#Gem is actually ready to fight now and Pearl is like: “oh... you actually hit me...” (lowkey surprised and also proud)

[silvertws]

And so, together at last.

[jaideite]

Main 1-A (shoto, izuku, bakuhoe, and Iida) boys playing Minecraft with their s/o

*cries in ender pearls* I’m such a loser cause I don’t even remember most of everything that goes on in minecraft. Don’t @ me if something is wrong. Debating if I should buy Minecraft on my phone and play it

i felt bad bc i haven’t posted any good content so heres an old request ima shoot out the inbox for y’all I’m probably so rusty KWKD :(( <3

first time writing for Iida let’s see how well we do hMM ;))

TODOROKI, BAKUGOU, MIDORIYA AND IIDA PLAYING MINECRAFT WITH THEIR S/O (PLUS MIRIO TOGATA)

SHOTO TODOROKI

— doesn’t understand a single thing but still plays because you do

— he spawned into the world and moved two spaces

— he fell into a cave and survived

— then died because a cave spider attacked him

— “That’s rough buddy.”

— He’s one of those people who mines straight down and finds a whole bunch of diamonds

— “What are these light blue things in the stones?”

— “It’s an ore for a gem. You mine them and you get diamonds or emeralds. Is it like a really light blue?”

— you’re on like the other side of the cave you both went into so you can’t go over and mine them with a certain pickaxe you made specifically for mining

— you’re pissed because you always struggle to find them and here he is breaking the first rule of Minecraft and finding them

— jerk

— “So I should just get rid of them?”

— “Well I mean—“

— he throws them in lava and they make that burning “sss” sound and you just slowly look up at him from your screen

— “Shoto...what did you do with the diamonds?”

— he kinda just “oops” from his side of the room and you just rub your hands over your face and sigh

— “Oh god I’m in for a rude awakening.”

— he makes an underground farm and house and has collected sea lanterns as lights

— has collected all the diamonds in the world I’m not even kidding he just followed your rule of mining them with the gem pickaxe and diddly doo went off

— “This world sucks there are no diamonds.”

— “Oh I have some in the chest by my crafting table.”

— it’s literally a large chest and it’s full of diamonds

— like STACKS 64 DIAMONDS ALL TOGETHER

— you are just shook

— “sHOTO HOW—“

— lives in the side of a mountain too it’s actually kinda cute cause he used like stairs as chairs and stuff

— unless y’all are playing with some type of mod that allows chairs then other than that pfft your little “house” is decked out just like his bedroom

— your Minecraft beds are right next to each other too

— he thinks it’s romantic

— kinda looks more like an apartment lmaoo

— he’s more of a peaceful Minecraft player but he can survive survival mode if being asked to play

KATSUKI BAKUGOU

— blows everything up

— but not with TNT and flint and steel oh no that’s too easy for him

— the easy way is not for him

— he’s going to learn how to set redstone traps so you walk into them and don’t know

— you walk into your house and you hear the click

— “What just—“

— next thing you know your getting eaten by endermites that have been spawned in

— or your screen just freezes because of all the explosions that go off

— “No No No my stuff—“

— you just watch from the ‘respawn’ screen while he moves into your house to steal your stuff

— “Haha, I knew you had some good shit in here—fucking taking these— what the hell is hitting me—OH SHIT! NO FUCK OFF STUPID RAT LOOKING FUCKS NO DON’T FUCKING KILL ME—“

— your rolling on the floor at the situation of him raging cause the endermites killed him

— katsuki works hard but karma works harder bitch

— raids your stuff when all else fails

— “YOU TOOK ALL MY DIAMONDS?!”

— “They’re mine now bitch.”

— he is a survival mode player only

— no exceptions

— plays it at the hardest level and rages when he dies but manages to get the hang of it after a while

— the meanest and worst minecraft player to ever play with

— and on top of it all he only plays so he has your attention

— what a clown i swear

IZUKU MIDORIYA

— best one to play with tbh only second to mirio

— knows the basics and a little more

— if he made his own world he could survive pretty decently

— he keeps a notebook on the world you guys share with all the weapons and stuff you could need

— has memorized the most important potions needed like invisibility, etc.

— when you first made the world you had an icon that looked like you so you were looking for a little green haired character amongst the grass (assuming that’s where y’all spawned)

— and you are just so confused cause where is he

— “Izuku where the heck are you?”

— “By the flowers and grass.”

— “Oh no wonder I didn’t see you your hair probably—“

— and like once you finally get to the flowers you see him (or his character) and you just stop in your tracks

— cause there’s a tall, buff pixelated All Might staring back at you

— “Izuku—you know what? I ain’t even surprised.“

— “Haha...sorry.”

— you had to turn away because oh god the face on that thing was going to give you nightmares

— the armour—oh goodness the armour

— of course it’s customized to look like All Mights hero costume

— other than that—he’s a decent Minecraft player

— he has a secret world where he has built the city and all might fighting the villains

— it’s a huge flat world and it’s dedicated to all might

— he can survive pretty well at going off mining on his own but he won’t go without you just in case he dies and loses his stuff

— gets excited when he finds ores especially diamonds

— you get excited when you find emeralds because

— “Oh my god Izuku the emeralds look like your eyes.”

— all_mights_1_fan has left the game

— “Oh wow.”

TENYA IIDA

— y’all know those Minecraft books that they used to have that used to help you with like enchantments and stuff?

— Thats Iida

— he plays by the books

— has the complete handbook collection

— I do too lmaooo

— you ask him does he want to play and he just ??

— two days later he’s knocking at your door with the books in hand ready to play

— “I would suggest you go over these should we play!”

— “...Tenya—“

— when you guys play he immediately wants the rules

— “Theres only one.”

— “One—“

— “Don’t dig straight down.”

— he just stares at you mouth agape before he just starts going oFF

— “That rule is absurd! Surely there are more—“

— “NOpe that’s how you play.”

— he’s just ??

— no wonder you’re so chaotic you play games with oNE RULE

— what kind of g a m e has o n e r u l e ?

— so you guys are playing and yknow Iida isn’t having the best of luck

— he’s fallen into caves, burned by lava, and been buried alive by gravel and sand

— lowkey kinda feel bad for him lmaoo

— “This game is chaotic! At least these strange green fellows are coming to greet me.”

— “Strange green fellows?”

— “Yes! Some have no clothing on, but that’s alright!”

— you’re confused for a bit until it just it’s you

— “IIDA, NO, RUN, NO OH GOD DONT—“

— when the first creeper explodes and he goes flying and he starts scolding it for doing that you know you’re in for a ride

MIRIO TOGATA

— also best person to play with

— a combination of everyone lmaoo

— he’s like midoriya except no notebooks

— can also survive on his own but like not in hard mode like katsuki that demon

— you guys play mini games like bedwars and are definitely a couples teams just like in real life

— you guys are like pros at playing

— “Get that blue bed guy over there.”

— “You have a yellow bed behind you, watch out!”

— wholesome is what it is

— if you are like me and just chaotic at Minecraft and life

— which includes missing almost everything, forgetting the names of stuff, and building a little house on the side of a mountain for the next seven days and being scared of everything

— “Babe where are you?”

— “Uh...I’m... I’m in a cave.”

— “We are in the jungle how are you—“

— “I saw a pig and I wanted to kill it and on the way I just dropped into a hole in the ground.”

— poor mirio is just exasperated

— oh boy y’all are in for a ride

— best therapy for him if he gets depressed about the losing his quirk

[schism-au-blog]

Chapter 15: Quenching the Blade

Gold and Peridot finally stopped inspecting the breaking point. “Well, the tech is rudimentary at best, but it’s definitely workable,” Peridot concluded. “The concept is a stroke of genius, though. And you did this all by yourself, now that you have Gold and myself, this should be a breeze!”

“I would be glad to contribute, as well,” said Silver. “I may not know much about science., but I am happy to contribute to the cause.”

“First, now that we have the rest of the planning team back,” said Snowflake. “We were talking about whether we should keep Bismuth a secret for now and have Silver be a spy or if we should be proud and have Bismuth and Silver be fully operational.”

“What do all of you think?” said Peridot. “You seem like you must have been talking for a while.”

“Not really,” said Silver.

“We were analyzing the Breaking Point for a bit,” said Gold.

“But Silver had to tell us the full story of how she got Bismuth from the Crystal Gems.” said Snowflake. “That took a while.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” Gold said. “Still, what were your opinions on the matter?”

“The three of us unanimously decided that having Bismuth be our leader publicly as well as privately would be the best options,” said Snowflake. “But since it was an important discussion we thought we should include you.”

“Hmm I must admit that I think opposite you,” said Peridot. “However, it’s only a slight feeling. I think that Silver and Bismuth’s opinions alone outweigh mine. They are the ones who’d be forced to conceal themselves. I’m just concerned about our lack of information on the Crystal Gems’ activity.”

Silver nodded. “I wish I could ease your concern. However, I must instead worsen it. I do not think I could help much. I know very little about the Crystal Gems’ plans as of now, and it wouldn’t change upon my going back.”

Gold nodded. “I have similar opinions to Peridot. I think that we could gain valuable information from having someone on the inside. But I also think that sacrificing Bismuth as a leader isn’t worth it. We can recruit someone else for that purpose.”

Bismuth smiled. “In all this time, you’ve never asked me if I want to lead.”

“Oh!” said Snowflake, “do you? If not, I can always continue to-”

Bismuth laughed, cutting her off. “Don’t worry, I will. It was just funny. I can see the dedication everyone’s put in, and I’m about ready to show Rose that she’s not the only one who can lead a rebellion. She needs to learn a thing or two about what it takes to win herself a war.”

“How do you feel about her?” Silver asked. “After everything, I mean. Your confrontation sounded intense.”

“It was,” said Bismuth. “I might’ve been a little too intense at the time, but still. She wasn’t listening. Attacking Homeworld head on is the only way to win the war. We can’t continue like this. Homeworld will keep pumping out more and more quartzes, and unless we get rid of ‘em, they’re just going to shatter everyone we care about! If going against Rose is the only way to stand against Homeworld, then that’s what we need to do.”

“Homeworld doesn’t tend to view us as important enough to go on the offence, but I bet the crystal gems will,” said Silver. “It’s counter-intuitive, but I think it may be best to try to go after the Crystal Gems first, unifying us once again, then hitting Homeworld with our new numbers.”

“Wouldn’t attacking the Crystal Gems only divide us even further?” asked Gold.

“We’ve already committed to dividing the rebellion,” said Peridot. “I agree with Silver. Let’s get the competition out of the way.”

“We’re both working for the same goal-” Gold tried.

“No we’re not,” interrupted Bismuth. “They want Homeworld to just give up and leave us be, we want the freedom of all gems. And we’re willing to do whatever it takes to win. They’ll stop halfway.”

“I suppose,” said Gold. “But still, what will attacking them accomplish?”

“I suspect many Crystal Gems who agree with us are staying back out of blind support of Rose,” said Silver, “She’s very charismatic. If we can show them she’s not infallible-”

“-Having Bismuth on our side and free will help immensely. No offence, Snowflake, but you're not exactly the symbol of freedom Rose is.”

“None taken,” said Snowflake. “I’m more than happy to have a replacement.. I may not even have a spot at these meetings once Bis gets herself properly oriented.”

“You’re the best strategist we have!” said Peridot.

“That says more about the quality of our current army than it does me,” said Snowflake. “Besides, Silver here seems to have quite a head on those shoulders.”

“I think we need to try to convince Rose again. I need to. I just- I want to talk to her again,” said Bismuth. “Make sure our damages really are irreparable. If we can patch things up and be a part of the Crystal Gems while still taking a real stand against the elites, that’s the best option. But she won’t let that happen if our last interaction is anything to go by.”

“Yeah, this battle will be hard,” said Snowflake. “These are gems we’ve fought alongside for years. But we have to show them what it means to stand up for what we believe in.”

“I’ll be here, figuring this out,” Peridot said, gesturing to the breaking point. “I don’t think I’ll be much of an asset in battle. We’re not going to be shattering crystal gems, right?”

Bismuth nodded. “Of course. They’re not a part of the system anymore. Besides being our friends, there’s simply no good reason to shatter them, strategically.” 

“If Peridot’s staying here, so should Ashalmalmite and Tiger’s Eye as guards,” said Silver. “It hurts to leave so many of our capable gems behind for our first big battle, but it’s not a good habit to leave our base unattended.”

“And what’s the worst they’ll do, shatter us?” Snowflake joked.

 Gold chuckled. “So the plan is, try to reason with Rose, if she doesn’t listen, fight, and try to lower her legitimacy?”

Bismuth nodded. “That’s the plan so far.”

“How are we going to get Rose to come out for us?” asked Gold.

“Rose is at the front lines at every battle. If we cause enough of a ruckus, she’ll come running.”  Bismuth said. “From there I just need to talk to her.”

“Are eight gems really enough to cause that much of a ruckus?” asked Silver. “Unless they’ve exponentially increased security at the Reef, I think we could get quite a few of our sisters out of there.”

“The problem is getting them ready to fight,” said Gold. “We certainly weren’t when Rainbow carried us out.”

“Right, so recruit, train, fight, talk, fight,?” Snowflake asked.

Peridot nodded. “I suppose so. How long have we been in here now? “

“I don’t know,” Gold admitted. “We spent a while analyzing that weapon, then even longer talking-”

Bismuth opened the door to the forge. “Looks like it’s sunrise already. We can plan our first recruitment mission later. For now, let’s just take a break.”

Snowflake, Silver, Gold, and Peridot all nodded. As they wearily trudged out of the forge, Apatite, Ruby, Emerald, Tiger’s Eye, and a plethora of familiar gems, greeted them. Apatite grinned. “You were taking too long, so we got bored, so we invited some old friends to join the fun.”

“Turns out a good leader makes all the difference,” said Tiger.

“Hey!” Snowflake exclaimed jokingly.

“Are you- all Metallic Gems?” Bismuth asked.

Crazy Lace nodded. “While it was just Snowflake leading in your memory, I wasn’t sure. But now? Hell yeah, I’m a Metallic Gem to my core.”

Bismuth grinned and ran towards her. The familiar gems crowded together for a hug with their long-missed friend, while the new ones stood back, unsure of what to make of the situation.

“By the way, Silver, Rose figured out what you did somehow and apparently you’re on as bad of a side as she’s got; I guess someone can tell gems apart further than just the type? Anyway- if having you spy on them and keeping Bismuth under the table was an option at some point, it isn’t now,” said Emerald. “Anyway, that’s how we managed to convince everyone to come with. They figure if you were able to pull that off, we actually stand a chance."

Silver stuck her hand out to introduce herself to one of the newly-formed quartzes. It was anyone’s guess why the kindergarten was so under-guarded. She hoped the Crystal Gems were distracting them with a battle, and not that it was some trap. She supposed it was too late to worry about that now. “Hello, I’m Silver.”

“Citrine,” she said. “I’m very glad to meet you.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well,” said Silver.

“Who thinks they can go into battle?” asked Bismuth. “Uh, stand over to the left. Those of you who aren’t ready yet, go to my right.”

Gold started to go over to the right, but Silver pulled her to the left. “Come on, I know you can fight,” said Silver. “I trained with you like, two months ago. I’m not giving up the opportunity to see how you’ve improved.”

“I’m just- I’m not sure if I’m ready,” Gold protested. “I mean, I wasn’t made for fighting, like them.”

“That’s why it’s so exciting!” said Silver. “Getting to do something beyond intent! Showing the world we can be more!”

Gold couldn’t help but smile at Silver’s sudden burst of enthusiasm. “Okay, but if I get shattered, it’s your fault.”

Silver laughed. “Alright. We’re going to show the world what a pair of Pearls can do!”

Bismuth looked over her field of soldiers, almost all of whom were on the left. “Well, it looks like we have a battle to fight!” she exclaimed. “Listen- we’re not going to be shattering anyone today. The goal of today is to start knocking Rose off that pedestal of hers. We’re going to show the world that we are here, we can survive, and we’re ready to fight for what should be ours. Now, for every quartz, pearl, ruby, every working gem, any gem who’s been made to feel wrong for existing, let us show them that if you want something right, you have to be willing to go all the way!”

