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andrewmoocow · 4 years ago

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Steven Universe Alternate Future chapter 16: Enemy of my Enemy (originally published on May 3, 2021)

AN: At long last, Black Rutile strikes! I have been anticipating writing this inevitable confrontation between her and the Crystal Gems for ages, and now finally everything I've building up to these past two parts will come together in a neat little package! We got a big battle, a villain song, fusions, who could ask for more?! But I'm getting ahead of myself, let us finally begin.

Synopsis: Jasper is unofficially sworn into the Crystal Gems when some old foes come together.

Cast:

Zach Callison as Steven

Estelle as Garnet

Michaela Dietz as Amethyst

Deedee Magno-Hall as Pearl

Noël Wells as Black Rutile

Lauren Ash as White Topaz

Grace Rolek as Connie

Jennifer Paz as Lapis, Zuli, Mean Lapis

Shelby Rabara as Peridot, Squaridot

Uzo Aduba as Bismuth

Matthew Moy as Lars, Dante

Kathleen Fisher as Fluorite

Enuka Okuma as Rhodonite

Ashly Burch as Rutile Twins

Erica Luttrell as Padparadscha Sapphire

Christine Baranski as Hessonite

Della Saba as Aquamarine

Charlyne Yi as Eyeball

Larissa Gallagher as Bluebird Azurite

Jinkx Monsoon as Emerald

Melissa Fahn as Demantoid

Kari Wahlgren as Pyrope

Kimberly Brooks as Jasper, Biggs Jasper

Aparna Nancherla as Nephrite

Michelle Maryk as Larimar

Ian Jones-Quartey as Snowflake Obsidian

Amy Sedaris as Teal Zircon

Martha Higerada as Topaz

Dee Bradley Baker as Lion, George, Elaine, Cosma

AJ Michalka as Stevonnie

Nancy Linari as Martha

Featuring Catherine Tate as Lepidolite

Alan Oppenheimer as Professor Poindexter

And Burt Ward as Mangolin

It has been a hectic past few hours for Steven. He was having another nice day when suddenly, Hessonite, Squaridot, and the Off-Colors all came flying out of Lion's mane, telling him that Lars needs to see him just as the Destiny Destroyer crash-landed on the beach.

Not too long after, Lars was rushed to the hospital and Steven decided to follow him in the ambulance. Steven had never been to a hospital before, so it was a little frightening for him to be somewhere on Earth that he had never been before, especially since many humans go there regularly.

"Hello, did you admit any patients into this place recently?" Steven hurriedly asked the receptionist.

"Name please." the college-aged receptionist answered, barely glancing up from her phone to meet Steven's panicking eyes.

"Steven Universe!" Steven gave his name.

"You're going to have to be more specific Mr. Universe." the receptionist stated.

"He's got pink skin, a scar over one eye and his hair is a portal to a pocket dimension where there's like a couple of trees inside." Steven explained. The woman just stared at Steven in confusion for a bit before going back to her phone. "Anything the matter, miss?"

"I'm happy you said all of that with a straight face." the receptionist said, putting down her phone to go on the computer. "One sec Universe." She looked up the most recent patients on the monitor and turned it to show Steven his desired patient. "Are you looking for Mr. Laramie Barriga?"

"Yes, that's him!" Steven exclaimed. "I was there when he got taken away in that ambulance! Where is he now?"

"Room 723." the receptionist answered. "Take the elevator, make a left and then a right. Got that?"

Before the woman could turn back, Steven had already vanished to find Lars. "Kids." she grumbled.

As Steven raced through the hospital in search of his undead friend, numerous unfamiliar sights greeted him. A doctor's office contained a child receiving a flu shot, a man in a wheelchair let Steven pass him by, a woman was on her way to an operating room, and a doctor solemnly fixed an empty hospital bed while a family was mourning.

Finally, Steven reached Room 723 just as a nurse was passing by the room. "Hello, I'm a friend of the patient occupying this room, and the Off-Colors told me what happened. Can I please come in and visit him?"

"You may." The nurse replied and opened the door for Steven. "Doctor Laurie, our patient has one more visitor." She said to the doctor standing by a bedridden Lars along with his parents, Sadie and Shep. "He said a bunch of "Off-Colors" told him everything."

"I'm here Lars!" Steven exclaimed as he rushed into the hospital room to be by Lars's side. "Hessonite and the Off-Colors told me what happened after they came flying out of Lion's mane!"

"Steven, finally!" Lars cried happily as he grabbed Steven's shoulders. "Listen, I need to warn you! You and the entire planet are doomed!"

A little while later, Lars was given a clean bill of health and was allowed to go home by ambulance. He sat on one side of the ambulance with his parents while Steven sat on the other end, and Lars continued to reveal what happened on Homeworld.

"What I'm trying to say Steven is that there's this Gem who's been inspiring others to rebel against you and Era 3!" Lars explained. "She's gathered up tons of your old enemies so they can get revenge too, and they're coming for Earth!"

"Lars, I understand your concern," Steven calmly stated. "but you're getting a little wound up over nothing. Almost everyone loves what I've done to the Gem race. There's nothing bigger going on, outside of Aquamarine being annoying."

"Seriously, you don't believe me?" Lars flatly asked in disbelief. "Well, do you at least believe what Hessonite said?"

"I believe that you teamed up for a fun space adventure!" Steven answered before his phone started ringing. "Whoops, got a call from Garnet." he said before answering the call. "Hello?"

"Steven, you need to come to Little Homeworld quick!" Garnet urged Steven from the other end. "Rogue Gems are on the attack, and they want us dead! Me, Amethyst, Pearl, Lapis, Peridot and Bismuth have already helped evacuate everyone, but we still need you to save the day again!"

"I'll be right there!" Steven bravely declared before hanging up and turning to the driver. "Sir, I need you to take us to Little Homeworld!"

"It's an emergency!" Lars added while showing him a picture of the Gem village.

"I don't see why not." the driver replied as he made a detour to Little Homeworld.

"You sure about this Lars?" Dante asked his son. "I mean, you just survived falling from space, I don't think we can handle you risking your life again so soon!"

"I promise you guys, I'll be back home when this is all over and I'm back in space." Lars assured his parents and hugged them.

"Be safe Laramie." Nancy said. "But then again, you got Steven to help out."

"Yeah, he's got me alright." Steven assured Mr. and Mrs. Barriga.

"Okay kid, we're here." the ambulance driver declared as the vehicle came close to Little Homeworld. "This is probably the first time I've escorted someone to stop an alien invasion."

"Here's good, thanks, sir." Steven said before the two boys bust the ambulance doors open and raced off to Little Homeworld.

What the pair discovered when they finally reached Little Homeworld was utter chaos. Almost everything was in ruins, smoke billowed everywhere, Light Warriors, Cluster Gems & Cactus Stevens were pillaging & demolishing, and at the center of it all was Aquamarine and Eyeball.

"Steven Universe, what a most pleasant surprise." Aquamarine purred as she turned to face Steven and Lars, batting her wand in her hand. "And look you've even brought Lars as well."

"Aquamarine, Eyeball." Steven laughed nervously while looking at the chaos behind the pair. "Did you, uh, maybe come to reconsider?"

"Reconsider, my facet!" Eyeball yelled before her fusion partner stopped her.

"But we did come with a few new friends." Aquamarine answered smugly.

"Well, that's certainly a start." Steven grinned before a massive hand made of water grabbed him and its creator brought him up to face her. "Hey, you're one of those Lapises! What brings you to Earth?"

"Sorry kid, I'm one of those new friends." Lapis 1J9G announced before dropping Steven to the ground and folding her arms as she landed right next to Aquamarine. "And we're afraid not even half-listening to you will work this time."

