"Ugh, why is Pearl making us come all the way up here. Doesn't she know I got more important things to do," Amethyst complained as the sun shone on her through the mountaintops. She made no attempt to hide her contempt over the situation.

"Like?" Garnet plainly asked as she led the way up the path. She tried to keep her head clear, but she could not help but peer into her future vision. There were many ways this day could go, and she wanted to be sure they stayed on the right path.

"Psshh, I dunno, like, anything else," Amethyst responded with a shrug. While Amethyst's life was certainly much busier now that she was in charge of little homeworld, she did not actually have anywhere to be as it was the weekend. Her indignation could likely be attributed to Pearl's abrupt request. "What about you Bismuth? Don't you got some Bismithing to get back to?"

"Haha," Bismuth replied sarcastically, but she could not hide the grin brought to her face. "All my prep work is done for class next week, and I don't have any more orders for wedding armor to fill, so I don't mind a little hike. Kind of reminds me of the old days. Long marches leading the armies of man and singing songs of triumph. Don't you think so, Garnet?"

"Those are days I would rather forget. Things only got worse after you went missing," Garnet wistfully replied. She kept her attention forward as she continued along the path, taking each step with care. "We're almost there."

The path ended near the mountain's peak, nearly three hours away from the nearest warp pad. Up here was a concealed entrance to Rose's armory where Pearl requested they meet. Garnet had seen she was planning something in secret but had felt no need to confront her.

"Looks like the mountain held up quite well all these years. Not much has changed since I was last here," Bismuth said. After being freed from Rose's bubble, Bismuth was often surprised by all the ways the ways the world had changed, so it was nice to see something familiar for once.

"You know about this place?" Amethyst asked. "I thought this was supposed to be some secret armory."

"Who do you think built it?" Bismuth proudly replied with a face that made her look almost cocky.

"There waiting for us inside. Pearl will be surprised to see you, Bismuth." Garnet chimed in, cutting their conversation short. Garnet had foreseen Bismuth in many of the day's positive trajectories, so naturally she asked for her aid. 

"Got it, anything else I should know?" Bismuth asked.

"Try not to be too rough," Garnet replied. Bismuth raised her eyebrows in confusion but had no reply.

As the trio walked inside the armory, they could hear Pearl's voice echoing throughout the cave followed by faint laughter. 

"When I landed in that cockpit, let me tell you, the look on that nephrite's face was—" Pearl paused as the trio approached, the water splashing beneath their feet. "Bismuth?" Pearl asked, surprised. 

"I asked her to come," Garnet interjected. 

"Garnet! Amethyst! Your here!" Steven jumped up off Lion, who was still asleep, and he ran to embrace them. After a few moments he turned to Bismuth. "Did you Bismith me?" Steven asked with a chuckle.

"C'mere you," Bismuth replied with a hearty laugh as she pulled Steven in for a hug. "It's so nice to finally have you back. "Beach City hasn't been the same without you". 

"Yeah, well, It's good to be back. Let's just hope I don't bring any more trouble with me," Steven added with a smirk. 

"If anything comes, we'll handle it together," Garnet said, placing her hand on Steven's shoulder to comfort him. "Now, about why we're all here," Garnet continued, staring at Pearl.

"Oh, right," Pearl said before nervously clearing her throat in an effort to stall. "So, now that we're all here, I think it's time I told everyone why we're here," Pearl's words were shaking as she nervously eyed Garnet. "Garnet, I know I should have told you sooner, and I shouldn't have prepared all this behind your back . . . I just didn't know how you would react." Pearl paused again as she took a deep breath. Garnet's shades covered her eyes, but Pearl could swear they were looking into her future, preparing every possible argument against her. Finally gathering her courage, Pearl stared Garnet down. "Garnet, I want to free the Heretic." 

The room was dead silent for a moment. Amethyst expressed only pure confusion. Steven and Connie were too enthralled by the conversation to intervene and looked to Garnet, awaiting her response. But Bismuth seemed concerned as she glanced at the Heretic's anguish which stood atop the armory.