“‘Oh I can’t promise inspiring speeches,’” Snowflake mocked. “I may be biased, but that sounds better than anything Rose could give.” A cheer erupted from the crowd. “Which base are we heading for?”

“Silver, do you think you could get us to the base they were keeping me?” Bismuth asked.

“Of course,” said Silver. “It’s not very strategically relevant, but that’s not a big deal if our main goal is to cause a stir.”

Bismuth grinned. “I think we can make that happen.”

Silver, Bismuth, and the entire army warped to the new desert base. Normally, they might try something more discreet, but if they were going for a battle, the Crystal Gems would have to have enough time to get Rose. At last, everyone was gathered at the other end of the warp. “Remember everyone, We stand together, and nobody fights until Rose and I talk, or someone attacks you. We already come off aggressive enough. We don’t need to add to that.” She took a breath. “Ready everyone?” She nodded her head and walked straight forward into the blistering desert. Her army followed. They were sure the Crystal Gems would be ready for them. They were counting on it.

The Crystal Gems had, of course, seen the warp repeatedly going off, and readyed their troops. They were standing in formation, with Rose at the front, Pearl to her right, Garnet to her left. The waiting was unbearable, but not nearly as bad as the upcoming battle.

taglist: @chillchildvibes

[andrewmoocow]

Steven Universe Alternate Future chapter 9: Little Graduation (originally posted on March 15, 2021)

AN: It's good to be back in business! Steven Universe: Alternate Future has returned at last, and with it, the plot begins to thicken. If I were to compare all four parts to RWBY, the previous one is Volume 1 (goofy fun times with some fighting), this one will be Volume 2 (a fine mix of both), Part 3 is Volume 3 (everything goes to hell), and finally Part 4 is a mix of Volumes 4 & 5 (dealing with the aftermath of Part 3, but things will get much better at the end.) Anyways, can Steven keep a lid on his negative emotions? How long before he learns what Black Rutile has planned for him? And will he be both physical and mentally strong enough to fight one last evil Gem? Tune in and find out!

Synopsis: As Steven prepares a party for Little Homeschool's first graduating class, his fears of growing apart from his friends slowly become reality.

Cast:

Zach Callison as Steven

Matthew Moy as Lars

Kate Micucci as Sadie

Indya Moore as Shep

Brian Posehn as Sour Cream

Lamar Abrams as Buck

Reagan Gomez Preston as Jenny

Erica Luttrell as Padparadscha Sapphire

Kathleen Fisher as Fluorite

Enuka Okuma as Rhodonite

Ashly Burch as Rutile Twins

Deedee Magno Hall as Morganite's Pearl

Charlyne Yi as Morganite's Ruby

Laura Bailey as Titanite

Michaela Dietz as Blue Lace Agate

Jinkx Monsoon as Emerald

--

"Teens by day, hey! We're all right." Steven began singing along to Sade Killer and the Suspects' hit song as he drove away from home one relaxing day in Beach City. "Teens by day, but every night we're Sadie Killer and the Suspects! Whoa, Sadie Killer and the Suspects!"

Steven continued singing as he drove through Beach City until he made a stop at Lars's interstellar pastry shop Spacetries. Today was a special day, and Lars was going to be an essential part of it.

"Hey, Blue Lace." Steven greeted the Agate as he entered the shop.

"Hey, Steven." Blue Lace replied with a wave. "If you're looking for Lars, he's right over there." She added before getting back to rolling some dough.

"Hey Steven, here to pick up the cake?" Lars asked while looking over the order Steven placed.

"Yeah," Steven answered. "but I also wanted to check up on you. How are things?"

"Oh, y'know, same old same old." The pink man replied just as the door opened behind the pair. "Wait, is that-"

"Hey Steven, hi Lars!" Sadie Miller cheerfully greeted the duo. When Steven and Lars turned around, they saw that Sadie had changed a lot since they last saw her. Sadie's hair was now fully blonde again and in a ponytail. She wore a pink headband, had a white shirt with a blue one tied around her waist, and black pants. "Long time no see, you two."

"Sadie!" Steven cheered at the sight of his old friend. "Oh my gosh, I can't remember the last time we were together in a pastry establishment!"

"Yo Sadie, I got your moon cakes." Lars said, presenting a box with a moon symbol on the sides to his former co-worker and handing it to her.

"Thanks, Lars." Sadie responded gratefully as she took the box of moon cakes.

"So, how are things going with you and Shep?" Lars followed up.

"What?" Steven asked, completely confused about who the pair were talking about. "Who's Shep?"

"Shep's my new partner." Sadie said to Steven. "They're real cool & chill, and I can't believe we've been dating for two months now!"

"That's cool, I guess." Lars said awkwardly. "Tell them I said hi for me."

"Will do, Lars." Sadie replied as she left the store. "See you again someday."

"Shep, someday?" Steven continued asking, still unaware of what was going on. "Is there something I'm missing?"

"As Sadie said, Shep's her new partner." Lars reiterated for his ex-girlfriend. "They met while the Suspects were touring, and love was just in the air for them from there. I met them myself, and I find it nice Sadie fell for someone who isn't a real piece of work like I was back in the day."

"Yeah, you were kind of a jerk back then." Steven chuckled nostalgically. "Which reminds me, why did Sadie say "see you again someday"?"

"Oh, that." Lars said, nervously rubbing his neck. "Really wish I told you earlier, but I'm gonna be going back to space once the Off-Colors graduate tonight."

"Wait, you're leaving Earth so soon?!" Steven gasped at the shocking news. "But what about the shop?!"

"Don't worry, Steven, I'll cover for him!" Blue Lace called from her counter.

"Thanks, Blue Lace! I always could count on you." Lars said to his employee before returning to Steven. "I'm just ready to move on, cause that's just life. You get what I'm saying, right? I mean, now that Little Homeschool is all finished, what do you wanna do now?"

"I, uh…" Steven began stumbling over his words at the thought of thinking about what to do next now that he's saved the universe from the Diamonds' tyranny and resolving most of his issues with his family.

"Hey, graduation cake's ready!" Lars declared, derailing Steven's train of thought. "See you tonight, Steven, okay?"

"Okay." Steven replied.

--

"When me and my partners first discovered fusion, it was the most wonderful experience any of us had shared, and couldn't bear to be torn apart from then on." One of Fluorite's components, a large green Gem named Titanite, said to an audience of fellow Gems and humans later that night at the big graduation ceremony. Behind her stood her lovers, Lavender Jade, Iolite, Rubellite, Indicolite & Verdelite, along with the Ruby & Pearl that make up Rhodonite, the Rutile twins, and Padparadscha Sapphire. "Even when we declared pariahs for our love, we refused to let it get us down. Now, centuries later, we're finally free to express ourselves without fear of persecution, and we couldn't be happier. Thank you, Steven, for everything."

The audience began cheering as Titanite bowed and returned to her partners to give them all a big hug, which resulted in them all forming Fluorite once again. "Oh my." She said slowly. "It really has been so long since we've been apart."

As Fluorite took her place alongside the other Off-Colors, Ruby and Pearl were next. "As Titanite said, fusion was the most wonderful time we spent together." The Pearl stated. "In fact, Fluorite was the first cross-Gem fusion just like us that we encountered, and our little Off-Color family grew from there."

"The Morganite we formerly served refused to let us fuse because she feared it would endanger her status until she finally had us replaced." The Ruby added. "When we got the news, we fled as soon as it was broken to us while Shattering Robonoids chased us down. But thankfully, we were able to survive, and now, here we are."

The audience cheered again as the pair of Gems kissed on stage, once again merging into Rhodonite before she took her place alongside the Off-Colors. Next to make a speech were the Rutile twins.

"My sister here and I popped out as one Gem due to some incident with the Injectors that created us." The left Rutile explained. "We weren't even supposed to live, but we did anyways because all the other Rutiles ran from us."

"We were nearly shattered right then and there, but Fluorite found a way to help us escape, and there we stayed." The right Rutile added. "At least, until Steven and Lars came into our lives, on the run as well. We helped them out, and they helped us in return. And we couldn't be more grateful."

As the Rutiles left the mic, Padparadscha Sapphire became the last Off-Color to give a speech. However, hers was a lot shorter. "I'm going to give a grand speech at the graduation ceremony tonight!" she declared brightly. "Oh, what fun!"

The crowd began laughing before Steven took the mic for himself and led Padparadscha away. "Thank you, Paddy, that was very moving." He joked, prompting more laughter. "We're all so proud to see our graduates grow and stay together as everyone goes their separate ways while moving onto bigger and better things. Well, besides me, of course. I'll be staying right here in Beach City, teaching the next generation of Little Homeschool graduates. Okay, now move those tassels!"

The Off-Colors each moved the tassels on their caps.

"Now, let's give a hearty con-grad-ulations to our first alumnae of Little Homeschool!" Steven exclaimed, prompting everyone to cheer.

--

Soon after, the Off-Colors left the stage while a party celebrating the ceremony commenced. Steven wandered around the beach, looking around at Gems and humans interacting before seeing Sadie interacting with someone he never saw before. They were dark-skinned and wearing a backwards cap, a crop top, nose ring, purple joggers, blue and white high-tops, four colorful bracelets, and a dark green backpack.

"Oh, hey Steven, I never got the chance to introduce you to my new partner." Sadie called for Steven. "I'd like you to meet Shep."

"It's nice to meet you, Steven." Shep greeted Steven.

"So, is it true that you and Sadie have been dating for almost two months?" Steven asked Shep.

"Yeah, that's true." Shep replied. "We met during one of Sadie's concerts a while back, and after exchanging numbers, things just fell into place."

"You know, some people say you don't really get to know them until you get stranded on an island with them." Steven chuckled, though Shep didn't get his joke.

"Uh, do people really say that?" Shep wondered. "Whatever. Sadie and I are going to get cake; then we'll perform at 7."

"That's right." Sadie laughed before the two of them left for some graduation cake. "See you then Steven."

"Wait a sec; I thought you were performing with the Suspects?" Steven halted Sadie for a bit.

"Actually, Shep and I are planning to do a song together." The ex-donut girl said, gesturing to her non-binary partner.

"Uh, cool. Can't wait to get it." Steven replied nervously.

"Cool." Shep smiled as they left with Sadie. "Catch you later."

Steven noticed Lars was also going to get some cake and tried to block his path. "I wouldn't go over there if I were you."

"Is something the matter Steven?" Lars asked his younger friend. "I mean, the cake was just what you ordered."

"No, it's about Sadie and Shep." Steven revealed while gazing at the couple.

"Oh, nice." Lars grinned. "I'll stop by and say hey."

"But, aren't you okay?!" Steven tried to call for the pink man.

"Aren't you?" Lars repeated Steven's question, causing the half-Gem boy to put on a fake grin.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Steven replied before he spotted Jenny Pizza sitting on the stage, having herself a drink. "'sup, Jenny?"

"Hey Steven!" the Pizza girl greeted Steven. "Looks like everyone's enjoying the graduation so far."

"Yep, everyone but me." Steven said sorrowfully. "I guess it looks like everyone's got something new going on."

"Yeah, it's not a bad thing, though," Jenny replied before she began pointing at both of her fellow Cool Kids. "Sour Cream has regular gigs as a DJ in Empire City." She explained while Sour Cream laid on Fluorite's massive head, and Buck conversed with Rhodonite at the refreshments. "And Buck's got into medical school, so he's gonna be saving lives in like, 20 years. Meanwhile, I've been going all out on my new phone jackets."

"What's that?" Steven asked before Jenny pulled out her phone, which was wearing a miniature coat to demonstrate.

"It's my new online business," Jenny explained. "We, and I'm using the royal we here, make the finest jackets suited for your mobile device."

"Aw, it's got little pockets!" Steven cooed in amazement at the jacket's features before he made another discovery. "And it's got its own little phone too! How are you going to find time to make and sell these?"

"Well, I'm gonna have a lot of time now that the Suspects are breaking up." Jenny casually revealed to Steven's alarm.

"Seriously, what?!" Steven yelled in shock.

"I suppose Sadie didn't tell you." Jenny guessed, just as Sadie and Shep returned from eating cake.

"Hey Steven, you ready for us?" Sadie asked.

"Oh, yeah, sure!" Steven suddenly remembered and walked over to the microphone. "So, is everyone having a good time tonight?" he asked the audience, and they cheered in response. "Who here's a Sadie Killer and the Suspects fan?! Cause tonight's performance only has one member."

"Oh boy." Lars muttered.

"So, please welcome to the stage," Steven continued, but then stopped to ask the two musicians. "Uh, what's your band called again?"

"We haven't thought of a name yet." Sadie admitted.

"Uh-huh, well, could've asked me." Steven giggled nervously before he began to walk offstage. "I'm really good at naming bands."

As Steven left, Sadie turned the microphone to her. "This is a little something Shep and I have been working on lately." She announced. "We hope you all like it."

"We will accept any criticism afterward." Shep stated when Sadie pointed the microphone to them before playing their recorder, cuing Sadie to sing.

"When I was younger and I hated fun," Sadie sang. "I was always looking back on what I should've done. I used to live my life in fear, of all the bad performances that led me here. But, I'm looking forward, I'm looking forward. I'm looking forward now."

While the song continued, Lars turned away from his ex on stage and proceeded to walk away.

"Lars?" Steven said to the donut boy turned space hero.

"Oh, hey Steven." Lars calmly greeted his friend, who began to run after him.

"Lars, wait up!" Steven called. "Hey Lars, where are you going?"

"I'm just gonna bounce, only wanted to spend time with the old gang before the Off-Colors and I go off-world," Lars answered. "Big parties really ain't my thing."

"But, you're leaving Earth tomorrow!" Steven cried as his body began taking on a faded pink hue. "When can I ever see you again?"

"You can see me whenever." Lars tried to assure Steven. "I've got the same powers as that lion of yours, so you can just pop out of my hair whenever you want."

"W-w-w-wait, please don't go!" Steven begged the space captain.

"It's been real Steven." Lars said farewell, or so he thought.

"Lars," Steven muttered before he fully turned pink. "STOP!"

Suddenly, Lars found himself bumping into a pink wall that slowly grew into a massive dome that trapped everyone at the ceremony.

"Steven, what's happening?!" Lars yelled as he pounded on the wall of the dome.

"I have no idea either!" Steven exclaimed in response.

"Really, you got no idea where this dome came from?!" Sour Cream yelled.

"Let's hope it doesn't end up like in that book!" Buck replied.

"I think this dome was created by someone having some powerful emotions, and I think we all know who it is." Steven declared before pointing to who he thought it was. "Lars!"

"Wait, what?!" everyone else gasped in shock.

"I don't think that's right!" Lars said defensively.

"No, I'm sure I'm right!" Steven lied to get out of opening up about his own feelings. "We won't get out of here until you work things out with Sadie! I'm pretty sure you guys haven't even talked since you got back, Lars!"

"We actually did, a few times." Sadie revealed solemnly. "Look, Steven, we did try to reconnect, but things just didn't work out between us. Plus, there's also the fact that despite how much we changed, we just weren't right for each other."

"Sadie knows I miss her, and I'm just too happy that she found someone to love herself." Lars added, prompting a touched reaction from Shep.

"And I know Lars is happier being with the Off-Colors in space." Sadie said.

"But when did this happen?!" Steven cried in disbelief. "I wasn't there for any of that!"

"That's because it was private!" Sadie answered.

"Yeah, I mean, you can't just stick yourself into other people's lives like the universe revolves around you and things only happen with you around." Lars pointed out. "Trust me; I know what that's like. Mostly the universe revolving around you part."

The crowd inside the dome was silent for a tiny bit, except for Jenny letting out a cough.

"But, I thought you were leaving because you were jealous of Shep." Steven broke the silence.

"I'm leaving because traveling through space is tons of fun." Lars declared. "Adventure is out there, as they say, and there's still tons of adventures for me and the Off-Colors to go on. Heck, we can even teach other planets what you taught us!"

"Okay, so there's nothing to work out then." Steven realized, but then he noticed something. "Hey, is it getting claustrophobic in here, or is it just me?"

The dome began to shrink more and more, despite everyone's best efforts to push it back.

"Steven, you want to get rid of this dome already?!" Rhodonite panicked while helping the Cool Kids try to keep the dome from shrinking.