"See Steven, this is what I was trying to talk to you about!" Lars exclaimed, gesturing wildly to the three Gems. "A bunch of Gems want to get back at you! Though I thought there'd be more."

"I believe he's referring to me." Emerald bragged as she stepped forward with a panicking George in her hand.

"George!" Steven shouted. "And you, I know you! You're uh," He began getting off track as he only ever saw Emerald through a video screen. "Sorry, I've only met you that one time and now I've kinda forgotten-"

"IT'S EMERALD!" Emerald shrieked furiously. "How could you forget about me after Era 3 made the Diamonds let Lars off with a slap on the wrist for stealing my Sun Incinerator?!"

"Oh, calm yourself Emerald." Pyrope calmed the elite Gem down as she held aloft one of George's sisters, who was in full panic mode and pulling on her pigtails.

"Indeed," Demantoid added, also holding one of George's sisters in her enhanced arm. "You wouldn't want to make yourself less presentable for our victims."

Just then, the six Gems moved aside and kneeled to their leader, whose very appearance completely rocked Steven's world. Black Rutile walked towards Steven with a bowie knife to a rose while White Topaz followed her. When she cut the rose's head, Black Rutile finally faced Steven with an evil smile.

"I know you, you're that reporter!" Steven exclaimed. "Why are you hanging with these guys?!"

"I'm hanging with them?" Black Rutile scoffed at Steven. "I believe you're mistaken; THEY'RE hanging with ME!" She then threw away the rose's stem and steepled her fingers together. "Anyways, do you have any last words?"

"This is not good at all certainly fits." Steven declared nervously before the eight Gems slowly began marching towards the boy, eager to finally get their revenge.

However, their plans were quickly cut off before they could be put into action as Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl swooped into saved Steven and Lars from the rogue Gems.

"We trusted you, you psycho!" Pearl roared while her spear clashed with Black Rutile's knife.

"And everyone was dumb enough to trust you." Black Rutile replied snarkily. "So as you humans say, hello pot, meet kettle."

"Seriously, what makes you think we're worse than you are?" Amethyst asked.

"Something about how your ways will make the Gem race a bunch of puny hippies or whatever." White Topaz answered. "No hard feelings when we destroy you and everything you worked so hard for?"

"What did I tell you about getting friendly with the enemy?" Black Rutile hissed at her Topaz bodyguard before turning back to the Crystal Gems. "Now, let me repeat myself. Any last words?"

"My future vision tells me you will fail." Garnet declared defiantly. "And we will find a way to make that future happen."

"Such noble sentiments from a couple of Gems who are gonna die!" Black Rutile replied as her knife turned into a sword that she prepared to slash the Gems with until a loud rumbling sound was heard. "What was that?"

"Need a hand?" Peridot asked as she, Lapis, and Bismuth appeared on a makeshift flying machine made out of scrap metal that she controlled with her ferrokinesis.

"So that's where you ran off to!" Pearl exclaimed while Bismuth picked her up by the hand to toss onto the metal pad.

"No time to talk, we have to move!" Lapis exclaimed, picking everyone else up with her water powers. When everyone was on board, the pad zoomed off.

"Uh, why aren't we stopping them?!" Lapis 1J9G exclaimed before preparing to fly off when Black Rutile stopped her.

"Let them run." Black Rutile smiled deviously. "I want to see how they can lie their ways out of this situation. But in the meantime, I have another idea."

Before the Crystal Gems knew it, they finally returned to the beach house where Hessonite, Squaridot, and the Off-Colors awaited their return.

"I still can't believe it!" Steven gasped in denial of their current situation. "I get that not everyone would like what I've done with Homeworld, but I don't think I'd make them angry enough to want to kill me!"

"I tried to warn you, Steven." Lars declared sassily. "But you just didn't listen! Probably because you're so in denial of wanting to accept that not everything will go your way."

"Lars, this is no time for backtalk, Earth could be in danger!" Pearl scolded the pink-skinned human as the group walked into the house to think of a plan. "That Rutile seems to have thought of everything! I mean, she's a Rutile for crying out loud, they barely held any power in Homeworld!" However, Pearl then turned to the Rutile twins standing right next to her. "Uh, no offense you two."

"None taken." The twins replied.

"Still, she's got quite an army at her side." Lapis said. "She's got one of those Lapises I fought on Aozul 2, she's got Aquamarine, Eyeball, Pyrope & Demantoid, an Emerald, and that's not even accounting for the minions they got!"

"But what does Black Rutile want with us?" Peridot and Squaridot asked in unknowing unison.

"According to her Topaz, it must be something to do with that Steven did to the Gem race." Bismuth analyzed. "But who knows what she'll do next?"

"I know." Garnet declared. "I've looked through dozens of possible timelines trying to uncover Black Rutile's true plans. This is what I feel could be the worst possible one."

"What does it look like?" Steven asked before Garnet kissed him on the head, temporarily bestowing Steven with her future vision and a glimpse at what could be to come.

It took centuries of careful planning but at long last, Black Rutile had finally won. Once the Crystal Gems were finally destroyed and she indoctrinated the Gems they had enslaved to her noble cause, she then reawakened the Cluster that was slumbering within the Earth's crust, ultimately finishing what the Diamonds were too cowardly to do and destroying that annoying little planet once and for all.

Within mere weeks, the Diamonds met their demise, and Black Rutile installed herself as the new ruler of all Gemkind. And with the beginnings of her dictatorship came the Gems reverting to their old ways during Era 4. The caste system was reinstated but also reinvented at the same time. Now, it was Black Rutile above everyone else.

As countless Gems were tormented into building a grand statue to their magnanimous leader, a lone Pearl solemnly marched through the throngs of enslaved Gems under the orders of Emerald, until she was brought before Black Rutile, who was sitting on a throne as black as her body & her heart while the shattered remains of all who opposed her hanged above her in one big bubble.

"My Rutile, I come with the most glorious of tidings." Emerald decreed as she shoved Volleyball forward. "We have succeeded in terminating the resistance, but I feel you'd find particular interest in shattering their leader yourself."

"Ah yes, Pink Diamond's little Pearl." Black Rutile snickered as she descended from her throne to meet Volleyball. "Who would've guessed a submissive little slave would try to start a revolution? Well, anything to say?"

Volleyball, however, was too terrified to speak, having just witnessed her fellow rebels being shattered before her eye and now faced with the thought of being destroyed herself.

"What's that? No grand speech about how hope will live on or that there will be others like you that will rise against me?" Black Rutile asked rhetorically. "Oh please, I've destroyed every last threat to my power on both this planet and the Asteroid Field Formerly Known as Earth." She declared, gesturing towards the shard-filled bubble floating over her throne. "What's another pile of shards to add to the collection?"

With that, Black Rutile extracted her bowie knife from her gem and used it to jab Volleyball in hers, ending her life within mere seconds.

"So ends the legacy of Pink Diamond." Black Rutile purred as she collected the Pearl's shards in a bubble. "A real shame. She had so much potential and wasted it on being a total brat and threatening her own kind."

She then returned to her throne, where she lifted the bubble towards the bigger bubble, and the two merged. Now Volleyball's remains joined the tons of Gems that Black Rutile had heartlessly shattered. Ruby, Sapphire, Amethyst, Pearl, Peridot, Lapis, Bismuth, Hessonite, Citrine, Spinel, the Diamonds, all nothing more than shards. But her proudest achievement was the small gathering of pink dust that was once Steven Universe.

Returning to the present day, Steven was left utterly aghast at this possible future, but it made his resolve to stop Black Rutile even stronger. "We have to keep this future from happening!" he declared. "All we need to do is gather up an army of our own!"

"I'll call Connie and see if she's free to save the world again today." Pearl stated as she picked up her phone and started dialing.

"Which Gems do you want me to recruit out of everyone we evacuated?" Garnet asked.

"I don't know, just pick anyone!" Steven exclaimed.

