Chapter Text
There’s something about a ship gliding through space that lulls Deku into sense of peace and contentment. He’s not sure if it has to do with being able to watch the vast and beautiful galaxy pass him by, or if it’s the feeling that time ceases to exist between the planets he travels by. Whatever it is, there’s nowhere else he’d rather be than travelling with his best friends and with the steady thrum of the ship’s engine under his fingers. After all, Emeralds are known for their love of piloting.
That’s why he’d agreed to this job in the first place.
It had all started about a year ago, shortly after the Diamonds had come to an agreement with Steven to end their tyrannical reign and establish peace in the universe. Gems had been invited to leave their Homeworld to move to Earth, and it was no surprise that many were curious to leave their past lives and start anew.
As warp pads were still being constructed to connect the planets at the time, the only way to travel had been via spaceships. That’s were Deku comes in. He’d gathered his crew and taken up the duty to travel between both worlds to deliver gems.
It had been busy at first, but once the warp pads had been completed, the demand had trickled to almost none. Nowadays, their business relies on those who preferred traveling the old-fashioned way. Steven compares it to taking a train instead of a plane on earth. That, or gems coming to and from planets without a method of warping.
Currently, they are on their way back to Earth having dropped off a group of Amethysts on a planet known for its beaches. In about a week, they’ll be back to pick them up, but not everyone in his crew had been happy about leaving to hopefully land another job somewhere else.
Deku turns to his left to see his Moonstone friend still pouting in her seat.
“Uravity…You know, you could have stayed,” he reminds her.
The pink gem lets out a huff while crossing her arms. “Without you two? It’s no fun if I don’t have my favorite people in the galaxy with me.”
“What about the Amethysts?” A voice behind Deku speaks up. He turns to find Ingenium, a Blue Zircon, pausing his game of solitaire on the hologram screen to glance their way.
“You could have had a great time with them. Amethysts are lively gems.”
Despite saying this, Ingenium’s mouth is set in a hard line. Deku knows that it’s more than likely because Ingenium wouldn’t have left the planet without Uravity anyway.
“And leave you two to your own devices?” Uravity levels them with a look. “I think not.”
Deku sighs, “We would have been fine. It’s only for a week!”
Maybe.
He can’t say she’s entirely wrong in her lack of faith when it comes to their abilities. While Deku may be the pilot of this ship, he’d be nothing without Uravity’s expert navigation or Ingenium’s mechanical experience.
“That’s exactly my point!” Uravity groans, “We all would have been fine taking a week off.”
“Actually, I have to agree with her,” Ingenium says thoughtfully, “Taking a break every now and then is vital to one’s well being and we have been going nonstop for weeks.”
Deku clenches his jaw and tries his hardest not to pull his hair out. Of course he’d take Uravity’s side.
They always do this to him.
“We have plenty of downtime guys! We’re doing it right now by doing nothing,” Deku says, nearly shouting from exasperation.
Uravity frowns, motioning the ship around them. “You think sitting for hours and days on end in this metal contraption is fun? Deku, I get that you love being in space, but I’m tired of being cooped up in here. I miss the outdoors. I miss home.”
Maybe it’s because she’s right and he too is going a little stir crazy, or maybe he’s tired of being the odd one out of their group, but something inside him snaps. He slams his fist on the control panel.
“Fine! If you really hate it that much, then we’ll head back to Earth and drop you off!”
The moment the words leave his mouth, Deku instantly regrets it. It doesn’t help that he can see frustrated tears gathering in Uravity’s eyes and Ingenium’s disapproving frown.
“Deku, you know that’s not what she meant,” the Blue Zircon says while adjusting his glasses.
He opens his mouth to apologize to the both of them, but before he can get a word out, a shrieking alarm goes off, making them all jerk in surprise.
“What’s going on?” Ingenium calls, raising his voice over the blaring. He and Deku turn to their co-captain as Uravity furiously types away at her control center. A hologram screen comes up, showing a large vessel heading their way.
“Incoming ship! Possibly hostile!” she barks as she makes her way over to him, “Deku, they have their weapons out! I need you to reach out to defuse the situation!”
