on the cap and he crosses his eyes with a goofy smile. "How's it goin' lads? Ya al'ight?"
Steven and Phoebe lets out small chuckles and Rose smiles a bit.
"How are ya doin' sweet'art?" Howard leans close to Rose, which causes her smile to grow. "Ya seem a little down. How 'bout I grab ya something to drink?"
He does an exaggerated walk with big steps to the fridge and opens it dramatically.
"What da ya have in here?" He asked as he was going through the fridge. "ALL I SEE IS WATAR!"
A giggle came out of Rose's tiny mouth while Steven and Phoebe were grinning from ear to ear.
He grabbed a bottle of water and opened it. "Cold watar?! COLD WATAR?! NO SODA?! NO TEA?! YA'LL GOT NO TASTE!" He dipped his head back and left his mouth wide open and dumped the water in his mouth, his mouth quickly became overflown with cold water and it spills out and onto his clothes and the floor.
Phoebe's smile and chuckles quickly turned into a scolding mother. "Howard, NO! I Just cleaned this floor!"
He swallowed the water, wiping himself. "Oh, don't ya worry about that. I'll clean it up."
He grabbed a paper towel and began wiping up the floor. Rose smiled, she needed a good laugh.
"I'm so glad people like you and Steven exist in this world." Rose said with a delighted sigh. "It's people like you worth staying on his planet."
Elsewhere:
"Let us go, purple wanna-be Lord Dominator!" Amethyst yelled as she, Spinel and Peridot were locked in a cell designed for gems.
"Isn't she dead?" Spinel asked.
"I dunno." Amethyst shrugged.
Huge Gigantacus was sitting on a chair, his head in the clouds while Amethyst was jeering.
"HEY!" Amethyst yelled.
"What?" Huge Gigantacus finally said a word after being in his own head long enough.
"Let us out!" She demanded.
He shook his head. "Not going to happen."
Iron Boarder was just waiting for his next orders by his boss.
"You're nothing without that ice ray of yours!" Amethyst jeered again.
"Actually, it's a freeze ray." Peridot corrected her. "An ice ray would be more about frost while a freeze ray is... well, freeze."
"She's right." Huge Gigantacus agreed with Peridot. "An ice ray would be like a laser weapon shooting an ice variant of its laser, but meant to slow its targets down and chill them. Meanwhile a freeze ray is meant to immobilize targets immediately."
"If you don't be quiet, I'm getting duct tape." Iron Boarder threatened, not being as serious as Huge Gigantacus.
"I ain't scared of duct tape!" Amethyst stated.
Huge Gigantacus sighed and folded his arms. "That's it, get the duct tape."
Iron Boarder went to fetch the duct tape.
"You have until he gets back to be quiet." Huge Gigantacus warned her.
"Argh! Why are you even like this?" Amethyst asked, annoyed that he was treating her and the other two gems like children in timeout.
"Because you're taking what's mine." Huge Gigantacus replied honestly.
"Those planets do not belong to you!" Peridot said, pointing a green finger at him.
"And neither do they belong to the Diamonds." Huge Gigantacus pointed out Peridot's misguided stance of the planet's ownership. "At least when I'm in charge, the universe is safer."
"You're no special, HG." Spinel said, using her stretchy and shapeshifting abilities to file her non-existent nails with her own hand, not caring about her imprisonment because she knows its temporary and because she has friends accompanying her, otherwise she would have been experiencing a mental breakdown from her isolation issues.
Huge Gigantacus could've had them all separated, but he didn't.
"You're just another cocky warlord conqueror who has robots and such as their minions to do their dirty work while you just sit around and watch it all happen." Spinel continued. "We're gonna kick ya butt soon enough."
Huge Gigantacus snorted. "Right, because I'm SO much like Lord Dominator. You see, unlike me, she has been paid to do what she did last year and she destroys planets for a living. Unlike the delinquent, I take full control of any planet I find and have them work in a different economy that is guaranteed protection from inflation and deflation as well as giving everyone jobs, no unemployment."
"That's a fancy way of saying that you enslave planets for a living." Spinel mocked, being insightful of her secret intelligence, which impressed Peridot and Amethyst that she could see through Huge Gigantacus' exaggerated 'truth.'
After all, she was a super villain once, and he's a super villain, which means she could possibly know what he's thinking if she were to get in his head.
"Better than being a broken toy." Huge Gigantacus smiled.
"YOU TAKE THAT BACK!" Spinel snarled at him, standing up.
"Fine. I'll take it back..." Huge Gigantacus sighed, defeated. "Because what I actually mean is being a useless broken toy."
Spinel's pupils expanded in the wake of her fury. "YOU LITTLE--"
Huge Gigantacus leans forward and looks at her with a face that means for her to pause and stop before she finishes that statement. "Little what?"
Spinel folded her arms, knowing if she finished, she'd be dead. "Little maggot..." Spinel fibbed as she mumbled in disgruntlement.
Huge Gigantacus sighs, he's spending way too much time with them.
"Boss, do you think Rose is coming?" Iron Boarder asked, coming back with duct tape in his hand.
Huge Gigantacus was expecting this. "Possibly. Did she trigger the sensors yet?"
"No, but I suppose she'll notice they're gone and come looking for them. She's the only one who could just show up here and take us by surprise." Iron Boarder said.
