Hey guys! So we finally figure out Circo's past. Anyway, here's the new chapter! :D
-Luna's POV-
We got off at the next railroad crossing. Amethyst helped Steven while Circo and I helped each other off the train. Once off, we followed Amethyst to some rocky valleys. As we drew closer, the air around us grew slightly colder, and the light seemed to grow darker. It might've been the fact the sun was going down, or the cliffs were so high that they blocked the sun. Either way, the place had an eerie feeling to it.
As we walked, Amethyst ran excitedly ahead, yelling at us to hurry up. We finally reached the entrance to the valley, and Amethyst yelled, "Welcome to the Kindergarten!"
All of us looked up, and I shivered a little. It was even worse up close. "Uh....It's great!" Steven said, trying to stay positive.
"Sure is, come on!" she said, leading us into the valley. As we walked, Amethyst talked to Steven, but I was paying more attention to Circo. He looked upset and was trying to hide it, but failing. I softly placed a hand on his shoulder. He flinched and I said, "Everything okay?"
"yeah, yeah," he said, shrugging away my hand. "I'm fine." He walked away, and I ran to catch up, noticing large machines in the side of the cliffs. "Uh, Amethyst, what is that?"
"Uh some old gem stuff," she said, walking past it. "Probably busted by now."
She then ran excitedly to a hole in the cliff that looked about Amethyst's size. "Hey guys!" she said. "Look, it's the hole I came out off."
I glanced at Circo, who looked at me concerned. Steven looked as Amethyst went inside the hole, all the way to the back of it. "It still has that hole smell," we heard.
Steven kept asking questions as I looked up. I gasped and saw that there were many holes in the cliff, all human shape like. I took a step back, the gut feeling in my stomach dropping. This was bad. something told me this place was really bad. "Guys," I said. "Maybe we should head back."
Amethyst came out of the hole and looked at me. "Why?" she asked, looking at me irritated.
"I just....I'm just getting a bad feeling about this place...."
Amethyst scoffed and said, "Your just scared."
"Yeah, i am. This place....it just doesn't feel right....."
Circo mumbled something and I looked at him. "What was that?" I asked, growing irritated.
"I said, you don't understand," he snapped, glaring at me. I flinched; what the heck was wrong with him?
-Circo's POV-
After snapping that comment, a warp pad light appeared and Pearl was standing on it. Luna looked relieved and so did Steven. But by the look on Amethyst's face, she looked annoyed, and I felt annoyed too. Pearl came over to us and said, "There you guys are," she said, annoyed. "Garnet said you be here, but I didn't want to believe it." She glared at Amethyst and said, "How can you bring them to the kindergarten?!"
"We were in the neighborhood," she mumbled. I looked at Pearl and said, "She wanted to show us where she came from."
Pearl looked at Amethyst and said, "How much did you tell them?"
"What? You mean about the bad thing? How this bad place is where bad gems came to grow bad gems? Is that what you mean?"
"Pearl?" Steven asked, looking at her. Luna looked scared, and said, "Amethyst?"
"Their not ready for this!" Pearl objected. But Amethyst kept going, saying how everything was okay because the Crystal gems won and stopped this place from ever growing anymore bad gems, and how she was one of the last ones to ever be created here.
"I'm sorry," Pearl said, turning to us. "I never wanted you guys to see this horrible place."
"Then why don't you just LEAVE?!" Amethyst shouted, summoning her weapon. She wrapped Pearl and threw her against one of the machines. Amethyst whipped her whips, hitting one of the legs of the machine. "Admit it! I'm just an embarrassment to you!" she shouted.
"I don't want to fight you!" Pearl shouted, getting up.
"I wouldn't want to fight me either!" she shouted, lashing her whips at Pearl. Luna took off the cheeseburger backpack and pulled out her mother's bow. She summoned and arrow and charged at Amethyst. I ran and tackled Luna to the ground, getting us both out of the way in time from Amethyst's whip.
She pushed me off of her, yelling, "What are you doing?!"
"I'm trying to get you out of harms way!" I yelled.
"We need to stop them from hurting each other!"
"Why can't you stay out of danger Sally?!" I instantly realized my mistake, and turned away from Luna. Dang it, there coming back. I felt Luna's hand on my shoulder. "Circo, what's wrong?"
"It's nothing," I said harshly.
"It's obviously something!"
"You wouldn't understand!"
"Why won't you tell me?" something in me snapped and I felt myself grow angry. "I. said," I spoke, summoning my sword. "You. wouldn't under. STAND!"
I whipped around, bringing my sword around too. I heard a scream and saw blood. My hand went slack and my sword fell to the ground, disappearing. I fell to my knees and covered my face with my hands. "No, not again," I said, shaking. "I didn't mean to hurt her. I didn't mean it."