Deku wastes no time opening up the communicator to see if their unfriendly guests have their lines open. Surprisingly, they do, but before he can make contact, the other vessel beats him to it. They receive an incoming call, and Deku immediately answers it.
A large screen appears towards the bow of their ship, and on it, a broad and daunting gem sneers at them. Deku recognizes the gem the moment he sees it. It shines, hues of red and orange mixing together like flames, placed directly over where the other’s left eye would have been.
A Spessartine.
They are known for their strength and ruthlessness
“An Emerald, Moonstone, and Blue Zircon…what an odd group of gems,” the Spessartine says slowly as his right eye trails across their ship, almost as if searching for something more.
For some reason, this causes the hair on the back of Deku’s neck to stand. He doesn’t like the condescending way this gem looks at them. There’s just something about him that screams bad news.
“Yes, we are a group of peaceful gems that work as a transport agency between Earth and Homeworld. May I ask why your ship continues to head towards ours with your weapons drawn?” Deku asks pleasantly.
The Spessartine chuckles deeply, as if Deku’s made some sort of joke, but makes no motion to recall their lasers. Deku glances at the map and sees that the larger vessel is still approaching at the same pace. He’s running out of time to make a decision. Should they continue to play the peace card, or should they ready their own defenses?
“Just a precaution, my fellow gems,” the Spessartine finally replies with a smirk, “I mean no harm to you, but I do need to know your mission and whether you are concealing any gems onboard.”
Ingenium clears his throat, and Deku recognizes it as the other’s secretive way of asking for a command.
Deku gives his own signal to hold off for now by twirling a green curl.
“I already told you,” he answers with his own tight grin, “we were hired by the Diamonds and Steven Universe to deliver gems. We just finished our latest mission, so it’s just my crew and I.”
From behind the screen, Deku watches as a spot in the distance rapidly expands in size as it makes it way towards them. There’s no doubt in his mind that it’s the Spessartine’s ship.
“Which was?”
Deku chews on his bottom lip. He could easily tell the other captain the information he needs, but he has no idea what the other’s intentions are. What if, after all was said and done, he went and attacked the Amethysts? Deku would never forgive himself.
“That’s classified,” he says instead, and this time, Deku does motion for Ingenium to set up their line of defense. It isn’t much, but it might be enough to avoid an unnecessary battle.
“Deku,” Uravity whispers, concern laced in her voice as Ingenium flips a couple of switches.
This action, along with the barrels coming out of their ship, doesn’t go unnoticed by the Spessartine, who roars in outrage. “You fools! You dare point your weapons at me after spewing all that nonsense about peace?”
“We aren’t trying to be your enemy!” Deku protests, but he knows at this point, it’s in vain. The other gem has already made up their mind about them.
The Spessartine makes a signal, and the blasters on the other ship begin to power up.
“Please!” Uravity begs even as her fingers hovered over their own weapons, “Gems shouldn’t have to fight each other anymore!”
The other captain scoffs, “You actually believe in this farce? Pathetic! As long as the Diamonds are around, there will always be war! Now perish, you insolent clods!”
Shit!
“Now!” Deku yells as he ends the transmission and reaches for the steering wheel. He knows the command is too little too late, but Ingenium doesn’t hesitate. The ship rocks as their large canon goes off just in time to counter the multiple lasers heading their way. More blasts head in their direction, and Deku does his best to maneuver around them to avoid getting hit.
“We have to escape!” Ingenium shouts over the loud explosions going off on both ends. “We can’t take them one-on-one!”
“Right!” Deku turns to Uravity as she mashes buttons on her control panel and pulls on a lever to prepare and deploy their hyperdrive. “Uravity! How much time do you need?”
“Ninety seconds!” she calls out, not even glancing their way as she maps out the best course of escape.
A direct hit makes the whole ship veer to one side and causes the lights around them to flicker. Deku tries his best not to panic as he fights to steer them back into a more level position. Meanwhile, he can see Ingenium landing some shots of his own, but the damage to the other vessel is minimal at best. Unless the other ship has a weak spot, they aren’t any closer to stopping the Spessartine’s assault.
“Thirty seconds!” Uravity screams as Deku swerves so sharply that they almost flip upside down.