"I know," Garnet bluntly stated. Garnet had already seen what she was planning

"You do? So . . . so, do you think we can help him?" Pearl asked with a hint of hope in her voice.

"I don't think, I saw," Garnet replied as she gripped her glasses, the light seemed to perfectly reflect across the lens as she adjusted their fitting. "Time is like a river, always flowing with no clear path. When that river careens, we are left with choices which could lead to success or end in failure. The question is whether what we have to lose is worth that chance of success." Garnet looked at Steven with concern. She did not want to put him through that risk, but she knew that was not her decision to make.

"Hold up, wait a minute, what are you two talking about right now?" Amethyst finally spoke up with just of hint of irritation. "Who is this Heretic?" She asked, forming quotes with her fingers. It seemed as though she was always the one left out of the loop.

"Yeah, and why would they need our help?" Steven added.

Pearl nervously smiled. "Allow me to explain. The Heretic was one of the human soldiers I told you about earlier. He was once known as the Paladin of Rose Quartz, a legend and hero amongst the humans of the time. He formed the Order of Rose, a large group of human knights, and led many campaigns in service to the Crystal Gems. But, sometime after the war, he attempted to fuse with the Prism . . . and failed." 

Garnet clenched her fists at the thought. "Fusion is supposed to be a mutual bond between two consenting individuals. Whatever they had become, it wasn't fusion. The Prism grafted to his skin, completely consuming his mind, and it acted upon his rage," Garnet's words were uneasy, nearly coming to a shout. She was very sensitive about the topic, but she quickly calmed herself down before she said too much.

"The Prism? You mean the one that Mom took from Hessonite during the war? The same Prism we helped set free?" Steven was asking questions quicker than they could respond. He looked over at the Heretic's anguish. Things were starting to come together, and he did not like where it was going.

"Yes, Steven, when Hessonite came to earth with the Prism, she used its power to summon countless armies of light warriors in an effort to shift the war in their favor. We led a counter offensive to stop her. A war the humans called the Prism Crusade. After Rose defeated Hessonite, we bubbled the Prism and kept it in a fortress so that its power could never be used again," Pearl replied, beginning to pace around in thought again.

"What we don't understand is why the Paladin had the prism or why he had tried try to fuse with it to begin with. He was there during the Crusade, he knew what it had done, he of all people should have known the risks," Garnet seethed.

Steven could see she was getting really worked up over this. "Did you guy's stop him? Did you put him in there?" Steven asked, gesturing to the coffin shaped prison. 

"Yes, but it was not our decision to make. The Order had their own traditions, including punishing their own. To them, being reborn by Rose Quartz was the greatest honor any of them could receive. To die was to make amends, but to live with your failures was the worst torture one could endure," Pearl explained.

He considered her words for a moment, but he could not escape the feeling it was another wrong from his mother's past he needed to right. "We need to get him out of there, we have to help him, Garnet, we have to try," Steven pleaded. He looked around at everyone in the room, his family. This wasn't just about him, whatever happens will affect them all, he thought. "Are all of you willing to take that risk? If we are going to go through with this," he paused, looking up to Garnet. "Then we should do it together." 

Garnet chose her next words carefully, not wishing to disrupt the path she steered them to. "The truth is not always as simple as history would make you believe, Steven. Truthfully, the Heretic was a violent man who was consumed by grief and anger. During the war he was a hero, but there's no telling what he might become in today's world. I have seen a path where this ends well, but I have seen many more which lead to catastrophe."

"If you think we can help, then I'm in," Connie chimed in, her words were supportive as she stood beside Steven.

"I think it's worth a shot" said Bismuth, forming her fists into hammers and slamming them together.

"Sure, why not. I got nothin better to do anyways," Amethyst replied trying to hide her investment in the situation. 

Pearl clapped her hands in excitement. "Well, that settles it then. Let's get him out of there."

