In another world, a different world, Opal Crystal has grown up loved and loving her life in Strudelville. Despite the strangeness of the town, and the black hole that is her mothers history, hers is a simple life with the promise of a bright, colorful future...but that all changes one night, and her world will never be the same again.
(an AU, or alternate universe, of Crystal Gen 1)
Opal: …I let this thing out. I have to stop it.
Violet: And you will. Just…not right now. Let me handle this part.
Opal: What if something happens to you? I couldn’t go and get you out–
Violet: And I couldn’t get you out. Look, I’m trained for dangerous situations. I can handle it. You just stay up here where it’s safe.
Opal: But there has to be something–
Violet: Sorry. Not this time. Staying safe is your job now.
*cloth rustles*
Violet: Ugh finally–Base, do you copy? This is Strudelville Recon. Base, do you copy?
*static*
Violet: Ugh…base, if you can hear me, send back up. The situation is escalating rapidly.
*door opening*
Violet: *gasp* She wouldn’t–Weiss!
Opal: *cough* Ugh that stinks…
-
Violet: Weiss, wait!
Violet: Weiss! Are you out of your mind–get back here!
Opal: I’m sorry, Violet. I have to do this.
Violet: You are going to get yourself killed!
Opal: It’s just flipping a switch, right? I’ll be back as soon as I can.
Violet: Weiss!
Opal: Ventilation system, ventilation system…if I was a control terminal where would I be…ah! That way.
-
*air whirring*
Opal: There we go. That should–
*horrible rumbling noise*
Opal: …what was that.
Opal: …o..kaay…this is…this is bad. Really bad. Um. …I should turn back.
*growling noise*
Opal: …that’s a plant?
Scanner: Welcome, Snowflake Crystal. Warning: Containment Unit has been breached. Facility is under Condition Omega. Please exercise extreme caution.
Opal: …Watcher, grant us your grace…
Violet: Well. Happy now?
Opal: No! No I am not happy now!
Opal: There is a giant three story plant under my town, and it growls, and it’s–
Violet: It’s a monster. You don’t fight monsters, Weiss. If that even is your name.
Opal: Does that even matter?! You can’t fight that thing either–it’s bigger than you!
Violet: I make a living fighting bigger things than me. *sigh* What was I thinking getting you involved. You’re just a civilian!
Opal: Just a civilian? You wouldn’t have gotten this far without me, Violet! If that’s your name–you’d still be at the door without me!
Violet: oh, sure, turn this on me!
Violet: We both know the only reason you’re still here is because you feel guilty about it.
Opal: …guilty…
Violet: Sure. For opening that door in the first place, for being curious. .You think you did this and you have to fix it. Let me tell you something: thinking like that gets people killed.
Opal: You don’t understand–
Violet: You think you’re the only one who’s hurt people before, starshine? We all screw up and sometimes we can’t fix it, but getting ourselves killed trying won’t make anything better!
Opal: I’m not trying to do that!
Violet: No, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. You’re not trained, or prepared, for facing that kind of monster. And I can’t risk your life anymore.
Opal: You can’t–
Violet: No, I can’t. I’m taking you back to town and you’re never coming back here again. Got it?
Opal: …
Violet: Got it?
Opal: …got it.
-
Opal: Who the hell does she think she is?!
Opal: Miiksha? Q? …Mama? When did you get back? ….Mama?
Snow: ….
Opal: !! Mama!
Snow: J̸̧̪̫̫̩̿͗͑̇̕͟O̵̷̪̰ͩ͆ͅI̶̴̗̗̦͍ͨͭ̉͢͟N̰̜͉͔ͬ̽͢ U̸̫̠̰͈̕S̵̶̮̬͖̄͑͟–RUN!–J̸̧̪̫̫̩̿͗͑̇̕͟O̵̷̪̰ͩ͆ͅI̶̴̗̗̦͍ͨͭ̉͢͟N̰̜͉͔ͬ̽͢ T̷̫͉̰͕̒́H̶̪͍̒ͥ͑̓E̸̖̪̱͚ͨ̀͜ M̶̷̲̊ͥ͋͟O̵̷̪̰ͩ͆ͅT̷̫͉̰͕̒́H̶̪͍̒ͥ͑̓E̸̖̪̱͚ͨ̀͜Ŗ̴̪̈̄͞
*Opal screams*
Opal: VIOLET! VIOLET, PLEASE–
Violet: Weiss? Watcher, what’s–
Opal: Violet–
Violet: Whoa–easy, easy! Slow down, what happened? Are you okay?
