#gem corruption

Rubellite has been fighting this beast for hours, but it was very durable and nearly impossible to dissipate. He hasn’t faced that many corrupted gems before, most of them sticking to beach city where Rose Quartz resided, but he’s had some experience! This shouldn’t be so hard!

Just as he was about to attack it with his katana again, he noticed a young human approaching him and the beast, looking awed and amazed, and seemingly unaware of the risk he is putting himself in, and he rushed towards the small child, intending to tell him that he needs to leave. But the monster jumped high and landed in front of him, blocking his way and standing between him and the boy, and letting out its demonic, unsettling shriek.

“Out of my way you weird, stinky, octopus thing! I need to save that human!” Rubellite protested angrily and rushed past the monster to the young boy.

The monster roared with what seemed to be indignation and flailed its tentacles in the air in rage, demanding Rubellite’s attention.

“Go red guy! Defeat the monster!” Thomas cheered happily from where he was sitting at a fairly safe distance.

“That’s not my name, and you need to get out of here! It’s not safe for you!” Rubellite answered as he finally reached the boy.

“But you’re here, so I’m safe right? You can stop the monster!” Thomas said with the conviction of someone who was saying that the sky is blue, to him this stranger was a hero, and heroes stopped the bad guys and protected the innocent. It was crystal clear.

Rubellite was impressed by how brave this kid was but even more shocked that he trusted this strange red person with a katana to not only stop a giant monster but also keep a small human safe. He knew there was no talking this kid out of staying to watch what was probably a very entertaining show for him, so instead he gave him a dazzling smile and spoke with his usual confidence.

“You’re right, my small friend! I can indeed protect you from this foul beast, but I must ask that you stay where you are! Sit tight and don’t act recklessly, and all will be well. Can you do that for me?”

“Yeah! Now go defeat that thing, because it's coming for you!” Thomas exclaimed excitedly and pointed behind the hero’s back, where the monster had started running towards him.

Rubellite quickly raised his katana and whipped it at the monster as he turned to face it, the blade bending to form a kind of whip, and then he spun it fast above his head until it became more of a lasso.

“Holy Smokes!” Thomas yelled, having witnessed just about the coolest thing ever in his 6-year-old little life.

“Time to finish this!” Rubellite announced, determination clear in his voice, and if anyone were to look in his eyes at that moment, they would see his fear over the possibility of failure, because if he failed it wouldn’t just be him getting hurt, it would also be this young boy whom he promised he would protect.

With a grunt of effort, Rubellite tightened the lasso, causing the monster to let out a desperate roar, almost sounding like a cry for help. Like it’s begging. For mercy? For Rubellite to finish the job? He wasn’t sure, but it shook him to his core for some unknown reason. Deciding he’ll dwell on it later, he kept pulling the lasso tighter and tighter until finally-

*POOF!*

Thomas clapped his hands loudly and excitedly, rushing towards the hero. “That. Was. AWESOME!” he yelled excitedly.

Rubellite laughed at the child’s enthusiasm. “I’m glad you think so, little friend. But there is still one last thing for me to do to ensure that you and every other citizen is safe from this foul beast!” he allowed himself to slip into his dramatic and charming persona, now that the worst was behind him.

But just as he picked up the corrupted gem to bubble it, he saw what, or rather who, it was.

That Navette cut gem was not only undeniably a Heliotrope, the red dots that nearly overtook the entirety of the green gem, even though Heliotropes are only supposed to have a few red dots and be predominantly green, made Rubellite absolutely certain that he had just fought and poofed his own brother.

“Oh, Bloodstone… I’m so sorry,” he whispered, fighting back tears and choked sobs as he held the gem, running his fingers over it for a few seconds. He always knew that some, if not most of the corrupted gems were Crystal Gems, but knowing it in his head and seeing it with his own eyes were two very different things.

“Are you okay, mister?” the child’s voice suddenly snapped him out if his thoughts, and he took a shaky breath. ~Get it together Rubellite! This kid thinks you’re a hero, if you cry in front of him he’ll be worried and scared!~ he scolded himself and took a deep, slightly more stable breath this time, before turning to Thomas with another charming smile, though his eyes shined with unshed tears.

“Of course, young adventurer! I’m absolutely fine, just a little tired from the fight. But it’s over now. Well actually-” he paused for dramatic effect and demonstrated the bubbling process to the young boy

“Now, it’s over!” as he tapped the bubble and saw it disappear, he knew that his brother would be safe with the crystal gems, which made him feel a little better.

“That was so cool! How did you do all those things? Are you magic?” Thomas started asking a lot of questions and Rubellite smiled fondly.