"That's the Steven we know and love!" Amethyst replied, cheerfully giving Steven a noogie when she came to a realization. "Hey wait, if Black Rutile is gathering up Gems that have a beef with us, then what would you think if she tried recruiting Jasper?"

"Y'know, Jasper did say she was eager to fight again." Steven agreed with the little Quartz. "Maybe we should try and get to her first."

"I'm not sure Steven." Pearl said as she got off the phone with Connie. "Besides, I don't think Jasper would ever want to side with us."

"Black Rutile has gathered as much information as possible on all of us, and Jasper has likely been given the same treatment." Squaridot stated. "So it's just as likely that she'll try and ensnare Jasper to her side."

"We have to get to Jasper before Black Rutile does!" Steven hurriedly declared before turning to the Warp Pad behind him. "Gotta go, I'll be back soon!"

As Steven left for the forest via Warp Pad, the other Gems just gazed at the pad where he once stood.

"Good luck Steven." Pearl muttered before turning to Lion. "Go fetch Connie, okay?"

Lion nodded obediently and let out a roar, creating a portal that he leaped through to get to Connie.

Meanwhile, deep within the woods of Beach City, Jasper had been watching all that was going on in Little Homeworld from on top of her cave. As she watched smoke billow from afar, she couldn't help but feel that Steven brought this upon himself for enforcing peace for all Gems.

"He could've just ended colonization and leave it at that, but no!" Jasper muttered to herself while leaping down to the entrance of her cave. "He had to make them all into peace-loving weaklings!"

"Couldn't agree more." Jasper heard a familiar voice concur with her opinion. When the orange Gem turned around, she discovered Black Rutile leaning on a nearby tree with Aquamarine standing on a branch above her. "Jasper, correct? I don't think we got properly introduced to each other."

"If you're here for another interview, then forget it!" Jasper bellowed at Black Rutile before bringing her attention to Aquamarine. "And I see you got that little brat with you too."

"You are indeed correct Jasper." Aquamarine declared. "In fact, I'm not the only one who she recruited because of how dissatisfied I am with Era 3. Many Gems have been rallied by my master here to rebel against Steven's oppression and create a utopia."

"Are you sure about that?" Jasper asked with an eyebrow raised. "Sounds to me like you're starting some kind of cult?"

"A cult?! Stuff and nonsense!" Black Rutile assured the quartz. "We are simply fighting for our rights! Would you like to join us?"

"Jasper, don't!" Steven exclaimed as he rushed to the cave, where he saw Jasper standing with Black Rutile. "Please, you have to listen, Black Rutile is not to be trusted!"

"Don't you dare listen to him!" Black Rutile insisted. "He's the son of Pink Diamond, and it's both their faults you went from mighty Gem warrior to a lonely shell of your former self! Don't you see, you could finally get your revenge on Pink!"

"Revenge on my Diamond?" Jasper growled. "Fat chance! Why would I ally with some low-ranking Rutile just because she hates Pink like almost every Gem on this planet?! I'd rather be a peace-loving weakling than one of your lackeys!"

"Low-ranking?!" Black Rutile argued. "I'll have you know Jasper, I was one of a kind among Gems of my type because I worked my hardest to receive White Diamond's highest honors and join the upper-class of her court! You're just a mere Jasper who probably didn't even know Pink in person for the selfish, bratty sociopath she w-"

Before the Rutile could finish, Jasper summoned her crash helmet and sent her flying out of the forest with a single headbutt. "I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS, YOU ROTTEN QUARTZ!" Black Rutile cursed Jasper. "YOU JANKING CLOD!"

As Aquamarine chased after the flying Rutile, Jasper turned to Steven with a grumpy look in her eyes. In contrast, the starry-eyed Steven squealed excitedly while staring at Jasper. "Quit looking at me like that." Jasper snarled. "Let me guess, you want to recruit me too?"

"I thought you'd never ask!" Steven declared eagerly.

"Yes indeed, my Ministry of Maliciousness shall soon destroy the United Defenders of the World and conquer the world at last!" a weirdly animated mad scientist with three circles arranged in a triangle decorating his bald head declared as he gestured to his fellow supervillains. Amethyst was watching this happen on television with some of the other Gems in Steven's room.

"Apex Predator!" A muscular man decorated in animal skins fired his highly advanced hunting rifle at nothing in particular.

"Electric Ellen!" A young woman in a black suit with lightning bolt patterns demonstrated her powers for the other villains.

"Automato!" A bronze robot with green optics simply stood by his seat at the table of criminals, his soulless eyes unblinking.

"Scare Master!" A large man in a monster costume that continuously leaked hallucinogenic gas and wearing a yellow ring let out a ghoulish laugh.

"The Unidentified Felonious Extraterrestial!" A cybernetic insectoid alien made a shrieking noise, exposing the smaller head in its mouth.

"And of course, your illustrious leader!" the scientist introduced himself. "The world's greatest criminal mind, Professor Poindexter, Ph.D.!"

"Uh, why are we watching this show?" Zuli asked Amethyst while she sat next to Lapis.

"This is what our current sitch reminds me of!" Amethyst explained. "Mangolin's archenemy Professor Poindexter gathers up each of the United Defenders of the Globe's enemies to form, like, a team of supervillains!"

"Why is the animation so lazy?" Peridot wondered as she leaned on Biggs Jasper.

"It was the 70s, limited budget." Amethyst said. "Ooh wait, here comes Mangolin!"

The cartoon then changed scenes from the Ministry of Maliciousness to the United Defenders of the World, which included Mangolin, Uber-Chap, Battle Goddess, Pyro-Nado, Shamrock Cavalier, Gizmo-Chick, and Vincent the Visitor.

"Termite terrors, Defenders!" the pangolin-themed hero Mangolin exclaimed. "Our foe Professor Poindexter has assembled our enemies to destroy us once and for all! We must do something!"

"They just explained that to us!" Nephrite said. "What, do they think the viewers are stupid or something?"

Just then, the group of Gems heard the Warp Pad go off, signaling that Steven has finally returned.

"Hey, Steven's back!" Teal Zircon exclaimed before racing down the stairs to see her half-human friend again, and this time she was in for a surprise. "Hey Jasper, remember me? Your new best friend?"

"I regret this decision already." Jasper cringed at having to ally with Teal as the other Gems came back downstairs. "Oh look, a whole menagerie of useless clods! Why even bring them all together when I can just take Black Rutile's forces on myself?"

"Jasper, no need to brag about your strength." Lapis said to the more muscular Gem. "This is serious, the whole planet is at stake here!"

"And I should care because?" Jasper snarled in disagreement.

"Um, this is your Diamond's planet?" an exasperated Pearl replied. "Surely you wouldn't want anyone to touch what Pink owned, right?"

"I suggest you don't talk that way to a Gem like her." Rhodonite said to Pearl. "She looks like she could go wild on us at any moment."

"Just calm down everyone." Fluorite advised calmly. "I know we're all stressed because of our current situation, but let's not start arguing."

"And who are all of these?" Jasper asked as she gestured to the Off-Colors, Hessonite & Squaridot, Zuli, Snowflake Obsidian, Little Larimar, Nephrite, Topaz, and Biggs Jasper. "I suppose they're all from that stupid school of yours?"

"Well, most of them are." Steven pointed out. "And maybe when this is all over, you could finally give Little Homeschool a chan-"

"Pass." Jasper coldly declared. "Shouldn't we be getting ready to fight right now?"

"Jasper's right." Bismuth agreed. "We're all in this together, for Earth."

And right on cue, Lion finally returned with Connie on his back, her sword at the ready. "How convenient that I finished most of my work in time for another chance at saving the world!" Connie stated as she dismounted from Lion and hugged Steven. "So, who are we fighting?"