"I'm trying, okay?!" Steven yelled anxiously. "Just gotta concentrate real hard!"

"Hey, Steven?" Shep stepped forward to comfort Steven.

"Not now, Shep, still concentrating!" Steven tried to ignore Shep.

"Please, listen to me." Shep urged the boy.

"Look, if I don't get rid of this dome quick, all my friends will die!" Steven screamed, now on the verge of tears.

"Wouldn't be the first time." Lars quipped in the possible face of death.

"Okay, but your magic's connected to your feelings, correct?" Shep theorized as they looked around them. "This is just a hunch, but it seems you made this dome because you're sad your friends are leaving, and want them to stay with you."

"I don't see what you're talking about." Steven replied.

"No, listen, you'd be surprised at how observant I can be." Shep assured Steven. "I think maybe you're figuring yourself out, and you want some friends to help you."

"Okay, you're right!" Steven confessed. "I've always been trying to help my friends, but now it seems like they don't need me anymore! I don't know who I am without them!"

"Aw, Steven, you're great. But you still need to let us go and live our own lives." Sadie convinced him while the dome began to squeeze them all together.

"I know, but I don't want to hold any of you back." Steven let out his current feelings as he felt himself get crushed between the dome and Fluorite's body. "I just can't help it if my big ol' heart still loves you all."

"Awww, Steven!" Jenny squealed in delight.

"We'll all still be friends." Sadie assured her little friend.

"Even if some of us are lightyears away." Lars added hopefully.

"You guys." Steven giggled before he returned to his normal color, and the dome finally disappeared.

"Hm, that wasn't the worst party we've been to." Jenny stated before she began to leave.

"Yeah, see ya Steven." Sour Cream added, beginning to walk away as well.

"At least there was no toxic air involved." Buck concurred.

"It was nice seeing you again." Sadie said, hugging Steven.

"Yeah, it was nice seeing all of you again too," Steven replied, now happier than he was earlier. "You two make a good couple."

"Hey, thanks." Shep replied gratefully. "You want a CD of our song?"

"How about a tape?" Steven suggested to them.

"Got your back." Shep said, handing Steven a tape of the song they just played. "Okay, take it easy."

As the couple left, Steven was now left alone with Lars. "Uh, Lars?"

"Gotta make this quick, Steven." Lars answered. "Me and the Off-Colors gotta," He stuck his tongue out and made a raspberry sound.

"First off, I'm sorry for what happened," Steven said meekly. "And second, do you think I can be a bit too controlling?"

"This coming from the guy who took over my body because you wanted me to be a nicer person." Lars chuckled. "But it's still cute you didn't want me to leave."

"I don't want you to leave!" Steven exclaimed.

"Hey, buck up Steven." Lars comforted the half-Gem. "As I said earlier, you can visit me anytime."

"It's just, for a second, we were all together on Earth again." Steven sighed heavily. "Maybe I just don't like graduations. Maybe I should leave Little Homeschool."

"Hey, come here." Lars then brought Steven in for a hug while the Off-Colors stood by watching. "Are you going to let go anytime soon?"

"Just a couple more minutes." Steven replied.

--

The next day, the Crystal Gems had begun welcoming new students to Little Homeschool. But Steven, having now quit teaching at the school, was still a little gloomy from last night.

While Sadie and Shep's song played in Steven's car, he drove out into the woods and then laid down on the roof, gazing up at the night sky. Just what was next for him?

--

"Lars of the Stars is back in business, baby!" Lars cheered as he once again made himself comfortable in the captain's seat of the Sun Incinerator. "So, what should we do now gang? Something good? Something bad? A bit of both?"

"You lead the way, captain." Rhodonite turned back to her human captain with a smile.

"Y'know what, let's just fly around and see what happens!" Lars declared after giving it some thought and ordered the Incinerator to blast off into the starry yonder.

Close by, another spaceship loomed behind the Sun Incinerator, and its captain had the Off-Colors by the tail.

"Finally." Emerald declared to herself as she spied on her prized ship flying around. "After so much waiting, I have you in my sights."

Emerald then pulled up a holographic screen that presented her with Black Rutile, and she eagerly awaited further commands from her cape-wearing master.

--

So opens the curtain on Part 2. Will we see Lars and the Off-Colors again, and will Emerald finally get her precious Sun Incinerator back? But enough about them for now, wait until later this part while we start dealing with more Earth-based matters, like plants for example! See you then!

[captainillogical]

Distant Lands Ch.1

Stranded on a planet with toxic conditions and nothing but the clothes on your back, your only means of survival lies within the gem that got you here in the first place. 

Spinel/Reader

collab with my lovely wife @firstofficertightpants​

(First chapter note: Only the very beginning takes place similar to the events in the movie, but this is canon diversion. Spinel warps directly to earth via warp pad, there is no injector, and she has no rejuvenator.)

(A/N: This is going to be different from our last one. Spinel here hasn’t had a chance to deal with any of her emotions, and this is going to be fairly.. dubcon for a while. This is your warning. My wife and I decided we wanted to explore her character growth in.. a different type of situation.)

-

Steven gives you a high-five as you toss your sandwich wrapper in a perfect 5.0 in the garbage bin across the street. The two of you just got finished eating lunch, and you hadn't seen your favorite teen in several days since he just got back from Homeworld a few hours prior.

"Wanna go check to see if they're done installing the warp pad yet?" Steven asks, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"We've left them alone for a while, I feel like they should be done by now." You chime in with a smile.

You both meander slowly through Little Homeworld, chatting about the more recent events that you guys have been dealing with. With the Diamonds now on your guys’ side, there has been honestly TOO much to do, and you’ve been trying to lighten Steven’s load. But the kid is just too earnest, and much too hardworking for his own good.

As soon as you guys round the corner, you see Amethyst standing near Bismuth and the newly installed warp pad.

“Yo! Over here!” The purple gem motions over to the both of you, as Bismuth walks away to deal with a couple of other things. “Just got done. Looks nice yeah?” She chuckles, and ruffles Steven’s hair. “Sorry to keep my biggest fan waiting.” Steven swats her hand away, and the two of them laugh for a bit. All of you start talking about how far the place has come, and everything you guys still need to get done.

You have known Steven since you were 14 and applied to be his babysitter through a local ad. At first it was really rough, since you know, the whole gem business shtick was really not what you were expecting out of the job. But ever since Pearl accidentally threw that jungle gym at you and you dodged it perfectly, you proved to be a useful guardian for Steven, and they recruited you for gem missions on the occasion. Pearl was the one that taught you most of what you knew, her sword fighting lessons came in very handy the few times you were in life threatening situations.

Over the last 8 years you have watched one of your favorite people grow up to be the most dependable person you know today. He doesn't really need you now - but you're apart of their family, and you never planned on leaving them. You don't know what you'd ever do if you lost this kid. You'd do whatever it took to keep him safe, and alive. He worries about you constantly - you are human, after all, but honestly? You're resilient if anything, and stubborn. It'd take a lot to kill you.

"Alright! Who gets to be the first to test out the warp pad?" You're interrupted from your thoughts at the sound of Steven's voice. You look up to see Amethyst raising her hand excitedly, and her and Steven play rock paper scissors to see who goes first.

You're only vaguely paying attention to what's going on, when you get this indescribable gut feeling to flee.

The warp pad activates - none of you are touching it.

Within a split second you've grabbed Steven's arm and yanked him to the side - just as some sort of scythe hits the ground where he stood with a loud THUNK. You move to stand in front of him, and reach behind you to grab your sword.

You grasp empty air, and curse at yourself for leaving your sword at home. Of fucking course. You let out an aggravated noise, and you see a pink arm stretch over and yank the scythe out of the ground. You follow the arm until you make eye contact with the attacker, her eyes meeting yours and a wicked grin spreads across her face. 

"Are you Steven Universe?" She all but growls out the name. 

"Um, yes?" Steven pipes up behind you. 

You turn your face slightly to him, giving him a disapproving glare. He shrugs, only looking a bit sheepish. This damn kid was way too trusting, and one day it would be the end of him. But not if you can help it, and definitely not today.

“Perfect." She purrs. You realize at this point that she’s a gem, making it all the more confusing as to why she would attack Steven. 

You don't get any time to question her though, as she launches herself at you - scythe spinning wildly. You feel a rope wrap around your waist, Amethyst pulling you out of the way as the pink gem sinks her weapon into ground where you just stood. 

"Woah, too close!" Amethyst shouts, unwrapping you from her weapon. Once untangled you quickly look for a weapon of your own, eyes roaming the ground. You find a thick piece of rebar, slightly bent at the top - it could do for now. You pick it up and turn back to the magenta-haired gem. You see Steven stepping out of another swipe from her, doing a decent job dodging the attacks while you figured out a makeshift weapon.

Amethyst and you join the fray, you running right at the mysterious gem with your piece of rebar and Amethyst distracting her with a snap of her whip. You thrust the makeshift sword out just in time to block her scythe as she arches it down on the half-gem teen, scythe and rebar colliding with a sharp clang. 

You strain against her clearly superior strength as her eyes meet yours, and for the first time since she showed up it's as if she has just noticed you. Her face splits into a similar feral grin like before. 

"Well heya, toots." She pushes down harder on the scythe. "Didn't see you there." The pink gem mocks. You let out a growl as you shove her back, swinging your makeshift weapon at her. She dodges it with ease, simply stretching her body out of the way. She snaps back into place and leans on her weapon, sneering at you. She looks absolutely unhinged. "D'aw, did I make ya mad?" You ignore her jab, and you turn to face Steven briefly.

"Steven, I need you to get the other gems." You attempt to sound more confident and convincing than you actually feel.

"Y/N, I can't leave you to fight her alone!" The teen replies, clearly worried.

"She'll be fine, Steven." Amethyst stands by your side, jabbing a thumb at her chest. "She's got me." This seems enough to placate the curly haired boy. 

He turns on his heels to book it to the warp pad, and you and Amethyst turn your attention back to his assailant. 

"Oh, I don't think so." The violent gem growls. 

She makes a dash to get past you and Amethyst, gunning it for Steven. Thinking quickly, Amethyst lashes out with her whip, catching the gems torso and swinging her back towards you. You swing at her with the rebar in your hand - but like she could read your mind, she blocks it with her scythe instantly. 

"Guess I'll need to take you out first." The gem says, clearly aggravated. Her attention was now solely on you as she jumps back, preparing another onslaught.

"What's your problem with us!?" You yell out as she swings again at you, and you easily block the attack - it’s almost like she’s playing with you. The muscles in your hand are tingling uncomfortably from the vibrations of your two weapons colliding. 

The gem answers with only a cackle as she arches back, ready to strike again. This time her swing of the weapon is stopped immediately by Amethyst's whip, her rope wrapped around the handle. 

The two struggle for a moment while you swing for the pink gems midsection. The rebar makes contact with her body - but stretches with the swing, making you feel like you just got your rebar stuck in taffy. She turns her attention back to you and gives one final pull on her scythe, ripping it free from Amethyst's whip. The weapon comes at you fast and you barely manage to move out of the way as the tip of the scythe scratches down the side of your face as you move, cutting deep into your flesh. Almost instantly warm blood starts to seep down into your eye, causing you to shut it tight and limit your vision. 

“Y/N! Are you alright?” Amethyst calls from behind the pink gem, said gem now turning her attention to the purple being. 

“I’m fine!” You kind of lie as you rush at your attacker, bringing the rebar down fast. The blood in your eye is fucking with the rest of your senses.

The gem catches your weapon easily with her hand and turns to face you, a wicked smile plastered on her face. She pulls you forward and you stumble, not wanting to let go of your weapon. With her free hand she throws her scythe, the weapon spinning towards Amethyst. The purple gem barely had any time to dodge, sharp blade lodging into her stomach and her form dissipates with a gentle poof. Her gem clinks softly as it hits the ground. 

You stare at it in horror.

“AMETHYST!” You yell over the pink gems shoulder before turning your attention back to her. Her hand, now free of the weapon, begins to wrap around you as you struggle to pull the rebar from her grip. 

"Let me go you.. you.. PINK ASSHOLE!" You nearly scream rather childishly. The gem lets out a hearty laugh, before stopping abruptly and looking you right in the eyes. 

Before.. you hadn’t been afraid of her, not really. You were more concerned with making sure Steven was alive. But in this moment, you felt fear creep up on you as she began to speak.

"You know what? I think I like you." She giggles, albeit maniacally, pulling you flushed against her chest as she frees the rebar from your hands and tosses it out of reach. "You're a feisty one." 

Dread hits you like a brick to the face.

"Oh, we're gonna have so much fun." The last word is dragged out, almost hissed, as her face splits into another feral grin. 

Just as you think you're doomed you hear the warp pad activate. You struggle in the gems hold to look towards the pad as the rest of the Crystal Gems and Steven step off of it. 

The gem holding you looks over her shoulder and lets out a guttural growl. The gems and Steven take in the scene before them, Amethyst poofed and on the ground, the gem holding you, and the blood still actively pouring down your face. 

“Amethyst!” Pearl shouts, heading straight for the gem, picking her up and cradling the purple gem close to her chest.  

“Y/N!” Steven makes his way past Pearl, pulling out his shield and standing ready. “You let her go, now!” Steven demands, adding on a silent “Please?” as your captor glares at him. She turns you around in her grip, and now you’re facing Steven.

“Or what?” 

“I'll ..uh ..I'll take her back.” Steven takes another step forward, lifting up his shield. Garnet, who had calmly made her way over to the curly haired boy, places a hand on his shoulder. 

Steven looks up at her and then back at you and your captor. It takes him a moment to realize that the pink gem had you in front of her as her own personal meat shield meaning that him and the gems were powerless. 

They couldn't attack her without risking your life. The realization must of been obvious on his face because your captor gives him a knowing grin. 

“You can’t hurt me without hurtin’ your friend.” Her accent lulls out as she slams the final nail in your coffin. With no way to rescue you, Steven lowered his shield. He held out his hands in defence as he approached slowly.

"You don't have to do this." He keeps his voice low and calm. The gem sneers at the teen, huffing out a sceptical laugh. 

"You don't know nothin'." The pink gem growls, her grip on you tightening. You wheeze as she constricts against your airways. 

"Steven," You cough out, struggling to breathe "Please don't do anything rash." She smiles, leaning down so her lips barely brush your ear.

"Look at you," She purrs, her breath warm against your face. You grimace in pain, causing the gem to smile wider. “Defending your little friend.” Her grip loosens a hair as she turns her attention back to Steven. 

You look at him, your eyes pleading with him to understand your unspoken words. 

"Move." She demands. 

Steven complies, holding his hands up in defeat. The rest of the Crystal Gems stay put as your captor moves past them. 

She's heading to the warp pad and you begin to panic, fear once again invading your mind. You make an attempt to struggle out of her hold, putting the last of your energy into it. Her arms tighten unbearably so, and you feel tears forming as you gasp for air. 

The last thing you see is Steven reaching out to you, before blacking out.

[moonlightstars16]

Aching Emotions

30 Days Connverse Challenge

Day 9 ~ Nursing The Sick One

It was just one day after her final exam for the year. Connie was already doing her prep work for the coming year ahead. Studying so much she actually got the entire summer off. However she planned to keep up her education even on her 'break'. Thankfully she had her family, friends and of course her best friend/boyfriend, to keep her relaxed and calm during her "time off".

Later that evening, hours into the night she was pouring over her schedules and organizing her summer reading list. Waiting patiently to get her test scores back. Glancing at her phone and laptop every few minutes to see if there was an email notification from the school. The time between now and then was agonizing for her. So much so that she hardly ate or slept. Drinking only the smallest amount of water.

The fan in her room was higher than normal. Already feeling the summer heat from outside. At one point she did fall asleep on her desk. Only to wake up feeling strangely aching all over her. Stretching out her arms and legs from the uncomfortable sitting position, to see if that would help. Nothing. A ding from her phone caused her to quickly look up, brushing off the small headache she felt, and gasp from the notification alert.

Rushing around her room and bathroom, getting ready for a special terrain sword-training day. Having already grab and stuff one last thing into her bag, she ran outside only to be met by Lion. Standing there and waiting for Connie to climb on his back and take her to the temple. Complying instantly, she gripped onto his mane and tried to focus her breathing. Her heartbeat pounding all over her faintly. Lion turned his head to look at her. Though without much expression at a glance, his eyes told it all.