"Circo!" I heard. I quickly looked up and saw that Luna's shoulder was hurt. but that wasn't the problem. The machine that Amethyst had whipped earlier was creaking and moaning, starting to fall right on top of all of us. I looked at Luna, who was trying to move out of the way. I quickly got up and ran to her. I wasn't going to let another person I hurt die because of me. The machine fell and I dove, reaching out to somehow protect Luna. I grabbed her and pulled her close. Her wings appeared, shielding both of us as the machine fell.
The ground shook as the machine hit the ground and us. Luna screamed in pain, but managed to hold her wings steady under the weight of the machine. When everything was quiet, I looked at Luna.
"Are....you okay?" she asked, looking at me.
"That's my line," I said, letting her go. She remained sitting, since she was injured and she was still protecting us with her wings. I looked at her shoulder and flinched; the injury is a lot worse up close. I looked away, "I'm sorry."
She shook her head, "You weren't yourself. I'll be fine once I get some water to heal it."
We sat in silence, waiting for the others to come find us in the wreckage of the machine. Luna broke the silence shortly after it started. "Who's Sally?" she asked. I sighed; I knew she was going to ask eventually.
"Sally....was a friend of mine when I was little," I said. "My dad would watch her on the weekends while her mom would work. At first, I didn't like her. But she grew to be like a little sister to me, and we would play often. But...."
"something happened," Luna said. I nodded, closing my eyes, remembering that say. I allowed the memories to come, though they were painful. As I explained, the incident went through my head.
-Flash back to younger Circo-
"Circo!" I heard. I looked up from the sandbox and saw that Sally was running over to me. Her golden hair was messy again, but she didn't care. She was happy to be outside.I smiled, "Yeah?"
What's that on your side?" she said, pointing to my gem. I looked and flinched. "It's nothing," i said.
"Come on! you can tell me!" she said,stepping towards me.
"No, I can't. My dad said I can't tell anybody."
"I pinkie promise I won't tell anybody about it."
I glanced at her, and hesitated. I sighed, and held my pinkie out. "Pinkie promise?" I asked. She held her pinkie out and hooked hers around mine, giggling, "Pinkie promise!"
"She was the first person I've ever told about me gem and, surprisingly, she didn't tell anybody about it. But......a week later, something terrible happened."
-Flash back, one week after event above-
I rushed home from school, scared that the news was true. I burst through the door of my house and saw my dad, sitting at the kitchen table, looking tired and worried. "Dad!" I shouted. He jerked up and looked at me. His eyes were puffy and he didn't look good.
"Circo," he started, but I cut him off. "Please tell me it's not true."
"What?"
"About Sally. Please tell me somebody didn't kidnapped her!"
My dad looked away, not saying anything. That was when I noticed a piece of paper on the table. I quickly grabbed it and read it before my dad could take it away. My heart dropped; it was a ransom note. The person wanted me to come to a location alone. My dad took the paper away and sent me to my room. But as soon as I walked into my room, I climbed out the window, and started heading towards the location it had said on the paper.
By the time I made it, the sun had set and it was growing cold. I stood in front of an abandoned warehouse, waiting for the kidnapper to come out. It was so dark, I didn't see the kidnapper until she was under the light of one of the street lamps.
"Hello, Circo," I heard. The voice sounded smooth and dark, making me flinch. I looked and saw a person standing under the street light. She had short black hair, that had pieces of black that shimmered in the light. She wore a black blouse that moved in the wind as it blew. She wore along black skirt, and black flats. What made me realize she was something like me was her gem. Her gem was black as night and was on her right wrist.
She smiled, "I see you got my note."
"Where's Sally?" I squeaked, meaning to sound more confident then I actually was. She laughed, making my skin crawl.
"Sally's alive, if that's what your asking," she said, taking a step towards me. "But I would be more worried about yourself."
"Why did you take her?" I asked, placing my hand on my gem, sensing a fight coming.
"For being half gem, you really don't think like one."
I flinched; how did she know I was part gem?! She smirked, "The expressions you humans make are hilarious. I was sent from home world to track down any remaining Sun stones and Moon stones. It seemed like my search led me to you. I wanted to destroy you when I first say you. But I knew that would cause some trouble among the humans. So I decided to take your little friend to lure you here to finish you off."
Something sliver and black came out of her gem and she held it in her hand, her fingers poking at the sharp blade of the dagger.
"Who are you?" I asked, growing more and more scared.
"My name is Onyx," she said, examining the dagger. "But now that I told you this, I'm going to have to kill you now," she said. Quicker then my eyes could catch, she was in front of me, her dagger held high to bring down on me. I managed to summon my sword and deflect the hit. I rolled out of the way and stood up. She laughed, "My! You certainly have your mother's sword skills. Let's see how well you can use that?"