"Come with us to Little Homeworld, I'll show you." Steven answered before he began to walk towards the Warp Pad. "Gems, let's get a move on."

And so, the Crystal Gems and all their assorted allies marched towards the Warp Pad, ready to take back Little Homeworld from Black Rutile's rebels and defend the planet once more. When Steven spread out his arms, off they all went in a beam of light.

"Ugh, I'm so bored!" Eyeball complained, pacing around while the rest of the alliance mindlessly caused more damage to Little Homeworld out of complete boredom. "I suppose they finally realized they were stupid to stop us and skipped Earth without telling?"

"Patience Ruby." Aquamarine advised her fusion partner. "They should be coming soon."

"What makes you so sure?" White Topaz asked Aquamarine as she revealed her weapon, a pair of brass knuckles.

"Steven came running for Jasper thinking she can join his side." The little blue Gem answered. "What an idiot, am I right?!"

Suddenly, Aquamarine was in for a scare as Little Homeworld's Warp Pad activated from right behind her, and on it were the Crystal Gems.

"Okay Black Rutile, we're here." Steven declared with Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Connie, Lion, Peridot, Lapis, Bismuth, Jasper, Hessonite, Squaridot, Lars, the Off-Colors, TZ, Zuli, Topaz, Snowflake, Larimar, Biggs, and Nephrite behind him. "All of us!"

"Oh, you finally showed up! Good timing." Black Rutile sarcastically applauded her foes. "And I see you got a little rag-tag bunch of over-eager losers by your side too."

"Hey 2F8D, so this is what you've been up to." 1J9G cattily greeted her ex-partner. "Being a pacifist baby and letting yourself be Steven's slave."

"I'm not a slave, neither to him or you!" Zuli yelled at 1J9G. "I came to Little Homeworld not just to learn how to appreciate Earth, but to learn how to make actual friends! Not be submissive to overly-controlling jerks!"

"I thought I could trust you Aquamarine!" Topaz went next. "I thought you changed by meeting that Ruby and fusing with her, but now I see you'll always be the same little monster you always are!"

"Oh stop Topaz, you're too kind!" Aquamarine said to her former Topaz.

"Crystal Gems, assemble!" Garnet bravely pointed forward to prepare for one last attack, but Steven stopped her.

"Wait!" Steven exclaimed. "Before we all get into one big fight, I want to know. Why do you hate me in particular? Outside of Era 3, I mean."

"You really want to know?" Black Rutile replied. "Well, allow me to put this in the only way you'll probably understand." She turned to White Topaz while fetching some kind of device from her gem. "Music please."

White Topaz turned the device on and music began to play, cuing Black Rutile to start a song. "When one era ends, another begins. It's such a big change for all us Gems." She sang. "But some aren't new fans of the old ways, and prefer to look back on the old days. But I on the other hand got a chance, to make this the Crystal Gems' last dance. And now I pray through endless days, to finally get rid of you."

"Is she singing?" Lars gasped at the musical number that just began as drum music kicked in. "Did she have a machine made for that purpose?"

"When I first emerged for my Diamond, White the master tactician!" Black Rutile began telling her origins through holograms on her visor, showing a just-emerged Rutile in a Kindergarten standing before White Diamond. "She revealed to me in secret signs, the markings of a great Gem! And she was indeed no clod, could reduce entire armies to sod! And all the fools that dared cross her, she'd just shrug and then shatter!"

"I studied well, got my tools of the trade, always got nothing but an A-grade!" After Black Rutile did away with the hologram showing her emergence, she started revealing the hard work she did to gain her high status among White Diamond's subjects. "But then he walked in and called himself Pinky, soon everyone got down to one knee." A stylized version of Steven's first arrival on Homeworld came next, and the stylized Black Rutile wasn't very pleased. "What never died was my ambition, and my keen intuition. Both of them gave me a complex, and made me want to rule the universe."

As the song went on, Steven began learning more about the consequences of his actions and how much Black Rutile truly despised him. "Every glimmer from your smile makes me want to puke!" his new foe complained. "Who to slay, who's the one, who's to doom? You know the only one would be my new archenemy, Steven U!"

With that, the chorus soon began with Black Rutile's minions joining in, sans White Topaz. "Wither the rose! Growing shadows! Sow a world of chaos!" the seven Gems sang in harmony. "Wither the rose! Only highs, no lows! In a world of chaos!"

"Is this the time for a song?" Connie asked. "Why don't we just attack them while they're singing?"

"Black Rutile is going to put on an admittedly wonderful song!" Padparadscha exclaimed.

"Ha!" Black Rutile laughed as the musical break reaches its end before turning to her Cluster Gems, cyborg Cactus Stevens and Light Warriors. "Come on minions, hurry along, this little school will soon be gone!" she commanded them before hugging herself in excitement. "I could squeeze myself with glee! Next the Diamonds and then this galaxy! I would really stop at nothing, shattering, treachery and lies! Whatever it takes to reign supreme, you really can't blame me for trying."

The tune soon began to reach its climax. "Wither the rose! Growing shadows! Sow a world of chaos! Wither the rose! Don't you doze!"

"We shall restore Homeworld's true order!" Aquamarine soon joined in.

"Vengeance will soon finally be ours!" Eyeball added sadistically.

"Saying sorry just won't cut it!" Emerald chorused.

"Dismantling the new superpowers!" Lapis 1J9G stated.

"Armies rampaging across the stars!" Demantoid declared.

"Covered in so many scars!" Pyrope boomed.

"Nothing but eternal war," Black Rutile concluded. "Join us as we make our own colony!"

"Genocide, slaughtering, jingoism, in enemy blood we shall wade!” The seven Gems announced. "Homeworld Gems come celebrate, as we make this bratty starlight fade!"

The song finally ended and the alliance of hatred took a bow before Black Rutile changed her knife into a broadsword with a massive blade and a tiny handle. "Now that we explained everything," she stated before pointing her sword forward. "CHARGE!"

The two sides finally clashed at Little Homeworld for the fate of Earth. Lapis & Zuli took to the skies against 1J9G, Pyrope & Demantoid led an unwilling Light Army, Emerald sped forth to personally confront Lars, and Black Rutile, White Topaz, Aquamarine & Eyeball personally confronted Steven, Garnet, Amethyst & Pearl.

"Fire!" Demantoid commanded some Light Warriors bearing laser cannons to shoot at Teal Zircon & Nephrite, but Jasper and Topaz were there to shield her from the blasts. "You!"

"You saved me!" TZ exclaimed. "Guess you really do think of me as your best friend, dontcha Jasp?"

"No, I still find you one of the most annoying beings I've ever met." Jasper replied. "But still, better to side with someone as irritating as you."

"I thought we were all friends!" 1J9G exclaimed as she clashed her water with Lapis and Zuli's. "I only joined these guys just so I could get you back!"

"Why would we ever take you back?!" Lapis stated.

"When we ran into 3E8C after years, she showed me that she and Steven were the best of friends!" Zuli added. "Not an overly controlling jerk who refuses to let me have fun!"

"See what she means?!" 1J9G said. "He's brainwashed all of you!" The only response she got was a punch to the face from Zuli.

Down below, Lars and Connie sparred against Emerald. "Don't think Steven will be there to save you today!" Emerald taunted, snapping her fingers and revealing electric powers to fight with. "He'll just throw you away, just like how Pink always threw everything away!"

"Sheesh, sins of the mother much?" Lars dryly commented.

"Steven is nothing like that!" Connie argued. "If you knew him, you'd know he's the sweetest, most caring guy you could ever meet!"

"Oh blah blah blah, I get it, he's too pure for this universe and he must be protected at all costs!" Emerald said. "Black Rutile has shown me what he truly is like."

Finally, the Crystal Gems battled with Black Rutile and her three most loyal followers. Garnet went up against White Topaz, Amethyst vs Eyeball, Pearl vs Aquamarine, and finally Steven vs Black Rutile.