"I'm okay Lion I promise. Now let's go just in case Steven needs you there."

Lion had become sort of Steven's support animal. Helping him cope with all the therapy sessions and facing the reality that it is happening. It didn't seem to be a big deal. But it made a huge change to his life and things were becoming a bit easier. In fact, he only showed up when he sensed something wrong or 'off' with Steven. Teleporting himself right over to his side instantly no matter where he was.

Those visits became less frequent as of late. Because of that, he snuck in a few visits with herself and most likely more Lion adventures. Narrowing his eyes, he faced forward and roared out the portal, jumping threw and landing inside the infamous beach house. Sighing, she jumped off and patted his soft fur.

"Okay, but remember we can't barge into someone's home like this." Glancing up she gulped and bit her lip upon seeing the newly constructed wall. With a passing look, it seemed like it was unaffected by the past events. To herself, she could see it coming a mile away. Shaking her head she turned upon hearing the temple door opening with Pearl stepping out. Her mentor, her friend and, in a way, extended family.

"Oh! Hello Connie, it's good to see you."

"Same to you Pearl, how are you?"

"I'm doing okay, just busy with the school is all. However I'm pleased to have days were I only focus on one person." They giggled as Connie nodded in agreement.

"I hope you don't mind me continuing these lessons. It just helps me de-stress and keeps up my stamina for self-defense. As well as my own health."

"No worries, I'm honored to still be your teacher... Even after everything I did." Pearl smiled weakly as Connie set her bag down, sword and scabbard around her waist, and walked towards her. Placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I already forgave you long ago."

Moments later they were warped to a special arena. Pearl explained it was an earth terrain battle training area with ever changing scenarios and places to battle in. Originally used for the Gem War since it took place on earth as well as among the stars. Connie could barely focus as her sword seemed to grow heaver and heaver against her hip. Already sweating a bit from the long walk to the very center of the architecture.

"I also have a surprise guest for you." Pearl spoke while opening the secure doors to reveal the amazing arena and a few gems she recognized sitting in the stands. Garnet, Amethyst and Steven all sitting together to support her. Instantly whatever she was feeling seemed to disappear. Though upon seeing her boyfriend, her legs almost buckled down from beneath her. They all waved from their high positions as she waved back. Turning to face Pearl, her sword instantly pulled out from her seethe.

"I'm ready."

Connie jumped from a high bolder and landed on the sand. Changing the terrain from the forest to the dessert instantly while in mid-air. Rolling over to where her feet were back onto the ground, she ducked while moving out from her spot. Pearl, the real one, attacked mercilessly. Not even giving Connie a second to think. However it was hard keeping up with her as she young knight moved quickly with every second. Finally she landed a hit on Pearl's sword.

Advancing forward with metal clashing all over. So focused on the fight Pearl didn't seem to notice the change, when a more rocky terrain came into view. However as soon as she felt the rocks beneath her, she broke her concentration for a slight second. Leaving Connie only so much time to attack. Within a few swings, Pearl's sword left her hand, as Connie had her fall backwards with her own sword to the gem's throat. That ended the entire match.

"Alright, I yield." Connie smiled and helped her up. Suddenly a huge wave of pain seared through her head as she gasped and raised both her hands to her head. Heat radiating off her more and more. "Connie! Are you okay?"

"I'm f-" Another groan escaped her lips as she found herself unable to stand on her own two feet. Falling backwards and on her side as the arena itself began to spin. Pearl leaned down to her left side as darkness clouded her vision. The only thing she could remember before blacking out was a flash of a pink jacket and words spoken.

"I got you, Connie."

Hours passed as Connie laid in her own bed. Covers pulled over to her chin, a diffuser of gentle and calming senses surrounded her and sitting right by her side, was a concerned boyfriend. Dabbing a wet cloth over on her forehead and gently around her face. Watching over her sleeping form as she breathed in and out.

Instantly, Steven picked her up in his arms and sprinted towards the warp pad. Lion was waiting on the other side, licking his paws until a beam of light appeared. Standing up quickly as they jumped on his back.

"Take us to the hospital quick!" He held her close the entire time. Feeling the radiating heat from within. Now normally he would give her a kiss and heal her instantly. However it was important to know what affects the human body and the build-up to it's immunity. He had a hunch of what was going on as her and Pearl's sparring match occurred. The movements she had were a little sloppy and uncoordinated. It was obvious something was up. If only he could recognize it sooner.

It was also better for her mom to know what was medically going on, with her daughter especially. After knowing about all the fractures to his skull and bones, the recoveries he made physically were good....for those moments. Had he known more about them, he would've been more careful about it instead of magically healing it all away.

After two hours with Connie in the examination room then intensive care alongside her mom, both came out to where he was waiting. A common case of overworking herself to being sick. Plus her sword-training exerted all her energy and caused her to collapse and faint. After apologizing multiples times and Dr Maheswaren being understanding, yet firm, she asked him to take her home and watch her until she was off work.

Guilt overtook him once again as he sighed and ran his hands through his hair. He knew it wasn't directly his fault. But that didn't take away the twinged feeling of pain in his heart. Hating to see her like this ever. Blinking back tears he focused on what was more important. Cooling her off. Another hour passed before she finally was awake.

Blinking she focused until she saw him more clearly. A weak smile on her face as he gently grasped her hand. Leaning closer with a cup of water. She placed her lips on the rim and slowly drank every bit of it. As he held it for her. Afterwords, while setting it down on the side table she sighed.

"I suppose this is because I overworked myself?"

"Adding in that you physically fought for a long period of time." He filled her in on the rest before helping her lean forward against his shoulder. Adjusting the pillows so she was sitting up more. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"That my studies had me overworking myself?"

"Why didn't you come to me? How could you not come and talk to me about this?"

"How could I? After all you've been through? I-...I didn't want to be a burden." She blinked back tears and looked down at her hands. He placed a hand over hers and his other under her chin, encouraging her to look up.

"I am going through things myself, yes I admit that. But that does not ever mean I don't care for you or not wanting to at the very least listen. Connie I love you. I care so much for what is happening in your life. I want to be there for you too. Just like you wanted many years ago. I want to be apart of your life." He smiled reiterating her words from when they were kids. She smiled and nodded wiping away a few fallen tears as he did the same. "No more hiding from each other, promise?"

"Promise" She giggled as they hugged each other. Steven being a bit more careful while feeling her entire body still limp and weaker from before. Pressing a soft kiss on her forehead, she began to spill out everything. He listened to every word as he allowed her to lean against him. Stroking her hair gently to help ease her mind and worries.

After a long talk together, he helped her walk to the bathroom and put together a calming bath in her surprisingly fancy tub for her home. Leaving for her privacy as he made some hot soup for her and grabbed more water. On account of her parents both unable to be there for a bit longer than expected. He didn't mind staying by her side. Enjoyed taking care of her actually.

Finding her already dressed in her pajamas and refreshed, he set the tray down by her bed. Leading her away from the bookshelf and back into the cushy mattress. Pouting as he was firm (and teasing) with her. They took this moment of peace just to be in each other's presence. Well as one can be while their sick and the other taking care of said sick person.

"I think I already feel a bit better." Connie confessed with a smile and an all to innocent twinkle in her eyes.

"Really? So soon?"

"You kissed me a few minutes ago and my headache was instantly gone." She giggled as he froze in place. A blush tinting his cheeks a bit. Knowing the rule of using his powers, which he had control over, for emergencies only.

"Technically this was an emergency of sorts."

"Which is why I'm not going to hold this one over you. But to simply say, thank you." With a flirting wink he chuckled and shook his head.

"You're welcome. But what do you mean by 'holding this one over me?'"

"I was going to do this." With a small portion of her regained strength and energy, she gripped his shirt and pulled her over to kiss his lips. She was low on energy, not contagious after all. His eyes widened in shock before closing them and falling more into it's intensity. Holding her gently against him once again as they shared the most strange, yet loving of intimacies between them.

"You're lucky your parents aren't around." He spoke in between their kisses as she giggled herself against him.

"Exactly"

[starscheme]

Only You

Chapter Fifteen: Sodalite's Decision and Spinels Return

Steven was still surrounded by darkness, but someone had taken his hand when the lights went out. It was too small to be Lars, so Steven had to assume it was Sodalite. After all, who else could see anything in this void?

"Sodalite?" He asked, unsteadily being pulled along in the dark, worried that he could hit a wall or trip over something at any moment and damage Spinels Gem somehow.

"I'm sorry! I-I didn't know what else to do!" Sodalite shouted back, still running as if something was chasing them. She couldn't handle the fighting and the growing dark fog that was starting to surround Steven.

"Stop!" Steven shouted back, not quite realizing just how obedient Sodalite was. She stopped cold the moment he said it and he nearly smashed against her back. After they had finally stopped, Steven looked around, still seeing nothing at all. "Can you...control this? Or...?"

"Oh-oh, r-right!" She gasped lightly, bringing the dark back into herself and revealing where they had ended up. They were rather far from the house actually. Having gone to the hillside by the lighthouse.

"...how...did we get here so fast? I didn't even feel us leave the house..."

"When I move through the dark...it never feels like anything. I just keep running until I feel...safe." Sodalite replied, not quite sure how it worked herself. It was most likely a trick of the mind, but she couldn't be sure. It only happened when she panicked and so she was never thinking straight.

Steven sighed and sat himself down on the grass. Regardless of how they got here, he was relieved all the same. It was so tense inside the house and they weren't getting anywhere by arguing. "...well...thanks..."

Sodalite smiled and nodded her head a bit, sitting herself down in front of him, "I-I just wanted to help, My Steven..."

"You don't have to keep calling me that. It's just Steven. ...I'm not your Diamond."

"...but...calling you by name alone would be rude..." she insisted while nervously placing her hands behind her back. He didn't like being saluted, so she had to resist the reflex.

With another sigh, Steven decided to give up for now. He didn't have the patience to change her mind at the moment. "What we were talking about at the house..." he began instead, "...do you think you can do it? Can you help Spinel? I mean...I'm not ordering you to do it. I'm asking...if it's something you think you'd be able to do...safely."

Sodalite wasn't sure how to answer that. If it had been an order, the answer was easy. An order would have made this simpler. Having options made her anxious and the future uncertain. "W-well...I...I don't know. When I...take in a feeling, I can see it clearly and absorb it. With this...we can all see it...so it's something a bit more physical. It took over Lars not like a feeling would, but as another person. ...and inside Lars...it was only a small piece of something. Inside Spinel...is much larger."

"Are you saying...it's not Spinel? It's a separate thing?"

"...I can't be completely sure. I'm sorry..."

Steven shook his head, "it's fine," he sighed. "I just...need to think and I'm not going back there any time soon. Not if they're gonna take her from me..."

Sodalite stared blankly at Spinels Gem. She knew that Spinel was special to Steven, but she still didn't understand the romantic aspect of his feelings for her. Lars had tried to explain love to Sodalite before, but for some reason he got flustered and gave up. "You love this Gem?" She asked quietly, staring even closer at the heart shaped stone.

Stevens cheeks flushed lightly, but he nodded his head. "I do."

"Why?" Sodalite asked at once, genuinely curious.

"Eh? Um..." Steven was a little taken aback by the question. Not that he couldn't answer, it just seemed rather sudden in this situation. "W-well...she's been around my whole life. ...I mean...when I was younger she was just a friend until pretty recently. I guess you could say we kinda grew up together. ...but um, Spinel has always been there to cheer me up, even when she was upset herself. Even if she doesn't know someone, she'll make an effort to see them smile. She tries her best at everything she does and is always optimistic about it working out, even when it's clearly going to fail."

"But isn't that just what a Spinel does?"

"I mean, I guess you could say that, but it's not just the happy stuff that made me fall in love with her. It's the way she hates fighting, but will always defend her friends. The way she needs to be babied but still insists that she doesn't need any help. The look on her face when she listens to my heartbeat...or how she gets embarrassed and hides behind her pigtails..."

Sodalite listened silently, still unclear how this worked. Wasn't that just being fond of someone? Maybe it was exclusive to Steven because he was half human? Without a word, Sodalite sat in front of Steven and leaned her head in to press her cheek against his chest.

Steven froze at once, "uh-what are you doing?"

"Listening to your heart," answered Sodalite simply. "Isn't that the organ that controls love? I thought perhaps that Spinel listened to it and understood something about love that way."

"I-I really don't think that's why she does it. The sound just...seems to calm her down and makes her happy..." Steven tried to explain, feeling a little awkward with Sodalite's face pressed up against his chest.

The freckled Gem listened carefully, not hearing anything significant or helpful. It was just a series of small thumps that seemed to speed up the longer she sat there. She finally sat up straight and sighed in defeat. "...it's just a constant rhythm. ...I didn't hear anything that would help me understand what love is."

Steven smiled, quite relieved that Sodalite had given up. "Well, it means something to Spinel because she loves me. What if you tried listening to..." Stevens voice trailed off, only remembering now that Lars didn't have a normal heartbeat anymore. "...uh...maybe you can find something about Lars that you find soothing?"

"Lars?"

"Yeah," Steven answered with a smile. Finding that this was a nice distraction to the terrible things that had happened lately. He really didn't want to think about what they might have to do in order to fix it. "What do you like about Lars?"

Sodalite thought for a moment, "he's kind...and thoughtful...and always makes sure nothing will scare me when we walk into a room. He's very patient with me...even when I know it's causing him trouble. He never gets mad at me when I break something or cause street accidents..."

"Street accidents?" Steven repeated, "how many have you caused?"

"...a few, but Lars just grabs me and runs away when that happens."

"What?! But that's—-" Steven stopped and sighed, "never mind, I get it. But, do you get it now? Lars does all those things because he cares about you. Didn't you take in that poison because you care about him?"

"So...I love Lars like you love Spinel?"

"Um-that might be a little far. I just mean that you clearly care about Lars very much. Whether it's love or not, he's someone you'd do anything for, like you did with the poison. ...and I'd do anything to keep Spinel with me..."

"I see..." Sodalite began, "...that must be why it hurts you so much..."

"What?"

"I can feel a little of what you feel when we're close. It's painful. ...it must hurt you to keep Spinel in that bubble..."

Usually Steven was the empathetic Gem. It was kinda nice to have another around. Not that he was happy Sodalite had to feel this pain in his chest. "Yeah," he admitted, staring down at the bubble in his arms.

Sodalite felt another tight squeeze in her chest as Steven glanced down at Spinel. She still didn't quite understand what love was, but she knew how desperate she had been to help Lars and keep him safe. Steven just wanted to do the same for Spinel. It was still frightening and she wasn't even sure that her power would be enough, but it was only right that she did what she could. "I-I'll try and fix Spinel."

Steven smiled, even if he still felt guilty for asking Sodalite to do something so dangerous. He was truly grateful that she was willing to try. He just couldn't bring himself to let the others try and crack Spinel. This was surely the better option. "...thanks Sodal—what are you doing now?"

Before Steven could finish expressing his gratitude, Sodalite had leaned back in to hear his heart once more. "I thought it might sound different when you're happy," she answered simply.

Letting out a defeated sigh, Steven decided to wait until Sodalite was satisfied with her little experiment. She had just agreed to something rather risky after all. However, as Sodalite listened to his heart, annoyed that it didn't seem to sound any different to her, she saw a circle of light form just beside them. "AH!" She screamed quickly, wrapping her arms around Stevens waist and closing her eyes tight.

Though Steven readied himself for an attack, once he saw the light, he recognized it right away as a portal. It was further confirmed when Lion jumped through with Lars and Pearl on his back.

"There you are! How could you just run off like that?! You have no idea how worried we all were!" Pearl exclaimed in anger.

Even if it was only Pearl, Sodalite was still frightened and tightened her grip on Steven, refusing to open her eyes. "I-I'm sorry! I-I didn't—!"

"Hold on, I told you not to yell at her," Lars insisted as he jumped off Lions back with Pearl.

"I'm not yelling at either of them, I'm scolding both of them. There's a difference," huffed Pearl.

"Yeah? Well Sodalite's not your kid," snapped Lars. "She only ran off because she thinks Steven is still her Diamond."

