30Chapter Eighteen: Loose Ends
"Garnet...what...what did you do?" Lars asked.
Despite this question, it was obvious what she had done. She destroyed the only gateway between Earth and Etheria, leaving Lars separated from the off-colors with seemingly no way to get back.
"I'm sorry, Lars," said Garnet. "It was the only thing I could think of. If Scorpia got through, or if you got captured, the Horde would still try to take the Earth. I made the only decision that could have prevented that."
"But now the off-colors are stuck in some other dimension!" Lars said. "What are they going to do without their captain?"
"Don't worry about them," Steven said. "They managed to survive on Homeworld for millions of years, I'm sure they'll be fine! Besides, they've got the princesses to help them!"
"I guess so," Lars said. "But still, what kind of captain am I to just abandon my crew."
"Hey man, enough of this pity-party stuff," said Amethyst. "You didn't abandon nobody. You did everything you could for them."
Peridot stepped over. "If it's any consolation, I'm sure I can get this portal working again soon," said Peridot. "I helped build it, you know."
Steven consolingly placed his hand on Lars' back. "We'll go back for them," he said. Lars nodded, smiling. "But right now, the important thing is that you're back! Come on, we've got somebody to say hi to!"
As Connie headed home (her parents were no doubt worried sick), Steven led Lars out of the temple and into Beach City. Before long, the two arrived at a familiar house in the suburbs.
Steven went over to knock on the door, but Lars stood back. "Lars? What's wrong?" asked Steven. "Don't you want to see Sadie again?"
"Well, yes," Lars said hesitantly, "but what if she doesn't want to see me? I've been gone for a while, and so much has happened. What if she doesn't-huh?"
Steven had already knocked on the door, and was talking with Sadie's mother, Barb. Soon enough, the familiar face of Lars' old coworker appeared in the door frame.
"L-Lars?" she asked softly. "Is that really you?"
Lars looked nervously towards Steven, who gestured towards Sadie. "Um...Y-yeah, it is," Lars said. "How...how've you been?"
"Well, good, I guess," Sadie said.
"So...I hear you started a band."
"Yeah. I hear you died."
"Yup."
"Wait a minute, I have an idea!" said Steven. "Lars, how about we go show you to your parents, and you can tell us all about your space adventures? I'll call Ronaldo, too!"
"That...sounds like a great idea, Steven," Lars said.
"Yeah," said Sadie. "I'd love to hear about what you did out there." She looked around. "Didn't you have a crew of Gems with you?"
"Oh, yeah," Lars said, looking at the ground.
"It's a long story," Steven said. "Lars was in space, then we went to another planet that was in another dimension, and they're trapped there. But don't worry, they're with our new friends! Come on, Lars, your mom and dad really missed you!"
Steven ran off into the distance, stopping a ways away to let Lars and Sadie catch up. Sadie stepped out of the house, standing next to Lars.
"Well, let's get going," she said.
"Yeah," said Lars. "You know...Steven brought me a recording of some of yous guys' songs...but I'd really like to hear them in person some time."
Sadie smiled. "Sounds like a plan!"
As the three of them walked down the street, slowly, ever so slowly, Lars and Sadie's hands grew closer together. Not quite grasping the other, but close enough to touch.
"Again, I can't thank you enough for letting us stay here!" said Rhodonite. "Aside from that Horde, this planet is much friendlier than Homeworld!"
"Oh, don't mention it," said the sorceress known as Castaspella. "Any friend of Glimmer's is welcome in Mystacor. You can stay as long as you like!"
"Thank you, but we should get going eventually," said Rutile's left side. "Yes, Lars will likely be worried," her right side added.
"So, Auntie, do the ancient writings mention anything about Gems?" Glimmer asked.
"Not specifically," said Castaspella. "I did manage to find a passage mentioning, and I quote, 'beings who were made of pure light.' It dates back several thousand years, so it certainly could be about Gems, but it's hard to say for sure."
"Well, it's better than nothing," said Glimmer. "So, what's it say?"
Castaspella grinned at her. "You know, it is getting late," she said. "Maybe I could read it to you for a bedtime story?"