"Why are you doing this?!" Steven asked Black Rutile while in utter denial. "I brought peace to the galaxy, I ended the Diamonds' oppression!"

"And stripped all Gems of their livelihoods in the process." Black Rutile coldly replied as her sword clashed with Steven's shield. "Look around you kid, these Gems came to my side because they have no status, no allies, no power over others! And now, they come to Earth for retribution against you!"

"But this still isn't right!" Steven claimed. "I understand that some may not be comfortable with what I've done, but that doesn't excuse you for all this."

"Kinda like how you excused the Diamonds for all they did just because they were sad, or something stupid like that." Black Rutile insulted.

"That's because they were!" Steven exclaimed. "They were in mourning!"

"Mourning the so-called death of an annoying brat I had the displeasure of sharing a planet with!" Black Rutile yelled as she began fighting in a way that resembled capoeira and gymnastics. "This all could've been avoided if you just put your enemies out of their misery, or at least punished them, rather than just excusing them with a stupid song and acting like everything was just water under the bridge!"

"You're thinking of retributive justice, where the offender did something wrong and the punishment is just as severe in exchange." Steven replied. "We Crystal Gems practice restorative justice, where we actually talk to the offenders and try to see how we can help them without using lethal force."

"Well, whatever you're talking about, you can call me a proud supporter of retributive justice." Black Rutile declared herself. "As in, me and my pals are seeking retribution against you and your posse for what you did to our society, and will do so by any means necessary. Because you think everything can just bend to your will if you just make everyone around you cry?! You really are no better than Pink!"

"Well, I'm trying to be better than my mom, both Pink Diamond, and Rose Quartz." Steven responded, blocking another attack from Black Rutile. "But I'm pretty sure they'd both find a sociopath like you beyond saving."

"Me, a sociopath?! You barely even know me!" Black Rutile yelled before bunting Steven's shield away when he tried to throw it. "Well, you're certainly right on me being a bit selfish, but look at you. I mean, you've made excuses for murderers, bigots, and toxic friends, yet anyone who's just doing what they're made to do is instantly made a pariah just because they don't like you and your dumb little sidekicks!"

Behind Black Rutile's back, however, her alliance was slowly beginning to fall apart, yet she didn't seem to care. Hessonite, Peridot, Biggs, and Squaridot hid behind a wall to avoid the Light Warriors' attacks.

"Got a plan, you guys?" Biggs asked the other three Gems.

"I have." Hessonite replied. "The Peridots shall distract them by taking control of Demantoid's limb enhancers while I swoop in and steal back the Light Prisms! Then perhaps we can turn the Light Army on them."

"I'll see what I can do." Peridot stated, but then Squaridot put a green hand on her shoulder.

"No, allow me." Squaridot stated before using her ferrokinetic powers to meddle with Demantoid's limb enhancers.

"No no, not again!" Demantoid yelled as she was dumped out of her mech, and the Light Prism she was holding hostage fell out with her only to be caught by Hessonite at rapid speed. "My Prism!"

"Demantoid you child, you could've just fought back instead of letting yourself get defeated!" Pyrope said, unaware that her Prism was stolen as well. "Wait, what?"

As Hessonite returned to Peridot and Squaridot with the Light Prisms in hand, the Light Warriors dropped their current activities and began to surround the three Gems peacefully. "Now that you know who's really in charge here," Hessonite bragged before she pointed at her fellow Garnets. "FIRE!"

"No, it can't be!" Pyrope squealed in utter defeat as the Light Warriors pointed their weapons at her and Demantoid.

"Hold me close Pyrope!" Demantoid added while hugging Pyrope in fear before the Light Warriors charged, attacking the pair and poofing them once and for all.

As for Emerald, she was now getting ganged up on by Lars, Connie, and the Off-Colors, who all took turns using Connie's sword against her. "You're all just humans and Off-Color Gems!" Emerald screamed as she desperately tried to fight back. "What makes you think you all can stop me?!"

"'Cause we're all more walk than talk!" Lars declared, once again using his musti-yuddha skills to knock Emerald to the ground. "Connie, care to do the honors?"

"With pleasure!" Connie replied, hopping up on Fluorite's head and jumping high into the air before zooming down with her sword pointed directly at Emerald.

"I hate you all." Emerald snarled bitterly before Connie poofed her, ending the threat she possessed to Lars and the Off-Colors.

High up in the air, the battle of the Lapides raged on with 1J9G using vapor from the clouds as makeshift weapons against her former friends.

"We could've stayed together if 3E8C hadn't been dropped on Earth like an idiot!" 1J9G yelled. "I just wanted us to stay friends!"

"Well, if you want to keep your friends," 3E8C stated, forming a massive water hand from a nearby cloud. "then you should act like a friend." The hand grabbed 1J9G and tossed her to the ground, creating a massive crater that caused a building to start falling over, and one piece of sharp rubble was aimed straight at 1J9G's gem.

"So this is it, huh?" 1J9G monologued to herself as death was mere moments away. "I feel like this is karma for being a horrible friend like they keep calling me. In that case, I'm sorry. Maybe somewhere else, we could've stayed together."

As 1J9G accepted her demise, the rubble was punched out of the way by a massive silhouette in the dust, and it settled to reveal Jasper as her savior.

"Get up you!" Jasper roared at the Lapis.

"But, we're on different sides!" 1J9G exclaimed. "Why did you save me?"

"It's what a certain someone would've done, but he's too busy at the moment." Jasper replied. "Plus, I know what it's like to be alone too."

"Oh look, that Jasper is becoming just like you!" Black Rutile yelled as she watched her alliance break up. "But then again, they set themselves up for this the moment I recruited them all, so what are you gonna do?"

"But still, we're fighting a losing battle!" White Topaz advised her Rutile. "What do we do now?"

"I think I know." Black Rutile smirked before snapping her fingers at one of her surviving allies. "Aquamarine, grab the boy and take him to the nearest mountain!"

"I thought you'd never ask!" Aquamarine purred before she grabbed Steven with her wand and began flying off, with Eyeball also in tow, and Black Rutile & White Topaz on a mini-hovercraft. "Oh, where will you be without your precious little abomination?!"

"Steven!" the Crystal Gems all yelled.

"Topaz, subdue the Lapises!" Black Rutile then commanded White Topaz, who gave a shaky nod before leaping up and grabbing Lapis & Zuli, followed by pinning them to the ground.

"Don't worry guys, I got this!" Connie said before mounting on Lion and riding off after Aquamarine.

"The only one who should defeat him is me." Jasper said as Connie fled, right before following the human. "Wait up girl!"

At the mountain, Steven was dropped by Aquamarine at the highest cliff, where Black Rutile stood by with a boulder next to her and White Topaz.

"What do you want now Black Rutile?" Steven asked as he got up to face the evil Rutile.

"Simple, toss you over the edge and throw a boulder to crush you to death, since you can fly apparently." Black Rutile declared. "I've been waiting for ages to destroy Pink Diamond, and you, my little friend, are just the thing to satisfy my vendetta."

"But why do you hate Pink so much?" Steven exclaimed. "Let me guess, she treated you like trash just like almost every other Gem I've faced?"

"No, she didn't treat me like trash!" Black Rutile answered. "She treated everyone around her like trash, yet the Diamonds almost always let her get away with everything! And here you are forcing Gems against their will to change their very way of living! Hey, at least you didn't fake your death to recklessly endanger the lives of others, because I'm going to endanger yours!"

Black Rutile then picked up Steven by his shirt collar and walked to the edge of the cliff, where she dangled him over such dangerously high heights. "You know what's ironic?" she smiled cheerfully before it turned to a hateful scowl. "You're able to get humans and Gems to get along, yet you're neither of them yourself."