"No, she ran off with Steven because she panicked like she always does and—"

"—will you two knock it off?" Steven interjected, honestly a little surprised to see them bickering like that. "She doesn't like all the fighting..."

Lars flinched a bit, looking down at Sodalite as she clung to Steven. He didn't exactly like the scene in front of him, but he had to remind himself that portaling here on the back of a large pink Lion probably frightened her and there was no one else to hide behind. Besides, he was pretty confident in the fact that now that he was here, she wouldn't be stuck to Steven long. "Sodalite, no ones fighting anymore. It's okay."

The freckled Gem opened her eyes cautiously, her chest feeling much lighter when she saw Lars there. She quickly released Steven and leapt up to hug Lars by the arm, still hiding herself a bit from Pearl. A Gem she was still quite wary of. Especially after she kept trying to blast Lars earlier.

"Steven...you really shouldn't have run off like that. Neither of you should have. Whatever's inside Spinel could still be dangerous. You two shouldn't have been alone." Pearl explained, still a bit upset over the whole thing.

"We're both just fine," answered Steven as he got to his feet. "...in fact, Sodalite has agreed to try and help Spinel like she helped Lars."

This information didn't seem to hit Lars very well. "What?! Did you order her to help?!"

"He didn't!" Sodalite exclaimed quickly. "I-I offered! My Steven told me I didn't have to do anything...but I-I honestly want to try."

"Why?! You're scared of Spinel and they said you nearly broke your Gem trying to help me! I know this is a crappy situation, but we don't have all the options yet. You can't possibly be the only one that can help, there's bound to be other things we can try." Lars insisted.

Sodalite shook her head. This could end up just like it was back at the beach house, with everyone arguing in circles. "I-I can do it. It will just be...maybe I can do it a little at a time. I just want to try."

"Please Lars..." Steven began, knowing this was probably difficult for him. He obviously worried for Sodalite and he would do the same if Spinel were in her place, but he just couldn't stand leaving Spinel like this. "...We'll be as safe as we can. Spinel just needs help...and I'm powerless to do anything for her..."

Lars glanced at Pearl, but it was obvious that the slender Gem wanted Sodalite to give it a try as well. "...whatever, it's not my decision to make anyway." Lars grumbled.

"I'll be okay," Sodalite reassured, a bit more confidence in her voice now. "I love Lars, so I'll be careful."

Lars took in a sharp breath and immediately froze in place, his heart nearly jumping out of his chest due to the sudden shock. "Y-you—-what did—-you can't just say—-" stumbling on his words in an embarrassed frenzy, Lars was having trouble forming a coherent thought while his his cheeks began to burn.

"Am I wrong? My Steven said that I loved Lars." Sodalite thought aloud, worried after seeing Lars' reaction.

"What are you teaching her?!" Lars demanded, his face flushed. Even more embarrassed now that he knew Sodalite just didn't understand what she was saying.

"I-I didn't say that! We were just talking about-you know, the people we care about!" Steven replied awkwardly.

"Perhaps we can discuss Sodalite's education later on?" Suggested Pearl. "We need to get everyone back to the temple so we can do this in a safe environment. Away from any humans that might get hurt."

"I-I can't go without Lars," insisted Sodalite, ducking a bit when Pearl glanced her way.

Pearl wanted to argue that Lars had already been in danger once, but if they wanted Sodalite to keep calm, having Lars around was the best option. "Fine, I just want to get through this with as little damage to anyone else as possible. Come on Ste—-"

The moment Steven began to take a step forward, the bubble he held started to vibrate and a heat radiated from it that burned his palm. "Agh, what's going on?!" Exclaimed Steven with a wince, though still unwilling to let the bubble go.

"Steven! Drop it!" Pearl pleaded, rushing to his side in order to push it away or take it from him.

However, she didn't get the chance to do either of those things. The bubble popped in Stevens hands and though he made an attempt to snatch up Spinels Gem before it hit the ground, it was unnecessary. The heart shaped Gem emitted a bright glow and slowly lifted into the air while everyone watched anxiously.

Spinel had poofed herself. Why would she come back willingly? Steven could only hope that this was good news. Maybe retreating into her Gem allowed her to fix the problem on her own. As Spinel reformed, everyone was shocked to find that she had come back not in a new form, but completely naked, her hair down and ruffled up as if she had just woken up.

"Spinel!" Steven called out, quickly removing his shirt so that Spinel had something to cover herself.

"Why would she come back like that?!" Pearl exclaimed, pulling a blanket from her Gem and rushing towards Spinel as well.

To Stevens dismay, when he knelt down in front of Spinel to slip his shirt over her, he could see that the whites of her eyes were still dark. Just as they were when she tried to strangle him. What's more, she looked confused after coming back. "Spinel?" Steven tried quietly, blocking Pearl from seeing her eyes just yet.

"Steven? ...Steven!" Spinel exclaimed, leaping forward to wrap her arms around him. "I'm so sorry!"

Pearl wasn't sure what was happening, but she throw the blanket over Spinel to help cover the rest of her. "Are you okay, Spinel?" Asked Pearl in concern. "How's your Gem? Oh wait, we'll check that later. Speaking of which, why did you come back...naked...?"

Steven gasped and turned to check on Lars and Sodalite. He had completely forgotten about them and now he worried that Lars had seen too much. Though he was relieved to find that Sodalite had placed her hands over Lars' eyes from behind. His cheeks were still a bit flushed however, so he probably caught a glimpse of something.

"Good job, Sodalite," smiled Steven with a thumbs up in her direction.

Sodalite smiled back and removed her hands from Lars' face to salute Steven, "thank you, My Steven."

"Yeah, good job," Lars muttered irately. Not annoyed that he didn't get to keep looking, but annoyed that everyone kept treating him like he was after Spinel somehow. When honestly, she often aggravated him.

"Sodalite's here?" Spinel asked, pulling away from Steven to look around. The last thing she remembered was being in the hotel room with Steven. Now they appeared to be back in Beach City with Pearl, Lion, Lars and Sodalite.

"You and I should have a talk in private," replied Steven, pulling her back into his arms, just wanting to hold her for a little while longer while keeping Pearl from seeing her face. "I'll explain a few things then."

[moonstone210]

No Weapon?

Today felt... off.

   Spinel continued to wash the glasses in the sink, washing the soap off of them and placing them in the dish rack as she continued to ponder. She didn't know why, but there was just... something she couldn't get off her chest. It like she was preparing for something... but what? Was it good? Not sure. Bad? Definitely not...

   For some reason, she'd had this feeling since this morning when she woke and just... felt ready. But there wasn't anything planned today. Not even a mission.

   No, it felt like something… big was going to happen today. It wasn' dread or excitement that she felt... but...

   What was going to happen? Why was it going to happen?

   "Spinel?"

   Spinel yelped, her train of thought disintegrating as Steven looked up at her. She almost dropped the glass, clutching it in her hand as she relaxed. "Whoa Stevie, you almost made me jump out of my gem!"

   Steven looked petrified, "S-Sorry!"

   Spinel held a hand up, "It's alright, sweetie. I'm not gonna poof again. Uh, what'cha want?"

   The boy anxiously pressed his index fingers together, "I just wanted to know... it's just... I'm sure you don't wanna talk about it but I really want to know."

   Spinel tilted her head, "Know what, Stevie?"

   Steven's head began to sweat a little, "Y-You know how the Gems have their weapons? Like… Pearl has her spear, Amethyst has her whip, and Garnet has the… fist-thingys!"

   "You mean her gauntlets?" asked Spinel, wondering where he was going with this.

   "Yeah!" proclaimed Steven before he calmed down, "So… what's your weapon? I've never seen it. Ever!"

   Spinel froze. She was sort-of hoping Steven wouldn't ask this kind of question, even after all these years. It wasn't a secret she necessarily wanted to keep from him, but it was a bit too personal to tell him about the reason why she doesn't even have a weapon when the others do.

   Steven could see the look on her face, "W-Wait! I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked! I'm so-"

   "No."

   Steven stared up at her, "Huh?"

   Spinel blinked calmly at him, "I… sorta knew you'd ask this sooner or later. Well, there's no time like the present." She placed down the half-washed glass and leaned against her arms on the counter. "Steven, there's… a more personal reason why I don't have a weapon."

   Steven's eyes widened, "Really?"

   Spinel nodded and continued, "You see, unlike Pearl, Amethyst, or Garnet, I wasn't originally designed to… fight, per say. I was actually made to entertain and surely an entertainer would be made with a weapon, would they?"

   Steven shook his head.

   "And, to be honest, I was never comfortable with a weapon. It's in my nature. Not to mention, my stretchy body is more than enough to protect you!" She playfully ruffled his dark curly hair, causing him to laugh. "Besides, what kind of weapon would I have?"

   Steven pressed a finger to his cheek in thought and something came up, "Maybe like a hammer! Or a scythe!"

   Spinel's eyes widened. The idea of a hammer slightly intrigued her, but a scythe? Something about that didn't sound right. The thought of her swinging a sharp weapon around, slicing the monsters or rebels in her path… it made her shiver.

   "M-Maybe a hammer then," She hastily agreed, not wanting to Steven to worry about what she was thinking.

   They became awkwardly silent for a moment, with Steven clutching the edge while laying his body on the counter. Spinel subconsciously washed the glass and placed it with the other glasses.

   "So…" She mumbled, "Is there anything else you wanna say?"

   Steven peered up, "O-Oh, I just wanted permission to go to the Big Donut. I wanted to get some Cookie Cats!"

   Spinel blinked and laughed, "Oh yeah, those are your favorite! Alright, you can go. Do you have your money?"

   Steven pulled the $10 out of his pocket. Spinel smiled, seeing how responsible Steven was, even if he was still naive.

   "And uh… make sure Lars doesn't make fun of you," She quickly told him, thinking back to Lars, an older kid who worked at the donut shop. Lars just really rubbed her off the wrong way, especially when Steven was around. She almost felt sorry for Sadie.

   "Now, off you go. Love you!" She called out to him as he opened the screen door.

   Steven waved back to her, "Love you too!" And he left, singing the Cookie Cat theme song.

   Spinel laughed softly before she paused and the feeling of something big happening hit her like a Quartz soldier's fist. She wasn't sure if she should be scared or excited…

   A loud hiss broke her thoughts as a large black and green creature hopped in front of her, the eyeball in its jaws staring her down. Instinctively, she punched it away and it poofed without a gem, much to her confusion.

   "Spinel! The Centipeetles have broken in!" yelled Garnet, along with Pearl and Amethyst fighting the same kind of monsters as she did. Instantly and nodding to the others, she enlarged her fists and, rushing out into the living room, slammed a Centipeetle down, poofing it into oblivion.

[mimik-u]

“Change Your Mind” Liveblogging, Part I

I’M NoT READY FOr THIS, yoU gUYs.

There’s my big blue asshole!

OMG, THAT BUG. HER SLAPPING IT AND THAT BLUSH.

“If this keeps up, she’s going to take away your Pearl.” AND THEN HE MORPHS INTO PINK DIAMOND BECAUSE THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE, AND NOW IT’S HAPPENING AGAIN, AND IT’S A MEMORY.

A DREAM.

DE-JA-BLUE.

“I’m not sorry.” God, I love Steven Universe. He’s so confident in himself now, so sure in what he believes in. Amazing.

An observation: When Blue Diamond weaponizes her sadness, intentionally or unintentionally, not only does she preclude others from getting near enough to help her, but she also indiscriminately inflicts her pain on others. It’s at once a selfish act and a devastating one. And glowing auras aside, it’s a human one, too.

“How many times did you lock her in here? How many times did you make her cry?”

“I didn’t... I’m doing it again, aren’t I?” I’m going to cry. The way she leans against that wall. Because she knows. She knows.

Blue Diamond is the love of my life, y’all.

And then Steven strips his Diamond clothes because he’s not Pink Diamond.

“She prefers to be called Steven.” ONLY THREE EPISODES AGO, SHE WAS MOCKING HIM ABOUT THIS!!! I’M—

YELLOW AND BLUE ARE ABOUT TO FIIIIIIIIIIIGHT.

OH, MY GODDDDDDDDDDDDD.

“I ALONE WAS THERE FOR YOU.” THIS WAS EVERYTHING I WANTED FROM THIS FIGHT.

“Didn’t we hurt Pink?!”

“I know you’re suffering in silence, too.” Because she knows what losing Pink did to her. Because she knows Yellow.

THE DEVASTATION ON YELLOW’S FACE AS SHE WAS BLASTING BLUE WITH ELECTRICITY.

BLUE SMOKING FROM THE HIT.

YELLOW CRYINF, ACTUALLY CRYING.

AND BLUE HOLDING HER HEAD.

THIS IS ALL I’VE EVER WANTED IN MY LIFE.

White Pearl, you scary mf.

“Which rooms should we go to?” Asdffssadds.

BISMUTH REPAIRED THE ARM SHIPS!!!!!!

BISMUUUUUUUUTHHHHHH!

SHE MADE A PUN! MY BINGO CARD IS GOING WELL!!!!!!!

OH, MY GODDDDDDDDD!!!! LAPIS AND PERIDOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LAPIS’S PINK RIBBON SWEATPANTS.

PERIDOT’S FUNKY GLASSES.

Yellow and Blue want to sacrifice themselves for the sake of Steven. I’m going to scream. I love them.

“But in order to fix it, we have to admit that it’s broken.” That’s the fundamental idea of this show. Communication. Talking our problems out—even if it’s about the things that hurt us.

CONNIE TALKING ABOUT HER MOM!!!!!!!!!!

Peridot’s metalbending a hoverboard. Asfdssadsa.

Patti LuPone’s voice acting as she hesitates to talk to White. God.

“We Diamonds might be hard, but we’re also brittle.”

“I know my purpose isn’t to be happy, but I find it harder and harder to enforce your rules when they make me miserable... when they make us all miserable.”

OH, MY GOD. SHE POSSESSED THEM.

SHE FRICKING POSSESSED THEM.

I’M GOINF TO CRY???????????

SHE FNSNMSNANANSNA.

THEY EXPRESSED THEIR EMOTIONS—THEY DARED TO SPURN THEIR PURPOSES—AND SHE TOOK AWAY THEIR FREE WILL.

NO.

THEIR ILLUSION OF FREE WILL BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T HAVE IT ANYWAY BECAUSE THEY WERE MOTIVATED BY FEAR.

HE DROPPED THE CRYSTAL GEMS!!!!!!!!!!!!

ALSO, THE ANIMATION WHILE STEVEN IS FALLING IS SO DAMN GORGEOUS.

SMOKY QUARTZ.

SMOKYYYYYYYYYYY.

HE’S GOING TO FUSE WITH PEARL.

OH, MY GOD. RAINBOW 2.0 IS MARY POPPINS.

THEY LOOK SO GOOD.

PEARL’S JACKET?!!!!!!!!!!

SHE’S SO HAPPY ABOUT FUSING WITH STEVEN.

OH, MY GODDDDDDDDDDD.

STEVEN AND GARNET???????!!!!!!!!!!!!

THIS EPISODE IS GOING TO KILL ME.

STEVEN AND GARNET’S FUSION IS ALL HAIR.

SUNSTONE.

I LOVE THEIR VOICE.

THEY BROKE THE FOURTH WALL.

BUNGACOWA.

I LOVE YOU?!!!!!!

GARNET’S GLASSES.

TEMPLE FUSSSSSIOOOOOON.

OB S I D I ANNNNN.

THIS EPISODE.

Of course Pearl would be at the top of the pyramid, lol.

OBSIDIAN’S MUSIC.

OBSIDIANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN.

OH. MY. GOD.

THEY’RE EXTRAORDINARY.

BISMUTH AND CONNIE!!!!!!!!!!!

Animation details: Blue and Yellow’s ships are made with different material than normal bc Bismuth repaired them!!

PERIDOT SAVING BISMUTH!!!! You’ve come so far!!!!!

Obsidian is the other love of my life.

They just pulled a SWORD out of their mouth. Icon.

SHE’S TALKING THROUGH BLUE AND YELLOW, AND THAT ALSO MAKES ME WANT TO CRY.

SHE’S A HIVE QUEEN.

THIS SCENE IS SO CREEPY.

“She’s so strong but so weak when it comes to Blue.” Hello, Bellow Diamond shippers. I am dead.