Opal: No, I’m not okay! My Mama, she–she’s–
Violet: Slow down. Deep breath in…..and out. Again. In….and out. Okay. Start over–what happened to your Mama?
Opal: She came home early. I went back home and she was there but she was…she wasn’t herself, she was…her voice wasn’t the same it was she was…oh, Watcher..
Opal: I’m gonna be sick…
Violet: Whoa–okay, come here, it’s okay…
Opal: Mama, she…
Violet: Easy. One breath at a time, starshine.
Opal: She…*deep breath* I went back to the house, and she was home. She wasn’t supposed to be home for days now, but she was there, and I…
Violet: You tried to talk to her?
Opal: She…it was like she was…possessed…like the…
Opal: Like the plant got her. Oh, Watcher…Mama!
Violet: ….come inside. We shouldn’t be out here.
Opal: I don’t understand! How could this have happened?!
Violet: I don’t know. She must have…run into something, somehow.
Opal: Mama…how can I fix this, there has to be..
Violet: I found some old research documents after we split up. The last time this happened, killing the main plant was enough to release its hold on the victims.
Opal: …it’s three stories high, how can we…we can’t do it alone…
Violet: We won’t do it alone. I called for back up when we got back. They’ll be here in the morning.
Opal: …I’m sorry. I never should have…this is all my fault…
Violet: It’s not your fault. I would have blown that door, or someone else would have forced it. This was going to happen sooner or later.
Opal: …we could have been more prepared…
Violet: No use crying over spilled milk, starshine. We can only move forward, not back.
Opal: …how are you so calm?
Violet: It’s not my Mama on the line. …and I’m trained. It helps. You’re coming into this blind and untrained, it’s a lot.
Violet: But…look, you’re not alone. I’ll help you fix this, and so will our backup. We’re going to make it right.
Opal: ….thank you, Violet.
Violet: Aurora.
Opal: …what?
Aurora: My name. Aurora Rose. You can call me Ro.
Forest: What a mess.
Cadence: The entire town is under lockdown, Ro. There’s no getting back out now.
Aurora: We can’t leave yet. I promised her we’d get her mother back.
Forest: Aurora…
Aurora: I promised, Chief.
Cadence: That’s all well and good, but we don’t have a cure, or an inoculation. The only way to help is to destroy the plant. I don’t know if we can.
Aurora: There’s plenty of stuff in the base. Can you make something out of that?
Cadence: Maybe, but I don’t know for sure. Not without looking at it first.
Opal: Ro? …who…
Aurora: This is the backup I promised, starshine. My boss, Chief Stone, and his partner Cadence. Guys, this is–
Opal: Opal.
Forest: Miss. If we ask you to stay here, would you?
Opal: No, sir, I wouldn’t. This is my fault. I have to fix it.
Cadence: Your fault? How do you figure?
Opal: I stole my mother’s keycard and opened the Technotron. This wouldn’t be happening if I hadn’t.
Aurora: Opal…
Cadence: Wait…Technotron–Snowflake Crystal is your mother?
Forest: And she’s been taken over by the plant. Great. *sigh* The Hero of Strudelville, taken over by the Mother Plant’ kid.
Aurora: …well how’s that for irony.
Opal: I don’t know about any of that. I just know that I opened that door, which means I have to help close it.
Forest: Miss Crystal, it will be extremely dangerous. Are you sure about this?
Opal: Yes sir.
Aurora: She’s eighteen today. We can’t tell her no.
Forest: *aggravated sigh* Now there’s two of you.
Cadence: Now you know how I felt. Well, let’s get going.
Forest: Miss Crystal, you should know you won’t be able to go back to life as you knew it once this is over.
Opal: I’m sorry?
Forest: You’ve seen things the military didn’t want anyone to see. They’ll do quite a lot to keep that quiet.
Opal: …are you saying the military will come after me?
Forest: Yes. I am.
Opal: Oh.
Aurora: Chief, don’t scare her.