With that, Black Rutile released her grip on Steven's shirt and he began falling from the cliff, followed shortly by White Topaz tossing a boulder that fell right above him. "NO HARD FEELINGS!" she yelled.

"So this is how I'll die, falling to my death off a cliff while a boulder is going to crush me." Steven realized as he fell to his doom. "Maybe Black Rutile's right. Maybe this is punishment for only thinking of myself all the time, and never taking others' feelings into account. Punishment for letting all these enemies run free instead of punishing them. Punishment for being an awful person in general."

However, just as Steven shut his eyes, accepted his demise, and did not even use any of his powers to escape, a voice cried out to him. "STEVEN!"

"Connie?" Steven exclaimed as she warped in via Lion's portal and reach out to him. "Don't worry, I'm with you till the end of the line! Just grab my hand!"

Steven gave a big smile, realizing that even with all his faults there were still people looking out for him, and took Connie's hand, causing the two to merge into a mass of light.

"Well, that should take care of him." Black Rutile declared, dusting off her hands and beginning to walk away. "Come along you three, let's go reawaken the Cluster and wipe this planet off the face of this universe for good."

"Uh, my Rutile?" White Topaz said while she, Aquamarine, and Eyeball gazed over the edge of the cliff to discover a pink light rapidly approaching them. "I think Steven is….not dead."

"Wait, seriously?!" Black Rutile yelled before Stevonnie leaped up the mountain and onto the cliff where the four enemy Gems stood. "You fused with a human?!"

"Bet you didn't see that coming!" Stevonnie declared as they swung their sword to try and poof Aquamarine, but she swiftly dodged and fused with Eyeball to form Bluebird Azurite.

"Of course I knew you can fuse with humans kid, it was in my data!" Black Rutile exclaimed before turning to White Topaz staring in amazement at the fusion. "Topaz, fuse with me!"

"Wait, we get to fuse too?!" White Topaz giddily exclaimed. "Eee, I can't wait, we've been practicing for so long!"

"Just shut up already." Black Rutile snarled before extending her hand. "Now, may I have this dance?"

"Gladly." White Topaz responded, taking her superior's hand before they began dancing the tango, their gems glowing as they danced until they formed into a giant light that resulted in a new, much larger fusion with four eyes & arms, spiky hair that went down to her back, a black-and-grey uniform and Black Rutile's white cape.

"BEHOLD FOOLISH LESSER BEINGS!" the new fusion bombastically declared. "THE GODLIKE SUPERIORITY OF THE MIGHTY LEPIDOLITE!"

"One fusion against two fusions." Stevonnie muttered. "Have to admit, those aren't very good odds."

"You bet." Jasper declared, zooming up the mountain to stand by Stevonnie's side and pounding her fists together. "For them!"

"You followed us?" Stevonnie asked Jasper.

"I don't like the Crystal Gems, but I hate them just as much." Jasper explained roughly. "Now come on, let's finish this!"

"Oh, a fair game, I see!" Lepidolite asked as she summoned two pairs of claws on each pair of her hands that extended from her knuckles while Bluebird summoned her ice cutlass. "Well, game on!"

Lepidolite clashed her claws with Stevonnie's sword while Jasper grabbed Bluebird in her massive hand and smashed her face into the rock face. However, despite Lepidolite being surprisingly evenly matched with Stevonnie, there was one thing they had that she lacked. Control over the fusion itself.

"So you can fuse with humans?!" White Topaz exclaimed cheerfully while Lepidolite slashed at Stevonnie before she switched to Black Rutile. "Did you even listen to Aquamarine's report, why are you acting like this is so new to you?!" Black Rutile yelled. "Why do you always have to be so dense?!"

"This is almost like Malachite." Stevonnie compared the abusive control Black Rutile had over White Topaz to the strained but peaceful relationship between Lapis and Jasper. "Listen, why can't you just work together?!"

"Because she's a completely moronic clod!" Black Rutile yelled through Lepidolite.

"Even if she treats me like trash, she's still my boss!" White Topaz added. "After all, isn't that what master/servant relationships are kinda like?"

"Master, don't!" Bluebird yelled as Jasper kept beating her up. "You're going to make them do some speech about the stupid power of friendship or something!"

"Well, you want us to work together?!" Lepidolite said, now no longer personified through Black Rutile and White Topaz's arguing. "Then work together we shall!"

Lepidolite then grabbed Stevonnie by their arms and once again threw them over the edge of the cliff before walking off to assist Bluebird. But just like when Steven was tossed over the cliff, things went horribly wrong for them.

Stevonnie reappeared in a massive gust of wind, now bathed in a pink glow and with a furious snarl replacing their confident grin. "Why won't you listen?!" they yelled, lunging at Lepidolite and striking their sword straight into her chest. "I'm not the real monster, YOU ARE!"

"No no no no no no!" Lepidolite screamed as Stevonnie's sword cut into her body and striking her straight in Black Rutile's gem, causing the two to ultimately defuse. As the pair of Gems were dropped to the ground, White Topaz laid on her back, utterly stupefied. Black Rutile on the other hand was terrified beyond all recognition, a far cry from the confident mastermind she normally is.

"W-w-who are you!?" Black Rutile shivered in fear of the pink Stevonnie, who now had a psychotic smile on their face. "WHAT ARE YOU?!"

"I'm-" Stevonnie began when they suddenly stopped and gazed at their hands. "I don't know." With that, Stevonnie finally un-fused back into Steven and Connie, just in time for the other Gems to arrive.

"Steven, Connie!" Garnet cried as she, Amethyst, Pearl, Peridot, Bismuth, Hessonite, Lars, Squaridot, and the Light Prisms were carried up the mountain by a massive water elevator created by the trio of Lapides. When they reached the cliff, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl all rushed to give the two kids a big hug. "What happened?"

"I don't know." Connie replied shakily. "First we fused into Stevonnie to fight Black Rutile, who fused with White Topaz to create this big fusion called Lepidolite, then after we were tossed over a cliff, Stevonnie turned pink and-"

"Wait, pink?" Pearl wondered. "It's just like all those other times Steven lost control! What could it be?"

"That's exactly what I'd like to know too!" the utterly defeated Black Rutile yelled. "What is that, a human thing?"

"Uh, no everyone! Everything's fine!" Steven began lying. "It's just a human thing, but I'm the only one who can do it!"

"Alright, keep your secrets brat." Black Rutile declared before she snapped her fingers again. Getting up from Jasper's beatdown, Bluebird picked up Black Rutile & White Topaz and carried them away. "Your little power fantasy will soon come to an end!" she declared. "And Gems, I'd keep an eye out on that monster if I were you! He could become a bigger threat to Earth than I am!"

As the three Gems got farther away, everybody turned to Steven with nervous looks on their faces.

"Steven, is there anything you need to tell us?" Connie asked her best friend.

"Uh, anyone wanna go out for pizzas?" Steven tried to change the subject, and everyone went silent in response.

"What is this pizza you speak of?" Hessonite piped up.

Later that day, reconstruction of Little Homeworld had quickly begun. With Peridot and Squaridot's help, the Cactus Stevens were now fully organic once more and helped in the repairs, alongside the Light creatures created by George and his sisters.

"Wow George, you, Elaine, and Cosma are one great team!" Steven said to George as they looked upon the Light Army's hard work. George turned to Steven with a confused look on his face. "Oh, I came up with those names for your sisters based on this TV show with a character also named George."

"Hey Steven, the pizzas are here!" Lapis called for Steven.

"Ooh, gotta go you guys!" Steven said before leaving George and his newly named sisters to work. "See you again soon!"

Steven returned to the Little Homeworld Warp Pad, where the Crystal Gems and the Off-Colors were setting up a little picnic with pizza boxes all around. "You see, this is what we need more of." Steven said. "Just us hanging out, no Gem monsters or evil Gems threatening and scarring our lives."