She charged at me again, and I managed to dodge her next attempt. When I moved, however, I lost my footing. I then heard her voice by my ear, saying, "Behind you." She swiped her foot underneath mine, and I fell back. She brought her dagger down, and missed my ear by a centimeter. I rolled and hit the curb to the side walk. I went to get up, but Onyx grabbed the collar of my shirt and brought me close to her face.
"Your so pathetic it's adorable," she said. She threw me and I hit the warehouse door hard, sliding to the ground. I coughed, feeling my whole body hurt. i looked up and saw that Onyx was slowly walking towards me.
"You know, I should just kill you quickly, but that would be too merciful," she said. She summoned two more daggers and threw them, pinning my shirt to the warehouse door. I tried moving the daggers, but they were stuck deep in the door. I looked and saw that Onyx was a few feet in front of me. She held her dagger, ready to throw it, aiming for my heart.
"Funny how you humans can die so easily from something as small as this," she said. "Well, it was fun while it lasted, but now it's time to put out the sun."
She threw her dagger and I closed my eyes, waiting for the dagger to hit me. Suddenly, I heard a girl's voice scream, "NO!"
I opened my eyes in time to see a little girl, with golden dirty hair, jump in front of me, get stabbed by a flying dagger. She fell to the ground not moving. I looked in horror, the truth of what just happened hitting me hard. I felt tears in my eyes, but they immediately stopped when I heard Onyx say, "Well, one less human to worry about."
I felt something break in me. As if something was coming out and I was going to let it come out. The daggers pinning me to the warehouse door melted into liquid metal. I slowly stood up, my body generating extreme heat waves. I couldn't even remembered what happened next, but all I know was that next thing I knew, Onyx's gem was shattered don't the ground and in a lot of pieces.
I stood over the gem, painting. the realization hit me that Sally was still here, and I quickly turned and ran over to her. The dagger was gone, but the wound was deep. Her eyes were opened wide and she wasn't breathing. I went to touch her, but realized I was still too hot for people to touch. Suddenly, there was a loud crack of thunder and it started pouring rain. Steam rose off of me and I held Sally. Her body felt stiff and cold in my arms. I placed my head on her forehead and said, "Why couldn't you stay out of danger, Sally?" That was when I started to sob. I had lost the one friend who accepted me for who I was. I sobbed and sobbed, my sobs echoing into the night.
I felt arms wrap around me, and pull me close to a body. I could tell it was my dad, but I was too sad to care. My dad carried Sally's body and, a week later, a funeral service was held for her. I remember standing in front of her grave, and placing a single lily on top of it, saying, "I'm sorry, Sally."
-Luna's POV, present-
Even though the pain in my shoulder hurt, it didn't compare to what Circo was feeling. He had just finished explaining his story, looking really sad. "It's my fault she died,"he said. "If only I hadn't told her about me. Maybe she would've been safe."
"Circo," I said. "even if you haven't told her, Onyx would've known about you and would've figured something out to get you."
"Even so, it should've been me."
I looked at Circo, sadness welling up inside of me. "Circo," I said, my voice breaking a little. "She wanted you to keep living. And even though the dagger was meant for you, she didn't want it to be you who would die. She doesn't want you to continue living in this guilt. She gave her life for you to live, so live it! If I hadn't run into you, I would've been hurt so many times before hand. It's because of you, I'm still in one piece today. Don't carry this guilt; it wasn't your fault."
Circo looked at me, sadness in his eyes. "It felt like I lost a sister," he said. "And now....she's gone. I'm alone."
I reached my hand out and held his hand, saying, "Your not alone. You have Steven, Pearl, Amethyst Garnet and me. We're your family. You'll never be alone from now on, whether you like it or not."
He laughed and pulled me into a hug. I flinched but hugged him back, ignoring the pain in my shoulder for the moment. Just then, we heard metal creaking and voices. I looked up felt the weight on my wings lighten a little. I moved my wings and Circo and I looked up. Pearl, Amethyst and Steven were above us, moving metal out of the way.
"There they are!" Steven shouted. My wings disappeared, and Circo and I looked up the hole that was created by the metal machine. Steven had his hand extended to me, to help me out of the hole. i took it and stepped out. I turned back and said to Circo, "Come on. Let's go home."
Circo smiled, a tear running down his cheek. He took my hand and climbed out of the hole. We followed Pearl, Amethyst and Steven to the warp pad. As we stood on the warp pad, ready to go back, I felt Circo take my hand. I looked at him and saw he had a smile on his face that looked sincere. I smiled back. although it was painful for him to talk about his past.
He finally made it into the light of what good there is now.
..........
Yay! Everything is okay! For now. hope you guys liked this chapter and I'll try to update ASAP :)