"Not if we have our scanners and devices monitored for her." Huge Gigantacus replied. "She's probably on Earth right now, because she knows I won't go anywhere near it."
"Why, are you scared of it?" Amethyst jokes.
"Actually, yes, I am." Huge Gigantacus admits. "And for good reason."
"Why?" Peridot asked, curious to know why he refuses to step one foot on the planet.
"Earth is home of many horrors, and SHE is one of them!" Huge Gigantacus points a picture of Rose.
Earth:
Steven was in bed, it was late and Phoebe was going to bed, but stayed up because she was told to wait for a meeting. This meeting is being hosted by Yellow and White Diamond.
"Good, now we can get started." Yellow Diamond said, she was adjusting her platinum belt while she started with the introductory statement. "We've recently discovered that Huge Gigantacus' robots are improving by the day, they've gotten smarter and stronger."
"And we have the bruises to prove it." White Diamond made a remark, because it is evident to look at most of the gems in the livingroom and you can see their battle-damage on their forms.
"And this involves me how?" Phoebe yawned.
"We've recently lost contact with three Crystal Gems. I can presume they've been captured by Huge Gigantacus." Yellow Diamond said, sighing. "We may have a lot, but our group is a lot smaller compared to his army. We need to consider reaching out for you..."
"Well, I can help out when I can." Phoebe said, being calm about this. "Just let me know when to jump in."
"...and Steven too." Yellow Diamond finished.
"NO!" Phoebe slammed her fist on the coffee table, she wasn't tired anymore.
Everyone flinched at Phoebe's sudden aggression and loud voice, they've never saw her like this before.
"He's NOT going back out there." Phoebe said with her teeth grinding.
"If our numbers are low, we're going to need all the voluntary help we can get." Yellow Diamond had her rebuttal prepared.
"I don't like it either, but Steven can really help us." White Diamond spoke out. "He's trained more extensively than the rest of us, and we don't have the time to take training lessons from you at this moment."
"He is still recovering from last year, and I promised that I won't let him get dragged into another family drama from your kind!" Phoebe growled.
"This ISN'T a drama from us!" Yellow Diamond returned the aggressive attitude when Phoebe said, 'your kind.' "This is an attacker outside of our world and has nothing to do with our family!"
"No, but any time he does something like this, he's always doing it for someone. He's never done anything for himself and I'm not going to let you ruin this for him!" Phoebe got in her face.
Yellow Diamond didn't back down and stared back at Phoebe. "Phoebe, I understand you're cautious because of Charlotte, but this isn't like that. He is nothing like her."
"How can you be sure?" Phoebe asked.
Pearl got between the two of them and pushed them away from each other. "You two need to calm down before you wake Steven up."
"All that he has done is use robots to invade our colonies and has an issue with Rose in particular." Yellow Diamond continued.
"Guilty as charged." Rose admits.
"Besides, how do you propose Steven is physically and mentally capable of just getting back into it?" Phoebe asked with folded arms. "He still has trauma and he hasn't been in a fight or training session in a long time."
"We can train him a little to get him to jog his muscle memory of his past training sessions and fights, but as for the trauma, I don't know." Yellow Diamond said, unsure.
Rose has an idea, but it's not the best one. She could simply take away Steven's trauma from last year as easily as that, but here's the catch, someone has to deal with the trauma. It's like copying and pasting text from a Google Doc to somewhere else from a text box, except Rose would copy Steven's trauma and has to paste it into someone, and yes, that's the most accurate analogy to explain it.
No one else would want Steven's trauma. Which means Rose would have to paste it into her own mind, but she has enough on her mind already.
Come on, do it. Take the brat's issues out of his head and put it all up here with me. I'm sure I'll have some fun with it.
Rose could hear Nec'Rose speaking to her within her head. She won't give her the attention, so she tries focusing on the group.
"I could possibly help..." White Diamond speaks out again. "But last time I did this, I made Pink run away."
Pink Diamond knows what she's talking about. Rose was honestly okay with any other option that isn't her transferring Steven's trauma to someone.
"What is it?" Phoebe asked.
"I could go into Steven's memories and remove the source of his trauma. If he forgets about it, he won't be able to be very innocent." White Diamond explains.
"You're turning my baby into an emotionless soldier again?" Phoebe asked while raising her voice slightly.
"No! No! Not at all!" White Diamond held her hands up defensively. "He can still be humble and be his old self."
Phoebe sighed. "I don't want him to fight anymore. He's earned his retirement."
"We won't be forcing him to fight, but we would greatly appreciate this if we can get him to help us." Yellow Diamond said. "If White can't help him, then surely Rose has something to help him."
Rose didn't like that.
"Yeah... sure..." Rose said, trying to pretend that she doesn't have a demon talking to her in her head.
"I just don't know..." Phoebe said, calming down.
"I know HG." Rose said, comforting Phoebe. "I've been with him long enough to say that Steven will be fine."
"Yes, and that's another thing. He's scared of Steven." Yellow Diamond added on.
"He is?" Phoebe asked.
"Yes. I disguised myself as him using this watch and he was shaken up by his presence alone." Yellow Diamond elaborated.
Moonlight begrudgingly raised a hand. "I will admit, I thought she was him and made goo-goo eyes on her."
Phoebe put her hands together, contemplating. "Fine... But if he doesn't want to do this, then let him rest."
End of Chapter 11
10/27/2022