Everyone turned their attention to the Heretic's anguish which stood ominously still. It appeared as a large statue of an unknown Gem warrior made of various metals which mainly resembled copper and rose-gold. It towered over everyone there, even Garnet, and stood in a t-shaped pose with its arms extended outward. Each arm carried three spiked flails which hung down. On its waist were three interlocked rings with a spot of black stone which resembled the shape of a keyhole on the navel.

"First things first, how do we open it?" Steven asked, side eyeing Bismuth.

"What?" Bismuth asked, staring back. Everyone else was giving her a similar look. "Don't always assume everything was built by me. I had disciples ya know! But if I had to wager a guess, whatever Gem sealed it should have the authority to open it." 

Garnet stepped forward without hesitation. She approached the heretic's anguish with perfectly linear steps. Everything was going well, but this was the moment where everything could go wrong. There was nothing more she could do to push them on the right path. She placed her hand over the navel which responded with a bright light.

Garnet stepped back as the bonds between the metal became illuminated and the components of the cell began to separate. Some unknown mechanism could be heard whirring somewhere within as each flail dropped to the ground, one by one. The three rings around the cell's waist unlocked allowing it to contract and open in a blinding flash of light. Lion leaped up, perfectly alert as he sniffed the air.

A man clad in tattered plate armor dropped onto the ground with a loud thud. He slowly collected himself and struggled to rise. 

Steven cautiously approached as he looked over the man. His armor was a metallic pink and the left pauldron was painted to depict Rose's shield. Several black vein-like streaks went down his left arm beginning on the shoulder pad as though something had burned against him. The right pauldron brandished a single silver star, similar to the one they all wore. His right arm was missing a gauntlet, the sleeve of his gambeson torn off, and his pink arm had a miscolored cylindrical scar at the top of his forearm. He wore a great helm which concealed his whole face, and his surcoat was an ornate mixture of pink tones which resembled the banner he had given Bismuth.

Pearl and Garnet rushed forward and attempted to aid him. When he looked up at them, he became agitated as he frantically pulled away from them. He reached for one of the flails on the ground, wrapping the chain around the exposed skin on his right arm as he rose to his feet.

"Where am I? What did you do to me!?" The Heretic shouted, clearly in shock.

"Paladin, please calm down. It's us, Pearl and Garnet. What's the last thing you remember," Pearl spoke softly as she tried to defuse the situation.

"Remember? I don't want to remember anymore!" The Heretic yelled, gripping his head as he struggled to steady himself. "Nora, Sergeant Dewey, what happened to them? I have to find them."

"Nora? Yes, I remember Nora. She's fin-" Pearl stopped herself as if caught in her own lie. She looked to Garnet who gave her a thumbs up.

Bismuth, Connie, and Amethyst carefully moved forward, weapons in hand, ready to surround the Heretic.

"Stay back! I need to see for myself. Where is she?" He was only getting more skittish as the conversation went on.

"Ehrrmm, well, that's complicated. A lot of time has passed, so If you would just sit down with us a moment, we could explain everything," Pearl was beginning to unravel as she worked the conversation into a corner.

"I can't. Not until I find them. Not until I-I" the Heretic froze. Lion had moved to him, nuzzling against him. "A Lion?" The Heretic said, baffled. He took several deep breaths as he looked at the heretic's anguish and felt the black marks on his armor. "I remember . . . you two put me in there. I'm not going back in."

The Heretic begun violently swinging the flail towards anyone who tried to approach him. Amethyst lashed her whip at him, wrapping it around his arm and tugging hard. Bismuth and Pearl rushed in, grabbing his left arm to restrain him.

"What do we do, Garnet?" Steven asked as the situation unraveled around them.

Garnet stared at the struggle which ensued for only a moment before she sprang into action. She reached for his helmet; she needed it off so that she could show him the future. Maybe, if he knew where his path would lead him, then he could make the right choice.