They’re so close! It might be the longest ninety seconds of his existence, but he can do it. He has what it takes to keep this up for a little longer.
Deku positions the ship towards their warping destination, flipping the switches on his end to activate the portal, but before he can tell Uravity to commence hyperdrive, the words die in his mouth.
“Incoming fleet!” Ingenium shouts. As if Deku can’t see the armada of vessels separating from the mothership himself.
No.
The bottom of his stomach drops as all those tiny ships point their weapons at them and shoot. He can only watch as a meteor shower of projectiles hurtle their way. It’s overkill, really, but if destroying them really was the Spessartine’s plan, then he’s going to succeed. There’s no avoiding the attack. In fact, Deku will be lucky if, at this point, he can minimize the damage enough that they can survive.
“Deku, they’re coming too fast! We’re not going to be able to escape in time!” Uravity shrieks, all but confirming their impending doom.
Ingenium, for his part, continues to do his best to counter the blasts. To anyone else, the gem might appear calm, but from the pinch in his brow, Deku can tell that even Ingenium knows that impact is inevitable.
He has to come up with a plan and quick. There’s less than ten seconds left before they can deploy hyperdrive. If their ship can remain intact enough to warp to their new destination, then maybe they stand a chance...but first he needs to change their coordinates.
“Uravity! Plan a course to the nearest planet!” he yells as he grips the steering wheel hard enough to make his fingers go numb.
“What?” she asks, but even in her confusion, Deku sees her make the changes anyway.
“We’re going to make it. You just have to trust me!”
“Prepare for impact!” Ingenium screams right after, and not even a second later, laser blasts begin to pelt the side of their ship.
Deku does his best to avoid the worst of it, but that doesn’t stop the alarms from going off or the lights inside from flashing like a red strobe light. His control panel assesses the damages for him, and while it’s not critical yet, he doesn’t think their ship can take the second wave coming their way.
“Activating hyperdrive now!”
Time seems to slow down the moment the words are out Uravity’s mouth. Maybe that’s why it takes Deku a second too long to flip the switch to their freedom. Or perhaps Deku had been overly optimistic. Just as their ship starts to make its way through the portal, one of the enemy’s lasers clips their left wing, creating an explosion strong enough to knock them out of their seats.
Deku feels his body go flying towards the right side of the ship and knocks his head against the ground. His vision goes fuzzy, and there’s a ringing in his ears. He can barely make out the alarms warning them to evacuate the ship through their seat ejection. He tries to get up from his spot on the floor, only to find that centrifugal force has him pinned. Without him at the helm, the ship must be spiraling out of control, and if they really were warping to the nearest planet...a crash is inevitable.
Doing his best to ignore his pounding head and the fact that his vision keeps going in and out, Deku takes in his surroundings. There’s a gaping hole on the left side of his ship and he swears he can hear someone screaming his name despite the roaring sound of air whipping past the ship.
A bright light shrouds his vision, enough so that Deku has no choice but to close his eyes. He’s not sure what it is, maybe another explosion, but what he does know is that this must be the end. They are going to hit this planet at full speed and shatter on impact.
Tears pool and spill from his eyes as he thinks of his friends, of everything he isn’t going to get the chance to do. All because he’d been too stubborn to take a break.
Except…
The end doesn’t come for him. Instead, his free fall slowly turns into floating, the feeling like he’s a helium balloon drifting among the clouds. Sometime during his supposed final moments, Deku had closed his eyes and braced for impact. Now that they are open again, he can see why he’s not on the ground and shattered into pieces along with his ship.
A large purple face with squared glasses peers into the giant hole created by the explosion. One brown and one red eyes blinks at him in concern before reaching into the ship to pull him out. The large hand tenderly cradles Deku in the cup of its palm before leaning in to take a closer look at him.
He recognizes them immediately.
“Tanzanite...”
“Are you okay?” the fusion of his two best friends asks him, “You look like you hit your head pretty hard.”
“Yeah, but I think I’ll be fine,” he grunts, skull throbbing at the reminder of his injury.