Deceased.

White represses Pink.

SHE’S GOING TO POSSESS ALL THE CRYSTAL GEMS.

JESUS GOD, THIS IS DARK.

“Obsessed.” Pearl.

SHE’S A PUPPETEER.

“YOU LIKE SURROUNDING YOURSELF WITH INFERIOR GEMS.” JASPER SAID THE SAME THING.

This scene is going to give me niiiiightmares.

CONNIE FIGHTINF PEaARLLL.

WD is pulling out the psychoanalytic theory in this Chili’s tonight.

WHITE DIAMOND, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO TO HIM?!!!!!!!!!!!

SHE’S GOINF TO PULL THE GEM.

I’M GOING TO LOSE MY DAMN MIND.

SHE DID IT. SHE PULLED HIS DAMN GEM.

I DIDN’T THINK IT WAS POSSIBLE. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!!!!!!

THERE’S EIGHTEEN MINUTES LEFT IN THIS EPISODE.

I CAN’t BREATHE.

[ghostlybrewsandmagicrunes]

I’m finally found: Chapter Three

[Chapter One] [Chapter Two] [Chapter Four]

She dug her feet into the sand, the sound of waves crashing in the distance as the breeze came in from the sea. Her eyes were half open, and she stared into what seemed like an endless horizon. Spinel had curled up, hugging her knees to her chest. She looked a bit frazzled, and it looked like she hadn’t actually taken proper care of herself in days. Spinel didn't want to see anyone, and was making a point to avoid everyone. The gem had managed to find an area on the beach where she was able to hide among the rocks. Large chunks of the temple that managed to place themselves just right to keep her out of immediate view. She uncurled herself and reached for an instrument that had been sitting in the sand beside her and began idly plucking at a banjo that rested in her arms. Ever since Greg and Steven offered to teach her, she hadn't set the instrument down. She wasn't nearly as good as either of them, but she was certainly enjoying the distraction. At least until it left her in moods such as this.

She let out a sigh, her eyes shifted slightly from the banjo to the water and back. From idly plucking at the strings, her hands had moved to her gem, gripping it slightly. Even when she was around people, she was still feeling alone. Spinel didn’t know what had happened or what was going on. She had been left out of all this.

“Hey,” Spinel let out a startled yell, she jumped up and had the banjo in a ready position to hit whoever had approached. When she saw it was Amethyst, she lowered the instrument and started to chuckle a bit.

“Ho boy! You sure did give me a scare!” Spinel wiped a hand over her face, chuckling a bit more before it faded. Amethyst was giving her a half smile by the time she had finished and was leaning against one of the boulders, arms folded.

“Sorry,” The gem responded back, watching as Spinel had gone back to sitting in the sand, banjo in hand. “I just… wanted to come check up on you. Everyone is worried and the vibe in the house right now is… yeesh.” Amethyst made a cringed expression. “Mind if I join you?” She pointed to an empty spot beside Spinel.

“I… I guess you can.” Spinel looked at the spot next to her before she laid the banjo down on the other side of her and curled up again. Her face was half buried in her knees. It took a moment of hesitation before Amethyst sat down, she let out an exaggerated sigh.

“Oh man, You should have seen them when you ran out of there!” Amethyst smiled wide, “Pearl looked like she was going to poof from shock alone!” She laughed, almost hard enough that she had to wipe away some tears that had formed.

“Is that all you came out here for? To make me feel worse?” Spinel had shifted again, her hands now gripping her gem as she went to staring at the sand. Amethyst had stopped laughing and watched as Spinel went silent. Spinel didn’t mean to blow up like she did, but Amethyst managed to strike a chord just now.

“What? No, of course not!” Amethyst rubbed her neck, “Everyone is super worried about you, I mean, Garnet had to straight up hold onto Pearl just to stop her from coming after you!” Amethyst looked a mixture of annoyed and worried. “Steven wanted to come find you,” She rubbed her neck some more, “But I figured he might come off a little… overbearing?” Amethyst wasn’t sure if that was the right word to use. She must have struck another chord with Spinel, as the little gem had begun to cry a little.

“I didn’t m-mean to yell a-at her, I just…” Spinel wiped away some of the tears, but it did nothing to stop the flow. “I-I don’t understand m-much of this, I-I know sh-she’s t-trying to help, b-but… I d-don’t know wh-what I’m supposed t-to do. “ she was finding it a bit harder to breathe, and her hands had started gripping her gem tighter. That pained feeling she felt back in the garden had started creeping back. Amethyst watched her break down, she shifted a bit closer and placed her hands on Spinel’s hands. Spinel flinched, and immediately looked at the other as her hands were given a small squeeze.

“It’s okay to be angry,” Amethyst gave her a soft smile. Her hands didn’t move from where they were placed. “Pearl and I used to fight all the time, especially after Rose had left us.” She pulled her hands away, which made Spinel gasp a little through the sniffling she was doing. Spinel instinctively reached out to grasp Amethyst’s hand. Then let go and pulled it back up to her chest. She shifted away from Amethyst and curled up on herself again. Amethyst blinked, surprised at the gesture, but smiled a bit more. Maybe she was getting through to her? “It’s okay to feel sad too, I get that way sometimes.” She let out a chuckle. “I have the tendency to act like it doesn’t bother me, but it does.” Spinel blinked, turning her head to look at Amethyst, then she looked to the water, then the sand. She looked like she was searching for something. “You know, I wasn’t there for most of it, the war I mean.” Amethyst kept her gaze on the water. “I came out of the ground way late, by the time Rose had found me, Pearl, Garnet, and her had already been through the war and on earth for some time.” Her smile had faded a bit. Spinel stared at Amethyst for a good few minutes. “So I kind of get how you feel.”

“Amethyst… I’m sorry…” she spoke softly, still having to wipe away tears. If she was being honest, hearing that made her feel a little better about her situation. At least she wasn’t the only one that was left out of something.

“Nah man, don’t be, honestly it sounds like it’s better this way, not knowing.” She waved her hand in a dismissive manner. Spinel stayed quiet for a good while. Eventually, she had uncurled herself and relaxed a bit.

“I guess… I spent such a long time in the garden… waiting for Pink to come back,” Spinel started, she had to pause for a moment, it seemed she was trying to find words. “I never expected anything like this,” she motioned to the surrounding area, though she was trying to signify the entire situation. “All these things that were once taboo, all these changes, everything that you guys had done,” she felt the tears coming again. “I don’t know how I feel right now,” Spinel gripped at her gem. “I feel angry… and sad… for what Pink did to me.” She gripped it tighter, Amethyst thought for a moment that Spinel might poof herself. Then her grip loosened, and her hands rested over the gem instead. “But I also feel… relieved?” She thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “I’m glad I was found,” Spinel had gone silent for a moment, she looked thoughtful. Then she heard Amethyst shifting next to her, standing up. She held out a hand to Spinel.

“We should head back,” Amethyst smiled at the other gem, “I can only imagine Pearl is having a worry fit over the amount of time we’ve spent out here.” She chuckled, knowing all too well just how overbearing Pearl can get. “Best to not keep everyone waiting.” Spinel hesitated before she reached out a hand to take Amethyst’s own hand. When Amethyst helped her up, she had to dust some of the sand off herself. Then she went to grab her banjo, swung it over her shoulder by the strap. Amethyst had motioned for her to follow, and the two made their way towards the house.

They had made it up the steps and to the door. Amethyst opened it, though she took note of Spinel’s hesitation as the gem had grown nervous about entering the home. What was Pearl going to do with her? She was surely going to be punished for lashing out.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Amethyst had placed a hand on Spinel’s shoulder, the gesture pulling her from her thoughts. She nodded, letting Amethyst lead her inside, where Steven, Garnet, and Pearl were sitting in the main room. They seemed to have been talking, as Pearl had immediately stood up and opened her mouth to say something. Though it had been cut off, when Spinel held up a hand.

“I wanted to apologize,” Spinel had spoken up, she gave a nervous smile, which had then turned to a frown. Then it had softened and she looked thoughtful. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you the way I did, I ju-” She was immediately interrupted by a sudden gesture. Pearl had wrapped her arms around the gem, and gave her a gentle squeeze.

“I should be the one apologizing to you,” Pearl gave another gentle squeeze. “I should have been more understanding of your feelings. It’s not your fault that things turned out the way they did,” Pearl had pulled away from Spinel a bit. “I’m sorry if I made you feel like you didn’t belong and I know you’re trying,” she gave Spinel a worried smile. Spinel wrapped her arms around Pearl and gave a good squeeze, hugging her tightly.

“Thank you… for giving me a chance.” Spinel unwrapped herself from Pearl, then took a step back. She looked a bit timid, her hands clasped behind her and her gaze averted to the floor. Pearl gave a soft smile to Spinel, then looked to the banjo strapped to her shoulder.

“Would you play something for us?” Pearl smiled. Spinel blinked and looked between everyone. Steven and Amethyst were both smiling at her, though Steven looked as though he had stars in his eyes. Garnet was leaning against the kitchen counter, she gave a thumbs up, but otherwise, said nothing.

“Oh, uh, I’m not… very good at it,” Spinel gave a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of her neck a bit. “I only just started learning a couple weeks ago.”

“That’s alright,” Pearl held her smile, she took Spinel by the hand and led her to the couch. “You could show us what you’ve been learning.”

Spinel hesitated for a moment, then looked a bit thoughtful. She took out the banjo and set it up, looking at Steven for confirmation. When he nodded, she plucked a couple of the strings, making sure that they were in tune. Then she started to play as everyone gathered around her and listened.

[blueberryrock]

Hey, sorry I didn't post this yesterday but this kinda has smut at the end so I didn't know if I could actually post it.

But I'll try, so here it is the next chapter. Enjoy!

(I'll but these *** before the smut just in case)

(Blue's POV)

I shift uncomfortably on the freezing cold medical table, the scanner in front of me starts to move. It moves the probe, or as Steven calls it, a thermometer.

I take an unnecessary breath in and shut my eyes, I try not to move as I feel the red light slowly inch down from the top of my head to my chin.

I open my eyes, the bright red light from the scanner inch slowly down my neck, only pausing to scan my gem.

I start shivering as the scanner moves from where my breasts and gem is to the start of my stomach area.

I notice that the scanner had to move back a bit to scan my stomach, and the medical pearl notices it too. The second the red light hits where my belly button is, it starts beeping like crazy.

Steven and Amethyst cover their ears and Yellow frowns.

"What's going on" Steven semi loudly asks.

"Gah, give me a minute" the medical pearl says, she pulls up another green screen. She presses a button and the machine shuts off.

"The scanner found something in your abdomen" the medical pearl starts "but I'd have to grab a camera scanner and some gel, give me a minute" she wheels the scanner out of the room.

I look at Yellow, she looks nervous, her one leg is bouncing and she is drumming her fingers on her other leg.

I look at Garnet, she is talking to Pearl. Well, whispering would be better.

I wrap my covered arms around my belly, I start shivering even harder. Yellow decides to get up and comfort me, she sits on the table to my left and wraps her warm arm around me. I sigh and I put my head on her shoulder.

I practically shove my entire body into hers, trying to soak up as much of her warmth as possible.

"Y-yellow I'm s-s-scared" I say very lowly.

"It's going to be okay, we'll find out what's wrong" Yellow reassures me, I look up to meet her golden eyes, I give her a small smile and she kisses the top of my head.

And for a few seconds everything fades away, it's just me and Yellow. But the doors open and I jolt up, Yellow gets up from her position and takes her seat again.

I let out a quiet groan, the small medical pearl wheels in another scanner.

"What will this one do" Amethyst asks, Pearl answers "it's kind of like an ultrasound, they'll be able to see if anything is inside of her".

I notice the look that Garnet gives Pearl, and I frown a little. I try to keep my balance as the medical Pearl lowers the table so she can reach me. She jumps up onto the table right by my hand.

"Do you remember what to do?" she asks.

"I r-rem-member hav-ving t-t-to take P-pink to get o-one of t-t-these ca-ause she sw-w-wallowed somet-thing" I smile fondly at the memory, it turns out that some tourmalines dared her to swallow a rock, so she did and it got stuck...Yellow got so mad...

"Ok, so first I need you to take you off your veil, then you need to lay on your back" the medical pearl says, she moves back a bit so I don't hit her as I take my veil off. Now I'm completely vulnerable to the cold room.

I start shivering even harder,  I toss my veil to Yellow, once she catches it I start to move to lay down on my back. I try not to accidentally squish the medical pearl in the process.

Once I'm on my back, the pearl beings the scanner and the gel onto the table, she angles the screen part of the scanner so everyone in the room can see it.

"Okay, now you need to remove the part of your dress that is covering your abdomen" the pearl says.

I try to carefully phase away only what she needs and not the entire top. Once it's phased away I get even colder, I accidentally start shaking the table, the everyone gives me a sympathetic look.

I lay my head on the cold hard table, I let out an exhausted sigh as the medical pearl climbs onto my belly. She opens a bottle of gel and pours it onto my skin.

I shiver as she rubs it around a bit before putting the small camera part of the scanner onto me. The screen part turns on and a screen of fuzziness shows.

The medical pearl carefully moves the scanner around my belly for a few minutes until she decides to go lower.

I hold another unneeded breath, as soon as the pearl stops moving down and moves the stick around, the screen changes and everyone gasps.

I weakly lift my head up to see the screen, my eyes go wide, on the screen are three little blobs...

Three little heartbeats...

Three little gemlings....

I lay my head back down and let go of that unneeded breath. I quickly phase the missing part of my dress.

I stare up at the ceiling and thoughts come flooding in. I can hear everyone congratulating me and Yellow, but I don't pay attention. I feel the medical pearl wiping off all the gel and get off of me.

What are we going to do? What am I going to do?

I honestly don't feel anything except being cold, no joy, no pain, nothing. Yellow had walked over to me "Blue are you okay"

I finally blink and I try to sit up "I a-am r-rea-ady to l-leave wh-hen y-you are" I tremble.

"You didn- nevermind" she says

Yellow helps me slide off the table and onto my feet, I didn't notice that Steven was talking to me.

"BLUE" Steven shouts to get my attention.

"Wha- oh I'm s-sorry S-Stev-ven" I shudder, Yellow hands me my warm veil, I quickly and carefully put it on.

"Nah it's okay, I know you're probably tired. I mean after news like that you both have got to be tired." Steven says I nod, "ahhh, I'm so happy and excited for you" Steven jumps in the air then floats back down.

Pearl moves to put her hand on his shoulder "we should let her get some rest, come on let's go" Steven nods. They move to the door, I start to move but the medical pearl stops me.

"I have somethings to mention" the medical pearl says "while pregnant you will need to eat, drink, and sleep constantly"

"But I thought" Yellow gets cut off.

"Well, my dia-blue diamond is having three gemlings, that's a lot of power going into them so she wil-is extremely weak and tired. So she will need to eat and drink constantly, also if like to scan every few weeks to make sure the gemlings are fine" the medical pearl finishes.

I thank her and move to the door, Yellow grunts and moves as well. Steven opens the door for us, we say our goodbyes and Yellow leads me back to my chambers.

I sigh as the warm air hits me, I walk into my room and take my veil off, I walk to my vanity and sit down. I grab one of my many blue hairbrushes and I try humming a song that I learned from Steven.

Yellow walks behind my chair "would you like me to warm up your extraction chambers?" She asks I give her a slow nod, she gives me a small kiss on the check. Yellow walks to the entrance of my extraction chamber and open the big blue boors and walks inside.

I can faintly hear the water turning on, I continue humming the song, soon humming turned into words.

"Oh won't you come with me, where the moon is made of gold" I sing softly "and in the morning sun we'll be sailing free, oh won't you come with me where the ocean meets the sky, and as the clouds roll by, we'll sing the song of the sea" I finish the verse.

Yellow walks over to me "is that a new one?" She places her warm ungloved hands on my cold shoulders.

"Yes, Steven taught me it" I put down my hairbrush and push my chair ack so I can stand up, Yellow helps me walk into my extraction chamber.

"Maybe you can sing it to me" Yellow says, I phase away my dress and underwear and I step into the steaming water.

"Maybe" I sigh as I sit down, I let myself sink lower and lower, till the water hit my chin.