"Are you sure you're okay kid?" 1J9G asked Steven.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Steven replied. "Wait, what are you doing here? Weren't you on Black Rutile's side?"

"That Jasper saved my life because she knew what it was like to be alone, so I'm coming here as gratitude." 1J9G stated. "I came with Black Rutile as 1J9G, and I'll learn to become a better friend as Laz. You like the new name I got?"

"I love it!" Zuli exclaimed happily. "It's so wet!"

"Well, if you say so." Steven said awkwardly before he found Lars and Hessonite collecting the inactive gemstones of Emerald, Pyrope, Demantoid and all the Cluster Gems. "And what are you going to do with those?"

"We'll take the Cluster Gems back to Homeworld." Lars answered before pointing to Emerald and the Garnets. "As for these three, I'm not sure yet."

"They'll be safe with us." Garnet said, taking the three Gems out of the bubble. "And who knows? Maybe they'll become students of Little Homeschool."

"Speaking of which, Squaridot." Hessonite said to her Peridot sidekick. "You said that you were given the chance to come to Little Homeschool before you joined me? You think the offer still stands?"

"You know what?" Squaridot said. "I think I'm gonna stay here. Thank you Hessonite for everything." She then hugged the orange Garnet. "And tell Citrine I said hi if you find her."

As the group all sat down to their victory picnic, many eyes were still on Steven, who paid more attention to his slice of pie.

"Seriously, that boy just ain't right!" Jasper said as she prepared to leave.

"Yo Jasper, have a little more tact!" Amethyst scolded her fellow quartz while turning to Steven. "But what if Black Rutile is right? What if Steven becomes a threat to Earth?"

Steven still didn't pay any attention and kept on eating, but the Gems guessed that he might've been deliberately distracting himself. But why?

Elsewhere, Black Rutile had now touched down deeper in the forest, letting Bluebird Azurite drop her off in front of a cave. "Ah, this should make a good hideout."

"Why can't we just flee on your dropship?" White Topaz asked.

"I'm pretty sure it's been seized by now." Black Rutile said as she sat down on a rock formation, slouching and pressing her fingers together. "Tell me, my friends, what do you think is Steven's greatest weakness?"

"He can't fend for himself!" Aquamarine stated as she and Eyeball un-fused.

"He always has to get his nose in everyone's business." Eyeball remarked, rolling her eye with arms crossed.

"Uh, he's got boatloads of trauma that no one bothers to bring up?" White Topaz asked meekly.

"Correct Topaz, very good for once." Black Rutile congratulated her Topaz. "Now, as you see, he can't deal with his whole worldview changing, since learning there were so many Gems against him shattered everything he almost knew about his actions." She declared. "But what if we did the same, but we turn the humans against him?"

END OF PART 2: GRADUATION

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 3: FRAGMENTED MIND

And that was Enemy of my Enemy and Part 2 in general! This was a really long one, filled with ideas that I've had in my head for ages! The whole group of past enemy Gems was inspired primarily by the Evil League of Mutants from Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I imagined the bad future to be similar to Deliver Us from Prince of Egypt, and the justice debate was basically the Ship of Theseus scene from WandaVision. And that's not even getting into what I have planned for Part 3, but that's another time for another day. And if the subtitle is any indication, you all know what's coming.

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preserving-ferretbrain · 6 years ago

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Age of the Five: Matters of Faith

by Dan H

Thursday, 17 April 2008

Dan continues his discussion of Trudi Canavan's Age of the Five trilogy, with digressions about Religion in Fantasy.~As you should already know, I've just finished reading Trudi Canavan's Age of the Five trilogy. I generally found it to be an enjoyable piece of High Fantasy with some fun ideas and some likeable characters. A couple of things irked me about it, though, and a big problem I had was its treatment of religion. Since the main character is a priestess, and most of the supporting characters are other varieties of priest, cultist, or holy person this is something of an issue.

In the interview which ships as a special feature with the last volume of the series, Trudi explains that the reason her first trilogy (the Black Magician Trilogy) presented an essentially atheistic setting was that since she is not herself religious, she wasn't sure she could do religion properly, with the Age of the Five, however, she felt that: "writing about a pantheon of gods was much easier because the scenario was so different to most of the religions practised today."

Except that, of course, it kind of isn't, and that's kind of the problem. Canavan's invented religion, consciously or otherwise, carries over a huge quantity of cultural assumptions which are pretty much directly inherited from Christianity. Of course this isn't by any means a unique problem, it's pretty much par for the course with Fantasy religions (it's what

TV Tropes

refers to as a "Crystal Dragon Jesus"). The simple fact is that the modern, western idea of what a "religion" looks like is so intimately bound up with Christianity that it's almost impossible to tell where the Catholic Church ends and Religion In General begins.

So really I'm just treating the Age of the Five as a case study here. It just happens to be the most recent thing I've read, and the most recent example of the phenomenon.

The main character in the Age of the Five series is Auraya of the White, a priestess in the Circlan faith. Let's start simple. The Circlan faith has an organised priesthood with a central authority, being a priest is a full time job, and the basic "benefit" the religion grants its followers is life after death. Judging by what we see of Circlan society and culture, the moral and cultural teachings of the Circlan Faith seem pretty Judeo-Christian-slash-secular-liberal as well. In short, there seems to be very little connection between the Circlan Gods, the Circlan religion, and the supposedly theocratic Circlan society. Canavan, like a great many fantasy writers, fails to make the connection between "what the Gods are like" (kind of a cross between the Greco-Roman pantheon and the Vorlons) "what people think the Gods are like" (kind of like the Christian god, only there's five of them) and "what society is like" (kind of like twentieth century Australia, only with less advanced technology).

I think the thing that Fantasy authors don't get is that, in a sense, religious people are crazy. Okay, I'm going to get letters about that one, and obviously I don't mean it literally, but being religious (frequently) means believing that things exist which other people do not believe exist and (usually) means modifying your behaviour as a result. Combine this with a world in which Gods are verifiably and objectively real and you have to wonder why Fantasy societies aren't more messed up than they are. If you really, genuinely believe that the only way to stop a volcano erupting and destroying your village is to sacrifice innocent girls to an angry god, you're going to be quite likely to do it. In a Fantasy world, you might also actually be right (and I suppose the religious pluralist in me should suggest that you might even be right in this one - damn I'm such a wet liberal sometimes).

Canavan's Five Gods are revealed - in the last volume - to be powerful immortal sorcerers who have transcended their physical bodies to become beings of pure magic. They're also mostly assholes who enjoy watching people slaughter each other for their amusement. The thing is I can think of no reason whatsoever for such individuals to pretend to be anything else. It's implied in the books that they're playing nice in order to get people to worship them and do their bidding, and while on one level I find this idea charmingly naive, on another I find it ... well ... naive. I mean really, if you're a powerful, immortal sorcerer who has just become a God, why not just turn around to your apprentice or nearest analogue and say "okay kid, I've just obtained unlimited power, now you and me are going to team up and take over the motherfucking world". A cursory glance at the history of real world religion shows that people are perfectly happy to worship gods who don't pretend to be nice cuddly bunnies. The Greco-Roman Gods were complete assholes but they were also pretty popular back in the day, I doubt that many Romans woke up in the night having a crisis of faith over the seduction of Leda. The big reveal at the end of Age of the Five is that the brutal, destructive war which had torn the world apart for the past three books was something the Gods had orchestrated for their amusement. At which point any self respecting citizen of ancient Greece would presumably say "well, duh". As flies to wanton boys, and all that.