Deku rubs at his eyes and takes a better look at his surroundings. They pass through fluffy clouds as Tanzanite gently descends through the atmosphere with Deku in one hand and their battered ship in another. Tanzanite must be using their zero gravity powers to control their descent to the ground.
In truth, he’s lucky that Uravity is such a quick thinker. He’s sure the plan to fuse and slow their crash had been hers. Without her, they surely wouldn’t have made it, and the guilt eats at him for having snapped at her earlier.
He knows he still owes her an apology. He owes both of them really, but not like this. He makes up his mind to do it once they’ve unfused.
So instead, he lays there, dazed and avoiding all eye contact until he feels Tanzanite’s feet hit the earth of whatever planet they are now stuck on. The fusion carefully puts him down before using the rest of their energy to make sure their ship is placed in a way that it can be worked on. They are surrounded by tall trees, and the area around them looks mostly wooded. It’s daytime, but Deku can’t see any signs of life other than the sounds of cicadas chirping in the distance.
“Even from the sky, there was no evidence of any civilizations,” Ingenium’s voice came from behind him.
Oh, so they’d unfused already.
Deku turns to look at the state of his friends. They look just a ragged as he feels. Ingenium is pointedly avoiding his gaze by pretending to clean his glasses while Uravity does the same by kicking at a rock by her foot.
The tension in the air is so thick, Deku finds it hard to breathe.
He has to say something. If he doesn’t apologize now, what kind of friend and captain would he be?
“Guys, I…” Deku tries, his voice cracking from strain, “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”
Uravity’s mouth twists into a frown, while Ingenium clears his throat and spares him a glance.
“Deku-”
He doesn’t let Ingenium finish. Even if the Blue Zircon was ready to forgive him, Deku didn’t feel like he was finished apologizing.
“No,” Deku interrupts, “I was selfish and I put everyone in danger because I made the wrong call more than once. You both have every right to be mad at me.”
Ingenium doesn’t respond this time, but that probably because Uravity is stomping her way towards Deku. At first, he thinks that she’s going to hit him. Maybe even yell a little about how frustrated she is with him. What Deku doesn’t expect is for her to hug him.
“You idiot,” she whimpers into his ear as she clings to him. “We were almost blown to bits because of you, but we’re all safe, and that’s what matters most.”
Tears immediately spring to his eyes as he holds her back just as tight. He doesn’t deserve to be let off the hook just because they had a near shattering experience, but she has a point. Deku could have lost the people he loves most, but luckily they are all in one piece.
Ingenium shuffles his way over to them awkwardly, and Uravity snatches him into a group hug the moment he’s close enough. He lets out such an undignified squawk at being grabbed so forcefully that Uravity’s sniffles turn into giggles. Her laughter is so infectious that Deku can’t help but chuckle along with her.
“I don’t see what’s so funny,” Ingenium mutters with a pout. “You do realize we’re stranded here.”
Uravity must pinch him because the Blue Zircon yelps loudly.
“Hush, we’re having a moment right now,” she scolds lightly.
“Fine,” Ingenium sighs as he sags into the embrace. He rests his chin on top of Uravity’s head, making her squeeze them a little tighter.
If they happen to stay like that a little longer than necessary, who could really blame them?
________________________
The damage to the ship is worse than they feared.
“This is going to set us back for weeks!” Ingenium wails at what’s left of their beloved ship.
That’s the worst understatement Deku’s ever heard. Even after spending a day taking note of all the repairs the ship needs, he can tell that the ship is more scrap metal than anything at this point.
It doesn’t help that they’re stuck in the middle of nowhere, no repair station in sight. Which means that the amount of damage they can fix is limited, since they don’t have access to fancy tools and spare parts. If there’s any chance of them getting off this planet in the next couple of weeks, then their best bet is to try and fix the communicator box first. If they can do that, then it will only be a matter of reaching out to Homeworld so that someone can come get them.
Deku makes his way over to said piece of equipment that is currently a bunch of frayed, sparking wires. The box itself doesn’t look completely irreparable, but the control panel is a mess of missing buttons and broken parts. Deku’s no electrician, but he has nothing better to do than to try.
He reaches for one of the wires first, but before his hand can touch anything, Uravity grabs him by the elbow.