Forest: I’m sorry, I don’t. *sigh* There are solutions to that, of course. You could go into federal protection as a whistleblower, or…
Opal: …or?
Forest: Or you could join us.
Opal: Wh-what? I’m an art placement, not athletics!
Aurora: Chief?
Forest: You have heart, and bravery, and integrity. We could use people like you in the force.
Opal: I’m sorry, I don’t–I’m not, I mean, I don’t. It’s.
Aurora: You’re serious!
Opal: I. Wow. Just…wow.
Aurora: Hold up–would this mean she’d work with us us, or…
Forest: Us, us. You need someone to watch your back, and we need the numbers. You need a partner, Aurora. This could work out.
Aurora: We do work pretty well together!
Opal: Chief Stone, I’m really not…do you think I could be a good fit?
Forest: I do. You’d need training, of course, but we can get you up to speed fast enough.
Opal: …and, Ro…you’d really be okay with this?
Aurora: Of course I would. It’d be nice, having you around.
Cadence *chuckle*
Opal: Well, in that case…I’ll need to talk to my Moms, but…if this works out, maybe?
Forest: That’s fine. Let’s get this done first.
Cadence: On that note, I’ve got good and bad news.
Aurora: Good news first.
Cadence: I was able to make enough vaccine for the three of you.
Forest: And the bad news? …I know that face. Something tells me I’m not going to like this.
Cadence: You won’t. It has to be administered via injection.
Forest: …I hate needles.
Opal: Wait, three? Don’t you need a dose?
Cadence: Oh, no, the plant can only affect organics. I’m not organic–long story. So who wants to go first?
Aurora: Well, may as well be me!
Opal: …well, here we are.
Aurora: Nervous?
Opal: Very.
Aurora: We’re here.
Cadence: What…is that?
Forest: Trouble. Move!
Forest: Into position! Aurora, take up the six!
Aurora: Hey! Over here, you overgrown weed!
Aurora: OPAL!
*Plant roars*
Opal: Eat this!
Cadence: Get back!
Aurora: OPAL!
Forest: It’s dead. We did it.
Opal: Yes!
Forest: We are never doing that again.
Cadence: You big worrywart.
Aurora: Opal!
Opal: Wha–oh, Ro…I’m okay. I promise I’m okay.
Aurora: Of course you are. You just took down a three story tall plant.
Opal: No, we just took down a three story tall plant.
Opal: Why can’t I stop laughing?
Aurora: That’s the adrenaline. It’ll fade.
Rainbow: Stellar Opal Crystal, get down from there this instant!
Opal: –! Oh no…
Aurora: Who the hell?
Opal: Miiksha. My other mother.
Aurora: ! Commander Prism!
Quartz: There they are!
Snow: Opal!
Opal: Mama!
Snow: Baby–oof! Oh, Opal! I’m so sorry, baby, you never should have seen me like that.
Forest: Did killing the plant release her?
Cadence: I don’t think so. She’s too aware of herself. Maybe the Commander had something.
Aurora: Or maybe she broke free on her own. She did stop the thing herself before.
Opal: Mama, I’m sorry…I never should have…
Snow: It’s okay. You did what you had to do.
Opal: …I thought I’d lost you…
Cadence: –in short, we want to offer Opal a place in the Division. She’s a promising candidate.
Snow: She’s an art major! She’s not–
Rainbow: She’s shown more courage than her entire class, nikan. To say she is incapable would be an insult.
Cadence: She would go through basic, just like anyone else. It won’t be easy, but she has a chance.
Snow: I don’t know…
Forest: Ma’am, with all due respect? It isn’t your decision to make.
Aurora: Nice view.
Opal: Best view in town.
Aurora: Yeah.
Aurora: You okay?
Opal: I’ve been thinking about what Chief Stone said. About my joining you guys. …there are other governments and militaries like this one, aren’t there. With secrets?
Aurora: Always are. Are you thinking about that?
Aurora: I’d be down for it, if it’s you.
Opal: Oh thank Watcher.
Aurora: It won’t be easy, though. It’s hard work, and training’s brutal. But then…we did just take down a three story plant, so. I guess you can handle anything.
Opal: …yeah. We can.
[End: Stranger Skies]
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