Of course the real reason that the Five had to pretend to be nice guys was the demands of the plot. The main character had to be a Priestess, which meant she had to like the Gods, but she also had to be sympathetic, and that meant that she had to believe in an effectively New Testament version of the Gods who were all about hugging kittens and being nice to old ladies. If she'd started the books as knowing, willing servant of the Gods as they actually were she would have been far less sympathetic. Except actually it might have actually made for more interesting character development if, instead of discovering that the Gods were evil because they'd lied about their natures, she'd always known what the Gods were like, but had been forced to re-evaluate her opinions about them as she grew and developed.

By having Auraya's opinion of the Gods depend entirely on how closely their behaviour matches her personal moral code, Canavan prevents her from being convincingly "religious" in any sense I can understand. Or, to put it another way, she's religious in the same way that a lot of not-terribly-religious-actually people are religious. Her supposed "love" of the Gods is actually just an extension of her being a nice person, since the teachings she seems to love the Gods for are the ones which mesh with her essentially twenty-first century moral outlook.

Again, I wonder if this all results from the staggeringly vast influence of Christianity on European thought. A large amount of what we take for granted as self-evidently moral is in fact strongly influenced by Christianity. Every so often a politician will stand up and say something like "every religion teaches us to care for each other" when actually they don't (indeed arguably Buddhism teaches the exact opposite - you're not supposed to be attached to anything in the material world). We assume that being "religious" basically means holding the same beliefs as everybody else, but deciding that it all comes from the Gods instead of from yourself.

Auraya's first big crisis of faith comes when the Goddess Huan (the evil goddess) tells her to kill Mirar (her lover, mentor and friend who also happens to be the immortal founder of a heathen cult). The crisis comes about because her Gods, who she loves, have asked her to do something which is against her conscience. This is all very well as far as it goes, but the problem is the way the conflict is expressed. She never, for one moment, considers the possibility that she might be wrong and the Gods might be right, she just feels disappointed that the Gods have become, in her eyes, fallible. It's not that she had previously supported the right of the Gods to demand the death of people who crossed them, but was forced to reconsider when it was somebody she cared about, rather she simply never expected the Gods to demand the execution of their sworn enemy. At no point is she asked to question her religious beliefs, because she effectively doesn't have any. At no point does she ask herself "is it right for me to kill a man, if the Gods tell me to," only "will the Gods ever ask me to do something which I know is wrong, like killing a man."

It's all the more problematic because apparently Auraya's twenty-first century beliefs are apparently supported by the Circlan faith (she complains that the Gods are asking her to "break the rules they themselves laid down") but again this raises the question of why the Gods set things up like that in the first place. She insists that Mirar doesn't deserve death because he has committed no crime, but she lives in a goddamned theocracy, surely "being the immortal leader of a heathen cult which leads people away from the Gods and therefore causes the destruction of their souls" is, in fact, a crime whichever way you cut it. Of course, when Auraya says "he has committed no crime" she means "he has committed no act which would be considered a crime to a twenty-first century, atheist fantasy reader." In fact he encourages people not to worship the Gods, which from the perspective of somebody who does worship the Gods, and who believes that worshipping the Gods is the key to saving your soul from destruction, should be a very bad thing. A crime, in fact. In Dante's Inferno, Heretics wind up in the sixth circle of hell, along with murderers and suicides. Heresy - the propagation of false doctrine (like "It's okay not to worship the Gods") - is, from a religious perspective, an act of violence equivalent to murder. It destroys souls. It is not okay from any genuinely religious perspective.

The problem is that modern audiences (and by extension modern writers, who after all come from the same stock) just don't see it that way. "Heresy" is just a word, for most people one that conjures up images of sinister black-robed priests tying innocent villagers to stakes and cackling. The idea that religion might genuinely be something worth fighting over is something we understandably find uncomfortable. Religion has caused a great many bloody wars in the past few millennia, and nobody's keen on that, and I somehow doubt that the Pope is going to call any more crusades any time soon.

I do wonder, though, whether we haven't gone a little too far in our rejection of religious conflict. We've finally (more or less) reached the conclusion that slaughtering each other might not be the best way to resolve our religious differences, but since we place such a high value on the act of slaughtering each other, this seems to have led to our rejecting the value of religion entirely. Since we no longer see it as worth having wars over, we no longer see it as worth paying attention to at all, and this unfortunate state of affairs bleeds over into fantasy worlds whose fictional Gods hand down divine laws they don't actually believe in to followers who are just going to do whatever they want anyway.

I can't help but think it's a bit of a shame.Themes:

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at 20:04 on 2008-04-17The idea that religion might genuinely be something worth fighting over is something we understandably find uncomfortable.

I think this is because, like you said later on, religion isn't as valuable to people in the West anymore. Stability, separation of church and state, and more widespread religious freedom mean that you can pretty much follow any belief system you want, so long as you're not breaking the law. Religion affecting your life through discrimmination or inconvenience or whatnot is more likely to be grounds for a lawsuit in the West nowadays, instead of just the way things are in a certain country or area, and that has diminished some of its everyday value to most people. Political ideology matters way more now, because it has a more direct effect on people's lives than most religious action does. In most cases, who's on the school board, or is city mayor, or is state governor, or is the President, is far, far more pertinent to whether your economic circumstances will change than who is bishop or caliphate, and so people act and live accordingly.

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Jamie Johnston

at 20:05 on 2008-05-06Of course, there's nothing inherently implausible or even logically incoherent in someone believing in a god (or gods) and simultaneously judging that god (or those gods) according to an independent moral standard. Many ancient Greeks and Romans took a very dim view of their gods' exploits as described by their poets. What they concluded from that depended on their assumptions about the nature of the gods. Some believed that the gods wouldn't do anything unworthy of their great power (which is not quite the same as saying that being a god necessarily means being good, but has a similar effect) and therefore the stories must be false. Others, believing the gods were psychologically similar to humans, had no trouble with the obvious conclusion that sometimes the gods behaved immorally. Both of those approaches involves judging the gods by one's own moral standards, but that wasn't a problem because the gods weren't regarded as the source of correct moral standards.

The behaviour of the gods you believe in requires you to question your own moral standards only if you believe either (1) that the gods are incapable of immorality or (2) that the gods are both (2a) the source of correct moral standards and (2b) incapable of hypocrisy or moral weakness. There's even some wiggle-room in (2), in fact, if one's prepared to say that the gods are the source of moral standards for humans but have different and ineffable moral standards for themselves (though here one has to answer the question where, if human moral standards come from the gods, do the gods' moral standards come from, to which the answer is probably also ineffable).

So that brings us back to your earlier point, Dan, that the religion in this case is essentially Judaeo-Christian but with the single god swapped for a Graeco-Roman style pantheon. Which means that it does make either assumption (1) or assumption (2) or possibly both, because the author is so steeped in the remains of Judaeo-Christian culture that she's forgotten that it's possible to have a religion without either of those assumptions. And the problems you've identified stem from the fact that assumptions (1) and (2) are incompatible with a Graeco-Roman style pantheon, since that requires the gods to have vaguely human personalities and to interact with one another in a vaguely human way, which they can't do if they're all equally omniscient, omnipotent, and incapable of evil.

So what I suppose I'm saying is that if modern readers really can't be expected to connect with a fictional world in which religion occupies the same place as it did in medieval European society, there may be some mileage in a fictional world in which religion works like it did in the classical world (or in ancient China, or in medieval Japan, or in pre-Islamic India, or in parts of pre-colonial Africa). Then again, perhaps asking fantasy writers to look beyond medieval Europe really would be heresy...

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Dan H

at 14:41 on 2008-05-07

Which means that it does make either assumption (1) or assumption (2) or possibly both, because the author is so steeped in the remains of Judaeo-Christian culture that she's forgotten that it's possible to have a religion without either of those assumptions.

I think that's pretty much my diagnosis.

#Ferretbrain #Religion #Age of the Five #Trudi Canavan #Fantasy #Dan H

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