Yellow joins me and sinks into the water, she helps me sit back up. I rest my head on her shoulder, she wraps an arm around me. "I got ordered some food for you and some water, it's nothing much but I want you to get used to eating." She says, she looks down at me and I look up to her.

I give her a small smile "thank you, what did you order?" I ask

"Oh just some fruit, the gardeners figured out how to make huge pieces of fruit and vegetables" Yellow says "so you don't need to worry, this pregnancy will go splendidly"

I frown at the word pregnancy, somehow I forgot all about, I put my hand on my almost non-existent baby bump.

Yellow notices that "something wrong blue?"

"Oh um, no" I half-lie.

"Okay, well just tell me when you are ready to get out or when you're hungry" she says, I nod. I put my hand on her chest eight above her gem.

"I love you" but I'm not sure I want this I wanted to add but I couldn't.

"I love you to" yellow leans in to kiss my lips, I push myself up to meet her halfway.

******

Kissing quickly turns to making out, our tongues fight for dominance and our hands touch each other.

Yellow breaks the kiss and leaves little kisses and nibbles down my jaw to my neck. She sucks where my neck meets my shoulder, she continues lower to the tip of my gem.

Yellow lazily drags her tongue across each and every facet of my gem, I moan in pleasure.

Yellow keeps kissing and licking my gem, she grabs one of my breasts, she rubs and pinches my rock hard nipple. Her other hand travels further in the water and down my leg, Yellow's hand travels between my legs.

I gasp as I feel her hand brush against my clit. She smirks, she decides to start kissing and sucking on my other breast.

I let out a moan as she rubs slow circles around my slit. She teases it by almost putting her fingers in. Her hand goes back to my clit again, stroking faster circles around it. I let out another loud moan.

She stops rubbing my clit, she kisses my gem once more then goes lower and lower. She only stops when a low growl comes from my stomach.

"Looks like someone is hungry" Yellow chuckles. I blush a little.

"That's what that noise meant" I blurt out.

Yellow laughs "ok, let's get you some food."

"Fine, but you're finishing this later" I say as Yellow helps me out of the water.

"As you wish, my diamond"

And there, I tried to write smut, I'm not good at writing it but I'll maybe try to write more. But thanks for reading and see y'all next Saturday bye!

[sharethisgemwithme]

“Change Your Mind” instant reaction

As always, my first watch is without pausing or rewinding. The stopwatch for part one starts as close to "We..." as possible (assuming we get a standard intro). As this is a single episode, I'll pause the clock during commercial breaks and try to gather my thoughts, then post the whole thing in one block.

As the episode just aired, and this is quite lengthy, parts 2-4 are behind a cut. I’m gonna go through and re-proofread after posting.

0:00 - LET THE BATTLE OF HEART AND MIND BEGIN. I don't expect a standard episode title card, more likely something like they did for "Bismuth". 0:03 - WE'LL ALWAYS SAVE THE DAY! 0:21 - OK, title card. And the litany of boarders. 0:34 - Wake up, Pink Lasagna. 0:44 - "Oh right, prison." Exactly what I would have sarcastically typed. 0:58 - Umm, where is she? 1:11 - You didn't send her to the zoo, did you? 1:24 - What the hell? 1:38 - That's a weird looking pebble. Even for the pebbles. 1:48 - Oh. Shit. flashback? 2:04 - She's gonna take away your pearl. That's gonna become White Pearl? 2:28 - Everything goes in circles. 2:39 - Another terrible nightmare. Enjoy eternity spent in prison. 2:55 - Yep. Everything goes in circles, alright. 3:06 - Connie, you are probably not gonna help the situation right now. 3:25 - Ok. "I'm sorry." 3:29 - Or not. 3:38 - Bunches of tears. 3:49 - This is not gonna make her any happier. 4:09 - It has warped him into thinking that fusion is okay. Which is not a bad thing. 4:32 - Oof. 4:46 - You did. A lot. Enough to make her run away and pretend she was gone forever. 5:04 - "This is why you left, isn't it?" Pretty much. 5:10 - I think we're about to get a song... 5:35 - I don't know we're ready to get you home. 5:45 - MEAL TIME. 6:08 - Good luck with that. 6:25 - Busted. 6:42 - "She prefers to be called Steven." Wow. Close enough. 7:06 - Diamond on diamond violence. 7:24 - This is a good distraction. 7:38 - That's a lot of shards in bubbles in the background there. 7:50 - I saw four gems there. 8:00 - They're not ready to reform yet! 8:08 - You've already done that. Yep, just like Blue just said. 8:20 - But Yellow can't admit that she's hurtng. 8:34 - Yellow trying to fuckin' kill Blue here. 8:59 - It's been only 100 something episodes since that hot dog line came up. I'm glad Yellow was like "WTF does that even mean?" 9:21 - You'd think these bridges would be a bit sturdier. 9:29 - "I'm not." 9:45 - RUN FOR IT. 9:58 - Makes sense. The harder the hit, the longer the recovery. 10:17 - Yeah, this isn't gonna work. 10:29 - Time for white to say her line from the promo. "You're not going anywhere." 10:35 - I mean that was kinda obvious, but... called it. 10:58 - White Pearl, you are freaky as all hell.

OK, so Steven and Connie have retrieved the physical gems, and have Blue and Yellow on their side, but 3 on 1 might not be enough for a fair fight.

11:00 - Start of Act 2. 11:15 - Go to your rooms. All three of you. 11:29 - Was that pun really necessary, Connie? 11:44 - And here comes Bismuth! 11:55 - They look like they're lying, even though we know they aren't. 12:14 - Boom, what a knockout. 12:22 - Bismuth's piloting one of them. 12:32 - I guess Peri's piloting the other one, if she's woken up. 12:45 - Damn, those are some fancy outfits 12:52 - Lapis... almost has a star. 13:00 - Good thing you fixed it. 13:20 - One of these days Steven will learn how to GET THE FUCK OUT WHILE YOU CAN. 13:45 - At least put the gems somewhere safe! 14:07 - And White won't admit it. 14:14 - Connie's motif. Always pretty. 14:25 - Remember when Dr. Maheswaren was used as a proxy for Yellow? 14:55 - She called him Steven! 15:08 - FORM VOLTRON! 15:20 - It's about time we found out why the diamond ships form a full body. 15:55 - Id on't know what they'd actually want to say, though. 16:02 - I took over a lot of worlds, and I don't get enough credit for that. 16:25 - So many geology puns there. 16:30 - I'm not sure that's the kind of conversation Steven was really looking for, though. 16:51 - Peridot's visor is too wonky IMO. 17:00 - Let us all into our head. That might be a bit too literal. 17:!2 - WHAT THE FUCK. 17:19 - WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK. 17:28 - NOT OKAY. 17:36 - AGAIN, HOW ABOUT WE GET THE FUCK OUT AND REGROUP? 17:50 - Goddammit, Steven. I told you to put those somewhere safer than IN YOUR HANDS. Don't you have pockets?! 18:28 - What? That's a bit weird. 18:36 - Is that how he's gonna get the other ones back also?! 18:54 - "Owl be fine.” NICE. 19:04 - WE'RE REALLY DOING THIS!!! 19:15 - Whose voice is that? 19:28 - Luckily this chasm is fuckin' infinite. 19:59 - OH HELL YES WE DOING THIS ALRIGHT! 20:07 - Or maybe not just yet.

Holy shit all the new fusions and forms, fuck yeah everything. But we didn't even get a name or appearance for Steven + Garnet before they got stomped on by a diamond ship.

20:15 - Start of Act 3. 20:19 - So much for a chance to collect my thoughts first. 20:29 - "You better step off." "Chillax my dudes." 20:41 - Sunstone. Wow. 20:48 - I feel like I should be able to place this voice, but I can't. 21:12 - Fourth wall breaking. Just like on the bingo card. 21:25 - Bungacowa. That's Amethyst's line! 21:38 - What the hell is even happening now? 21:58 - That didn't work. 22:02 - Another wonky visor. 22:10 - Obsidian? 22:14 - OBSIDIAN! 22:20 - You might wanna hurry this dance up. 22:38 - Gonna look like the temple fusion? 22:58 - YEP. Even though I question the chronology of that. 23:11 - Huge is a relative term. 23:25 - Yeah, it's about time the B team started doing something down here. 23:49 - Peridot, shut up before you get smacked in the face again. 24:02 - Try to be a little more stable when you got a human holding on for dear life. 24:22 - Oof, they took a hit. 24:39 - Bismuth's suit is metal. That should be good enough. 24:48 - Fuckin' ow. 24:52 - Connie. Where's Connie? 24:58 - Whew. 25:05 - "I've got this." The hell you do, Connie. 25:19 - If you're Voltron, then why am I the one forming blazing sword? 25:40 - Gem script decoders, get to work. 25:59 - They fell apart. But now they've got a way in. 26:15 - Save Connie! 26:24 - Never mind, she's okay. 26:40 - Oh this is creepy as all fuck. All three of them with one voice. 27:07 - So why didn't White zap Steven or any of the true rebels? 27:39 - Amethyst is me. As usual. 27:51 - Why did I have to ask that? 28:02 - Yeah, and it's plenty, Amethyst. 28:11 - GET OUT OF THE WAY, DAMMIT. 28:24 - This is not going well. 28:32 - And now they're all devoid of color. 28:55 - That was a middle finger, just sayin'. 29:09 - Oh good we got the 360 degree head spin just for kicks. 29:35 - She's not often told that she's wrong. 29:47 - "Because you are also flawed."? 30:07 - That's a creepy laugh. On top of all the other creepy shit. 30:20 - Connie, be careful. 30:33 - The student faces the teacher. 30:58 - Please make it stop. 31:15 - You've gotta say something more than just "You're wrong." 31:28 - That picture did seem a bit weird. 31:53 - We know that he's part gem. That doesn't mean he's the same person. 32:15 - And one more commercial break? 32:30 - Oh don't you dare. 32:49 - FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK. WE ALWAYS WORRIED THAT WAS GONNA HAPPEN.

"Three Gems", "Bubbled", and I'm sure one or two other episodes teased the idea of what would happen if Steven's gem was removed. Well we're about to find out, I guess. Shit.

33:00 - Start of Act 4. 33:05 - Oh wow, a two-part vision? 33:19 - This is freaky. 33:32 - Shit, I wasn't looking at all the forms. 33:45 - Yikes. 33:49 - No one's quite sure what to say. 33:59 - Are they gonna talk together? I guess not. 34:15 - That's some hardcore yelling from Pink Steven. 34:35 - Merge with him. Please. 34:42 - Fuck, Connie got strong. 34:52 - It's not a real thing. You can't zap him. 35:10 - Or something like that. 35:21 - Luckily he's got a 360 shield. 35:40 - What does this mean? 35:50 - Flesh Steven is in so much pain. 36:02 - 'Cause it's funny how much you suck. 36:19 - He's back! 36:40 - White is losing her shit. She's the one having the tantrum. 36:54 - Oh, her imperfections are showing. And now there's color in the world again! 37:13 - I don't think you're in control anymore. 37:25 - And where's the original Pink Pearl? 37:33 - Show us the original pink pearl. 37:39 - Read the room, guys. 37:55 - There she is! 38:02 - Still wondering what the deal is with her eye. 38:14 - OH FUCK, THAT'S WHY SHE SHINE SO BRIGHT, SO THAT NO ONE CAN SEE HER SHADING. 38:30 - We're all who we are. 38:38 - Why don't you let yourself just be whoever you are! 38:45 - You been doing a shit job of making everything better so far, White. 38:59 - And we're glad they left Greg behind. 39:12 - Sadie's singing Greg's greatest hit! 39:25 - IT'S BEACHAPALOOZA. 39:38 - Greg's gonna break into tears. And then some. 39:47 -- Ronaldo's face! 39:55 - PERFECT TIMING, LARS! 40:12 -Or maybe not, Rhodonite, but it's okay. 40:29 - Yeah, they know who the Diamonds are. 40:44 - You're kin with each other now. 40:55 - Oh god, Padparascha. 41:02 - "Lars isn't going to know what to say." Oh god, I laughed. 41:18 - How long has it been since we had a nice star wipe ending? 41:39 - I think that counts as a hot pink limousine. 41:56 - Ronaldo already pissing off Lars. 42:20 - We're healing everybody!!!! 42:42 - New verse for the "WATCG"! 43:02 - JASPER! 43:15 - Someone's gonna have to explain something to Jasper. 43:36 - So... where the hell do we go from here? 43:52 - Like, seriously. What in the hell can the next episode possibly be? 44:45 - Eh. I'm not sure how I feel about that last song. 45:00 - Movie promo! 45:10 - COMING THIS FALL.

And... we got the credits from "We Need to Talk" for some reason. Okay then. No credit notes tonight, I suppose.

[schism-au-blog]

Chapter 9

Rose stepped off the warp pad. She knew she wouldn’t be able to access the forge without Bismuth, but she could still look at it, as a reminder of the friend she’d lost. She headed down the path, only to hear voices and the clanging of rock. She stopped. What could that possibly be?

Oh. Of course the metallic gems would set up near Bismuth’s forge. Well, taking a break from shapeshifting was out of the question. In fact, being Rose probably wouldn’t stop her from being shattered. She thought about turning back, sending a smaller gem to scout the forge out, but decided to do some looking herself.

However, she figured it wouldn’t make sense to take more risks than necessary. She traded out her dress for a typical quartz uniform and her hair for something shorter and choppier. She felt it, and felt disappointed about how similar it felt to her hair as Pink Diamond, but she couldn’t stop and worry about that now. They’d probably immediately figure out it was her, anyway, all other Rose Quartzes had been bubbled, but she could at least try to pretend she had run away from Homeworld and hid. She didn’t have an excuse for why she wouldn’t have joined the crystal gems, but, she supposed, she just wouldn’t get caught.

She took a cautious step forward. She was well aware that there weren't many good hiding spots. The rocks were mostly small and scattered, and there were no trees or plants. She was scared, but she was too curious to stop now. What were the metallic gems up to?

She continued edging forward, trying to be careful not to be seen or heard. She peeked around a corner and saw Howlite, Snowflake, and Tiger's Eye working on a blocky base. Wait, Tiger’s eye? She hadn’t gone with them originally. Rose realized with sudden horror that she hadn’t seen Tiger’s Eye since that morning. She was normally on the guard force, but Rose had assumed she’d been on a small hit-and-run.

Rose blinked. She couldn’t focus on that now. She should look at what else she could see about the metallic gems and their base. It was made of black cubes sticking out of the mountain at odd angles, some were stacked on top of each other, some seemed suspended on nothing, but Rose figured the base must be taking up the entirety of the inside of the mountain. It was rather big for just four- no, five, gems. They were planning on expanding. 

Rose wondered briefly if they’d try to recruit more from Homeworld or the Crystal Gems. If they recruited from Homeworld, it could help the Crystal Gems by dwindling Homeworld’s forces and bringing more gems to fight them. However, if Tiger’s Eye was anything to go by, it would probably be quicker and easier to recruit from the Crystal Gems.

Speculation could be done later, Rose thought. Could she overhear anything they were saying? No, the noises of the base being built were too loud. She wondered if she could or should send someone as a spy. The metallic gems were the only faction that Rose didn’t have endless information on at her fingertips. Then again, she figured having spies on the Metallic gems and not on Homeworld would seem pretty suspicious.

She stood and watched from a good distance for a while, being extraordinarily careful not to be seen. She eventually decided people would be worried about her, and quietly moved back to the warp, getting less cautious as she was further away. When she got in front of the warp, she shifted back into her normal Rose Quartz form. She felt exhausted. She supposed she’d have to rest soon.

She warped back to the base and made her way back to the training room, chatting with various gems along the way. When she arrived, Pearl grinned. “Rose! How was it?”

Rose smiled. “Excellent. Cherry’s not back yet?” she questioned.

“I asked her if I could take over for today. Gold and Silver here are making so much progress, I figured switching teachers would be harmful for them,” Pearl said.

“Thank you,” Silver said timidly.

“I mean it,” said Pearl. “You both remind me of when I first joined the Crystal Gems, timid, a bit unsure, but ready to make a difference. In fact, I think you’re ready to fight Rainbow.”

“We’ve met her, right?” Gold asked. “She was the one who carried us out of the Reef.”