Glimmer groaned. "Aunt Casta, come on! Not in front of the guests!"
Meanwhile, Adora and Bow were off to the side, discussing the portal between Earth and Etheria.
"So, is there any way to replicate it?" asked Adora.
"Not with what we have now," said Bow. He was looking at some schematics on his tracker pad. "Unless we have to sets of portals, with one here and one on already on Earth, the only way to make a gateway would require not only an extremely powerful First Ones artifact, but some way to specifically target the Earth."
"Well, we have one of those," said Adora, raising her sword. "I'm sure something will come up sooner or later."
"I hope so," Bow said. "If the Horde gets to Earth first, there's no telling what they'll do."
"We are not going back to Earth," Hordak said.
"What!?" exclaimed Catra. "But, Lord Hordak, what about all the potential resources?"
"The Earth is too heavily protected," Hordak replied. "We have enough problems dealing with She-Ra and the princesses, we don't need to draw the ire of a rogue cell of Gems on top of that!"
"The Gems are nothing!" Catra said. "We had them dead to rights, we could have finished them off if the Princess Alliance didn't interfere!"
"You have solved your own conundrum," Hordak said. "Besides, even a small group of Gems is not to be underestimated."
"Sir, just give me one more shot!" asked Catra. "We'll be prepared this time, we'll know what to expect!"
"I will not discuss this further," Hordak said. "Focus all of our efforts on the princesses, and waste no more time on planet Earth. Dismissed."
Reluctantly, Catra left the room, leaving Hordak to his own devices. He was accompanied only by Imp, the small creature perched on his arm.
"We will take the Earth in time," he said aloud. "Using the power of Etheria, I will rebuild our army, and restore the Horde to its former glory! I will then destroy all of Gemkind; I will avenge my brother."
Catra angrily walked out of Hordak's inner sanctum, greeted by Entrapta and Scorpia on the outside. "So, what'd he say?" asked Scorpia.
"He said we're not going back to Earth," Catra said.
"Ah. Oh well," Scorpia mused. "You win some, you lose some, you know?"
"Quiet. Just because Hordak said that doesn't mean we aren't going back there," Catra said.
"Wait, you're going back even though Hordak said not to?" she asked. "Isn't that basically treason? We're not going to get in trouble, are we?"
Catra ignored her. "Entrapta, you can build another portal, can't you?" she asked.
"Eh, yes and no," answered Entrapta. "Me and Hordak were already building some portals, but without a direct line to Earth, we're back to square one. We'd need some sort of beacon, so to speak. Some way to connect ourselves to Earth."
The trio had begun to return to Entrapta's workshop. "What sort of beacon?" asked Scorpia.
"Pretty much anything we can connect to," said Entrapta. "The portal frames were ideal, but anything would work, like a…"
"What about a communicator?" Catra asked.
"Yeah, a communicator would work perfectly, actually!" Entrapta said.
"That works out nicely," Catra said. "I just so happened to drop mine right inside the Crystal Gems' temple. Can you access it remotely?"
"Can I!?" Entrapta said excitedly. She broke into a run, Catra and Scorpia following behind her. She had already begun constructing some kind of portal device.
"A communicator, that's perfect!" she said. "All we have to do is call it once this thing is ready, and we have a direct line to Earth!"
Catra grinned. "And we have a direct line to the Crystal Gems."
"Oh, that reminds me!" Entrapta said, hopping off of her workbench. She began rummaging through her stash of First Ones tech. "In order to power a device like this, we're going to need a particularly powerful First Ones artifact. Fortunately, I happen to have just the thing!"
Entrapta returned, holding an object behind her back. "I found this bad boy a little while back," she said. "I've been saving it for a special occasion, and I think this qualifies!"
Catra was largely unimpressed, unlike Scorpia. "Ooh, what is it?" Scorpia asked, excited.
With an exaggerated swing, Entrapta brought the object out from behind her back, holding it triumphantly above her head. It was a scepter of some sort; light purple in color, with a dark purple gemstone at the tip.
"Behold!" she cried excitedly. "The Staff of Keldor!"