“I don’t think you touching anything right now is a good idea.”
Deku turns to face her with a pout.
“Come on Uravity, let me help you guys out. What’s the worst that can happen?”
Ingenium stops what he’s doing from across the ship to give him an incredulous look. “Deku, I know you want to help but...you remember what happened the last time.”
Of course, he remembers. He’d accidentally forgotten to tighten a few bolts and reattach a wire or two, but it wasn’t anything serious!
“You guys act like I destroyed the ship or something,” he mutters but makes no move to try and touch the wires again. He tries to tug his arm free until eventually Uravity lets him go. She gives him the stink eye, though, as if daring him to try and touch anything again.
“Maybe you didn’t destroy it,” Ingenium says with a sigh, “but we spent days trying to figure out why the engine wouldn’t start.”
“And then you tried to deny it was you,” Uravity chimes in with a laugh.
To be fair, he’d only denied it because he couldn’t remember if he had made the mistake or not. He may or may not have been lost in thought while repairing the ship. Almost like that feeling of walking somewhere while distracted, but not remembering how you got there once you arrived. Just...lost in the motion. So when all was said and done, he’d totally forgotten that he’d tried fixing the ship at all.
“Okay, but that was one time,” Deku protests while crossing his arms. He knows it’s a losing battle, but he at least has to try and defend his honor.
“One time out of way too many others,” Uravity retorts while shaking her head and putting her hands on his shoulders. She turns him around and then lightly pushes him until Deku is through the giant hole on their ship and back outside.
“Why don’t you relax out here, and if we need a hand, we’ll holler?” she says, doing her best to placate him.
Deku slumps at that, all too knowing. “We both know that won’t happen.”
Uravity lets go and moves so that she can face him again. “Maybe, but there’s other things you can do to help.”
“Like what?”
“Hmmm...how about you go and explore the area around us?” Uravity suggests, lighting up at her own idea, “Maybe you can find somewhere nice for us to take a break, or look for resources we can use?”
Despite his hurt pride, Deku does have to admit that the thought of venturing through the woods and mapping their surroundings sounds like more fun.
“Okay, fine.”
“That’s the spirit,” Uravity cheers while giving his back a light smack. “Just don’t get lost!”
She’s joking, but neither of them would be surprised if it does happen. “If I’m not back in two hours though, come find me.”
His response makes her laugh, but she agrees and watches as he takes off in order to know which direction he went.
He decides to head east first. He’ll have plenty of time to explore after all.
Every now and then, he stops to leave a mark on a tree trunk or some sort of trail to find his way back. There’s plenty of foliage in these thick woods, but what unnerves him the most is the lack of any sort of life. He’d thought maybe they’d scared off any local creatures with their crash, but it’s been a whole day since then and still nothing. He’s lucky if he hears a bug or two chirping, but he doesn’t actually see any of them.
How odd.
The sound of a tree branch snapping comes from behind him, startling him out of his thoughts. Deku doesn’t even get a chance to turn and see the cause of the noise before he’s tackled to the ground. Something heavy presses him into the dirt, and Deku struggles to twist his body to see what his assailant is.
What he doesn’t expect is to see a beautiful but very angry gem glaring down at him, poised to attack. The red and white gem is straddling him with one hand pressed against his throat, while the other is raised in a fist and covered in flames.
Woah.
What a cool power!
Deku tries to raise his hands in a way to block any attack while showing he means no harm.
The other gem doesn’t buy it and snarls at him. “Who sent you?”
“What?”
Deku lowers his arms to get a better look at the gem above him. That’s when he sees it. A red gem might replace the other’s left eye, but reflected in that steel gray right eye, he can see fear, not true fury.
The handsome gem sitting atop him is terrified, and Deku immediately wants to know why.
He reaches out to touch the other. Maybe brush his fingers against the other’s bangs so he can get a better look at the gem that’s partially covered by strands of hair, but his hand is slapped away harshly.
“Answer the question, Emerald!”
Deku snaps back to his senses.
Right, this guy had asked him if he’d been sent.
“No, no one told us to come here.”