“Tell you what kid, you answer a question from me, and I’ll answer a question from you. Is that alright?”

“Okay!”

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Thomas Sanders. What’s your name?”

“My name is Rubellite!”

“What? That’s not a real name!” Thomas laughed as if Rubellite told a very funny joke.

“Oh yeah? Well, what do you think my name is?” He asked Thomas with a small smile.

“Hmm… Ronald?”

“That’s not it. Try again.”

“Robby!”

“Not that either.”

“I’ll find out, you’ll see!”

“I’m sure you will, Thomas.”

“But wait, are you really magic?”

“Kind of. I’m from another planet if you call that magic.”

“You’re from space? No way!!”

“Yes way! Okay, next question. How old are you?”

“I’m six years old!”

“Oh my stars! That is very young!”

“Oh yeah? How old are you?”

“I’m thousands of years older than you, that’s for sure.”

“Yeah right! Nobody is thousands of years old!”

“Maybe no human is, but I’m an alien, remember?”

“So you’re really thousands of years old? That’s amazing! How long have you been on earth? Did you know a lot of old-timey people? Oh! Is your name Romeo?”

“Romeo? Like the characters from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet?”

“Yeah!”

“How does a six-year-old know Shakespeare’s plays?”

“My aunt Patty likes to read it out loud a lot, sometimes out of nowhere. She also told me he lived a long time ago, so if you were here at that time maybe you knew him and he named his character after you!”

“That is a nice thought but if that were the case the play would have been called Rubellite and Juliet. Say, that doesn’t sound half bad…” Rubellite chuckled lightly.

“I don’t believe it! I know you have a real name! Rubellite is just like your hero name, right? Like Spiderman! his real name is Peter Parker!”

“You like comic books?”

“Yeah! I like superheroes! They’re so cool and brave, and they’re never afraid to help and they have lots of friends!”

“You know, I happen to know a team of superheroes myself. You could say I’m one of them.”

“Really? Who are they?”

“They’re called the Crystal Gems! They fight to protect the earth from monsters and evil aliens.”

“But, aren’t you an alien?”

“Yes, but there are good aliens and bad aliens, just like there are good and bad humans. The Crystal Gems are the good aliens and they fight anyone who threatens the earth because they left their planet to be free. Here on earth, they can be whoever they choose to be!”

“Wow! So you wanted to be a hero?” Thomas looked hopeful and curious.

“Not always. When I first came to earth, I was very young and very different. All I wanted was to be myself, to be allowed to exist. My planet didn’t like who I am, but Rose Quartz, the leader of the crystal gems, told me that I am exactly who I need to be because I’m who I choose to be.”

“So when did you become a hero?”

“When we started fighting for the earth. Our planet wanted to destroy the earth with all the gems who left to live in it, but we stopped them! And now we stop these monsters as well.” Rubellite explained with as little detail as possible, as to not frighten young Thomas, though his voice faltered a bit, no longer feeling comfortable calling his fallen friends monsters.

He always thought that if he kept referring to them as monsters, fighting them would be easier, but it’s not. He now knows it’s never gonna be easy for him.

“So wait, how long have you been on earth for? We’re you here before Shakespeare?” Thomas was still wondering about that part, there was no way he was around before Shakespeare, right? He lived like, a million years ago!

“Oh much longer! I’ve been on earth for almost 6000 years!” Rubellite said proudly, knowing Thomas will find this impressive.

“Wow! I can’t believe it! You’re so old!”

“That’s one way of putting it, I suppose.”

“Well, do you like Disney movies? Even though you’re so old? I like Disney but everyone tells me it’s just for kids because it’s cartoons.”

“Are you kidding? I love Disney! It’s so magical and fantastical and beautiful! And it is not just for little kids, thank you very much! They are wonderful animated movies and they are entertaining for every age. Even for aliens who are thousands of years old.”

“Really?!”

“Absolutely!”

Rubellite saw the sun was starting to set and he turned to Thomas. “well Thomas, it was nice meeting you but I think it’s getting a little too late for you to be outside, and you don’t wanna worry your parents.”

Thomas looked very sad, he didn’t wanna say goodbye to his new friend yet. “But I still need to guess your name!”

Rubellite frowned at the little kid’s sad expression, but then he got an idea.

“Well, I suppose because it’s getting late and you’re so tiny-”

“Hey!”

“It would be irresponsible of me to let you go home all by yourself. So maybe I can walk with you till you get home and you can try to guess my name. How does that sound?”

“That sounds fun! But what if you also try to guess my favorite Disney movie?”

“Alright, it’s on!”