The gem above him clenches his jaw but doesn’t lower his guard. “Then what are you doing on my planet?” he demands.
“W-we were attacked! We didn’t mean to intrude on you!”
“Well, you’re not welcome here, so leave!” he shouts, igniting his left hand again threateningly.
This time the flames are way too close to his face and Deku panics. “Wait, wait, wait!” he shouts. “We crash landed! Our ship is in pieces, so we can’t leave even if we want to!”
The fire in the other’s palm goes out suddenly, courtesy of what Deku can only assume is shock.
“You mean, you’re stuck here?” The half and half looking gem finally lets go of Deku’s neck, and his shoulders slump in defeat.
“S-sort of,” Deku stutters, not sure what to make of this new development. “We’re working on fixing the ship, but it could be weeks before we can take off.”
“Weeks?”
“Yeah, sorry.”
Deku watches as the other gets lost in his own head, probably trying to come to terms with this new situation. They stay like that for an uncomfortable amount of time before the gem on top of him rips himself away with a curse and stomps over to the nearest tree. Deku blinks in awe as he watches the other punch the trunk of the innocent pine until it’s base is covered in a sheet of ice.
So fire and ice powers?
Deku has never seen that before, but he doesn’t have time to analyze it. The fear from before had turned into anger and the last thing he needs is this gem complicating their way out of this place.
“Uh, look... We can stay in our area and try not to bother you if that helps?”
The gem rounds on him while tugging on his hair in agitation. “That’s not the point!”
Ah, he can see the gem better now.
It’s a Red Agate, and it’s so big that the round gem not only takes up his eye, but also covers part of his face like a scar.
“Oh…” Deku replies, not entirely sure if he says it because he’s so taken by this gem or because he’s confused. He decides to go with confused. “Then what is the point?
The Red Agate groans and turns so that he’s facing away from Deku. “Nothing. Just…stay out of my woods and get out of here as soon as you can.”
There’s something so sad about the way he says it that it makes Deku’s heart ache. Even though he should obey the other gem and head back to their little camp, his feet stay planted to the ground. Deku doesn’t know why, but he wants to learn more about the lonely individual in front of him.
He opens his mouth to ask the other why he’s on this planet himself, but doesn’t get the chance to. The Red Agate makes a sound of frustration before springing away from Deku.
“W-wait!” he calls out helplessly, but it’s in vain. The other is gone in a blink of an eye.
Deku’s shoulders slump and disappointment sits heavy in his chest. It almost feels like he’s been rejected, and while Deku should be used to the feeling, it still smarts.
With a long sigh, he looks around for his last marker and uses the path he’s made to make his way back to Uravity and Ingenium.
He finds the latter laying on his back, tinkering with something under the ship while Uravity sits next to him with a box of tools to hand him. She’s the first to notice his less than cheery attitude.
“Welcome back, Deku. Guess you didn’t need us to come rescue you after all!” she teases him, frowning when she doesn’t get the reaction she expected. “What’s wrong?”
Deku chews on the bottom of his lip, unsure of where to begin recounting his strange encounter. After muttering to himself for a bit, he decides to start with the most important information.
“Turns out we’re not alone on the planet, and we aren’t welcome.”
Uravity gasps, and Ingenium slides his body out from under his spot to peer at Deku through his grime covered glasses. “That’s easier said than done. Who knows how long we’re going to be stuck here with the amount of damage I’m finding.”
“Obviously, but our host doesn’t seem too happy about this,” Deku says and then explains exactly what happened, describing the gem that’s here with them.
“A Red Agate, huh...I wonder what he’s doing here all alone?” Uravity ponders out loud.
“If he’s hostile to everyone he sees, then maybe it’s best that he is,” Ingenium retorts with a chopping hand motion.
Deku shrugs, but doesn’t really agree with his friend’s statement.There’s just something about the other gem’s last words to him that resonate deep in his chest. Deku is well versed in being able to tell when others don’t want him around...and while the Red Agate gave off this aura at first, Deku knows there has to be more to the story.
Maybe while they’re stuck here, he can dig a little deeper. He has plenty of free time after all.
“I don’t know,” Deku finally says, “But I’m sure it’ll all turn out fine.”