“We’re not ready to fight her!” Silver exclaimed. “She was so tall!”

“Relax,” said Rose. “We wouldn’t be trying to actually fight you, just show you some techniques you can use against bigger gems. Or fusions, especially now that the metallic gems have split off.”

Pearl nodded. “Fighting a fusion can feel completely different from fighting even a single large gem.”

“Alright,” said Gold. “I’m willing to try.”

“Silver Pearl?” Rose asked gently.

She nodded.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Rose said.

Silver looked determined. “But I do want to! I’m scared, but I don’t want to let that stop me.”

Rose grinned and looked at Pearl. “Shall we?”

Their dance was different this time. They had swords, and they used them in their dance, so it looked much like fighting to anyone who didn’t know Rose and Pearl well. They clashed and flipped. Rose twirled Pearl with her available hand and dipped her.

“It’s great to see you again!” Rainbow said. “Let’s go slow at first so you can learn patterns, then we can gradually speed it up.”

Silver and Gold gripped their swords and got ready.

“I’ll let you attack first,” Rainbow said.

Gold charged at Rainbow, who dodged out of the way, and made a counterstrike with Rose’s sword, which Gold countered. The black pair of eyes swiveled to look at Silver, who was trying to sneak in an attack while Rainbow was focused on Gold.

Rainbow was more comfortable when her eyes were looking the same direction, but during battle, it was often necessary to split her attention between two directions. Rainbow parried Silver and leapt back to take a look at them. They were both advancing on her, but she saw that their balance was weighted forward and they’d both have a difficult time turning around.

Rainbow ran forward between them. Gold nearly fell trying to turn around, but Silver was only thrown slightly off-balance.

Rainbow unfused. “I hope you both understand why keeping your weight underneath you is important,” Pearl said.

Gold nodded. “It’s so hard worrying about form when someone twice your height is charging at you.”

“That’s why you need to drill it until it’s natural,” said Pearl. “So you don’t have to worry about it.”

“Oh,” said Silver. “Is that why you had us fight Rainbow?”

“So you could see why what I’m teaching you is important, yes,” Pearl said. “Rose, would you go get Cherry and make sure she doesn’t want to tell them anything else, I think I’ll be done shortly.”

Rose nodded. “Of course.” Rose hung her sword up and went to go find Cherry, only to be intercepted by Garnet.

“She’ll be in the left planning room out of the main corridor,” Garnet said.

“Oh,” said Rose. “Thank you. Are you taking time for yourself, Garnet? You look tired.”

“It has been hard,” Garnet said. “I think I’m struggling with the fact that even though I have so much more information than I did, I still am missing so much. I feel like I’m supposed to be infallible in a way that I simply can’t be.”

“Garnet,” Rose said. “You are absolutely incredible. Your very existence is beautiful. Believe in yourself. You are the answer, go with your intuition. Never doubt yourself.”

“Thank you, Rose,” said Garnet.

Rose grinned. “I mean it.”

Garnet smiled. “I know. Now, go get Cherry before she leaves the planning room.”

Rose started running in that direction. “Thanks, Garnet!”

She rounded a corner and before she reached the room where Cherry was, she dashed into another side room, and slammed the door behind her. She hadn’t realized how tired she was getting, but she suddenly felt cramped as she rose to her full height. She looked down at her gloved hands. She hated this form. She hated everything about Pink Diamond. She had done so much harm.

Maybe that’s why she told everyone about Bismuth. She didn’t want Rose to be anything like Pink. She sat on the floor, and hugged her knees. She would’ve thought that Rainbow would’ve restored enough that she didn’t need to do this, but she guessed that wasn’t long enough to do much.

She tried not to let her thoughts spiral into self-hatred, but it was so hard. She had messed so much up. She’d made so many mistakes. Did she make anyone feel insignificant today? Maybe that conversation with Ruby had accidentally caused her some pain, Rose realized. She hadn’t even thought about it at the time- she hadn’t thought about Ruby, she’d ignored her. She’d have to apologize. But then what if Ruby didn’t remember the conversation at all?

Rose sighed. Why did she have to spend any time in this form? She wished she could just be Rose all the time. She just wanted to be herself, and now, that was Rose more than it ever was Pink Diamond. She thought wistfully back to when she was first made. She was absolutely horrendous and she was so grateful she had learned, but it was the only time in her life she never felt like she was playing pretend.

Pink remembered the first time she demanded a colony. At the time, she just wanted to be included, she was upset that Yellow was leaving her behind. When was the last time she felt free to speak her mind like that? It was when- Rose felt a tightness in her chest, and tears well up in her eyes as she remembered her Pearl crouching on the floor, covering her eye, Pink imploring, trying to protect her, and White- Rose thought of that creepy smile she had to see at every ball after that. Her first friend, drained of all life, of all soul, and it was all her fault. Begging for Pearl was the last time Pink remembered saying everything on her mind, holding no secrets back.

Pink supposed she should be grateful that she’d learned since then, that she’d learned restraint and how to keep some things inside. But some part of her longed to be able to be her full, entire self with no restraint. But, she supposed, that would never happen now.

She let her hands drop to the floor and took stock. She didn’t know how long it had been, but she was feeling ready to shapeshift for at least as long as the conversation with Cherry would take.

She stood up, her hair brushing the ceiling, and shapeshifted back into Rose Quartz. She smiled. She felt like herself again. She walked out the door and down the hall. She hoped Cherry was still in the planning room.

She knocked on the room that Cherry was in. She heard Cherry say “come in.” 

Rose pushed open the door and said “Pearl said she’s almost done with training, so she wanted to make sure there’s nothing else you wanted to do before she dismissed Silver and Gold.”

“Oh!” said Cherry, “Yes, actually, I need to go over a few things before I let them go.”

“Shall we walk back together?” Rose asked.

“Of course,” Cherry said. “I mean, you’ll probably want to talk to Pearl, right?”

Rose nodded. Cherry and Rose chatted while walking back to the training room. Once they got there, Rose waved at Pearl.

“You were gone a while,” Gold noted.

“I got stopped by Garnet,” Rose explained, which was half true.

“Well, I’m glad you’re back!” said Pearl, quickly. “I’ll see the two of you later.”

Rose nodded. “It was lovely seeing you two again. Goodbye, Cherry, Goodbye Silver, Goodbye, Gold.”

Gold, Silver, and Cherry waved and said goodbye. 

Rose and Pearl left the room. “Pearl, follow me,” Rose said. “I need to talk to you in private.”

Taglist:  @suartz

[andrewmoocow]

Steven Universe: The Fantastic Mutants Chapter 2: Right into the Danger Room (originally posted on April 17, 2020)

AN: Kept you waiting, huh? After originally deleting the Fantastic Four from the climax of last chapter due to not giving them any dialogue, this is where I now shall introduce the First Family to the story. Well then, let's finally hop to it!

--

"Here we are Steven, the X-Men's personal training room." Pearl announced as the group exited the elevator, went through the hallways, and stepped into the famous Danger Room of the X-Men. Aside from the small control room above it housing X-Men ally Moira MacTaggert & Gold Team member Doug Ramsey aka Cypher, the area was a large white room decorated with turrets, holograms, and various other traps designed to test whoever trains in there. "So, the legendary Steven Universe in the flesh." Reed Richards announced his presence by appearing behind Steven with Susan Storm, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm behind him. "Wait, the Fantastic Four are here too?!" Steven exclaimed. "That's right little guy. The professor and Stretch here actually wanted to test you." the Thing stated patting a big orange hand on the stretchable scientist's shoulder. "We've already heard about how you helped those Chitauri and Thanos." "Charles is already sort of familiar with you Gems thanks to your mother." Sue added with a wink. "Which version of my mom are you talking about, Rose or Pink Diamond?" Steven asked, casually bringing up his mother's true identity to the four, which incited an awkward silence. "Okay then." Johnny muttered nervously. "Why don't we just get to fighting already to get our minds off that junk?" he asked. "Very glad you asked Johnny." Reed answered just as sheepish while gazing down at the Danger Room. "Eight Crystal Gems against twenty-four mutants, Johnny and Ben. Sounds like pretty bad odds for you." "We'll find a way around that." Garnet declared as she pounded her fists together. "Now then, shall we begin?" "Gladly." Wolverine smirked and he popped out his claws and the two teams of both eight & twenty-six were lowered down into the training room. Charles, Reed and Susan remained in the control room to monitor the Gems' abilities from afar. "Let the testing begin." Xavier declared. "Heads up X-Men!" Cyclops exclaimed firing his eye beams at Garnet, who swiftly blocked them with a cross of her arms. "Joke's on you, my future vision saw that coming." the fusion smirked before she went in for the kill, punching the mutant in the face. "So what can you do little one?" Colossus asked while towering over both Peridot and Lapis. "That depends. How heavy are you with that form?" Peridot replied with a grin as she lifted the metal man into the air with her ferrokinesis. "My word, I am floating!" Piotr cried in astonishment. "C'mon Lapis!" Peridot muttered to the water Gem. "Go and make him wet! He should rust, right?" "Oh uh, I don't think I can do that right now." Lapis said nervously before slowly shuffling away, inciting curiosity from the green Gem. "That's a little odd." Peridot observed while lowering Colossus to the ground. "Yes, you say she has water powers yet has not used them at all." Piotr added. "And by the way, I do not rust." Meanwhile, Pearl and Connie were clashing their blades with Wolverine and Laura's claws. "Likin' the new sword Connie." Logan complimented. "But what the hell happened to the old one?" "Oh, funny story actually." Connie stated while parrying Laura's foot claws. "Ruby and Sapphire had this wedding that we put together after we all learned Rose Quartz was Pink Diamond in disguise only for it to be crashed by the Diamonds and Blue Diamond broke the first one. Then we went to Homeworld where Bismuth eventually came to help us with a new one she made for me." "That's certainly a lot to take in." X-23 remarked while flipping backwards to avoid Connie's attacks before she locked the claws in her hands with Pearl's spear. "Yes, everything after that did take some getting used to." the white Gem stated. "Between repairing the beach house, making a place for all the Gems we uncorrupted to live in and still sort of recovering from becoming extensions of White Diamond, it's a lot to take in."

-- "At home base is our golden boy Sammy "The Cannonball" Guthrie, as he gets ready for perhaps the biggest hit of the season!" Cannonball narrated to himself like a sports commentator while aiming himself at Bismuth, who was duking it out with both Ben and Johnny. "To say he's been preparing for this moment the entire year wouldn't be saying much, but by God he plans on making this the hit that'll change the way everyone sees his team for centuries to come!" "Hey Cannie, quit stalling!" Magma jeered as she made small talk with Nephrite. "Not even his fans will break his concentration!" Sam continued and then, he began to ignite his feet. "HERE COMES THE PITCH!" he yelled, blazing towards the blacksmith, the Torch and the Thing with rapid speed & a big grin on his face and then, knocked them all down like bowling pins. "AND THE CROWD GOES WILD!" "Sam you nino." Amara tutted to herself. "Is your relationship normally like this?" Nephrite asked the lava mutant. "Yeah, he's kinda like an annoying little brother to me." Magma replied. "So anyway, what can you do?" "Oh, you mean you want to see my weapon?" the former Centipeetle mother inquired. "Well, here g-" Before she could demonstrate, Cannonball was sent flying into a wall by a single punch from Garnet, right next to the two. "I'M OKAY!" he exclaimed. "NAILED IT!" Far from the others, Steven was backed into a corner by Blink and Warpath. "Gotta say kid, you're not too shabby." Clarice Ferguson nodded while flinging her crystal javelins at Steven's shield. "You still got a little to learn, but that's what the professor is for." "Oh yeah? Well try this!" Steven exclaimed, now turning his shield into a bubble to roll around in and raced off, knocking down Clarice and James along the way. "There is so much about Gems that we must learn." Warpath muttered. "Don't you agree Clarice?" "Hey Connie, over here!" Steven called out to his human friend. "Let's show everyone something really cool!" he offered. "Oh, you mean-" Connie began when Logan cut her off. "I'm sorry, what?" Wolverine asked as the girl raced to the bubble and high-fived each other, glowing brightly inside the sphere before it dispersed, and out of it came Stevonnie. "TA-DA!" "What the hell just happened?!" Cypher exclaimed in wonder. "Anyone else seeing this?" Moira asked the others, who were already monitoring the current events. "It seems they have merged into a singular being!" Reed analyzed through video footage of the fusion before speaking into an intercom. "Excuse me new fighter. Can you please tell everyone in the room who you are?" "We already know Richards." Garnet stated. "Meet Stevonnie, a fusion of well, Steven and Connie." she introduced the kids' fusion before they cut her off. "Let me take over Garnet." Stevonnie suggested. "In case you couldn't tell, a fusion combines multiple aspects of its fusees, like appearances for example." they explained. "And abilities too. Like so." To demonstrate, they summoned Steven's shield following by swinging Connie's sword about. "So in short, you're basically two cute kids standin' on top of each other to form a non-binary lookin' person?" the Thing remarked. "Whatta strange development!" "Fusion? Interesting." Lapis muttered to herself with her back turned to Peridot. "Uh, why would you say that Lapis? You know you've had bad experiences with fusion!" the green Gem asked. "Do you mind little one?! I'm trying to think!" the taller Gem shouted harshly, giving Peridot a fright. "Something just isn't right! Who are you?!" "We shall focus on your friend later child." Colossus stated as he picked Peridot up and walked away with her, leaving Lapis alone. "I assume you are very close?" he asked. "Indeed we are." Peridot remarked. "We've had our conflicts in the past, but overall we're very good friends or maybe something more. But still, she never called me little one before and hasn't acted like that since we were first getting to know each other." "You are correct. Something must be wrong." Piotr agreed. "I suggest we keep our heads down and see what happens." -- As for Stevonnie, they had just finished going a few rounds with both Cyclops and Jean before finding themselves getting tired out. "Okay, let's take five for a bit. I'm beat." they announced, officially splitting back into Steven and Connie. "You two work very well together." Scott remarked as he helped the kids up. "Are there any more fusions we should know about?" "Well, there's Ruby and Sapphire for example." Wolverine stated, cuing Garnet to split up into the married Gems. Ruby's headband was now a shiny orange color, she now wore brown pants and the top part of her torso was the same color. Sapphire's dress was currently covered by a light blue vest with navy lining underneath a white top with much pointier sleeves than before. "AAAWWW! Aren't you two just the cutest?!" Cannonball squealed at the sight of the two. "You're right, these funky little lesbians are just so small!" Kitty exclaimed. "Oh you're too kind." Sapphire giggled and blushed. "Anything else we should show you?" "Yeah, you got any more fusions?" Laura asked. Without any hesitation, Ruby, Sapphire & Steven merged into a new fusion that looked like a giant sun wearing sunglasses. "Sunstone is in the house baby!" Sunstone proudly announced, following up by offering everyone a high five. "How has everyone been doing lately?!" "T-this can't be real, can it?" Cyclops gasped at the friendly fusion. "Don't be so alarmed buddy." Sunstone exclaimed. "It's always nice to meet new people. But if those new people do anything to make you uncomfortable, that's NO GOOD!" "Why are you talking to the wall?" Beast asked Sunstone after they had given an important life lesson to seemingly nothing in particular. "No matter. Could you perhaps show us your abilities?" "With pleasure sir." Sunstone accepted the offer and made a pair of suction cups appear, using them to climb up the wall. "And another thing, don't forget to respect your elders!" they added. "Oh god, this new one is just like Wade." Wolverine face-palmed. "Who's Wade?" Bismuth asked, to which she was met with a terse "You don't wanna know bub!" -- Meanwhile in the mansion above, classes had finally got out and the students of the X-Men were ready to call it a day. "How come none of us have ever heard of these Gem creatures before?" Hisako Ichiki asked her friends. "Which one do you think is your favorite? I think mine's the big one with the rainbow hair." Megan Gwynn also inquired. "I find the little green one very funny." Sooraya Qadir answered. "And so cute to-" Suddenly, a loud knock came from a nearby closet. "Anyone else hear that?" Dust exclaimed. The knocking sounded again. "It's coming from over there!" The three mutant girls proceeded to investigate, opening the closet to find a blue-skinned woman tied up and gagged. "Is that one of them?" Armor shouted as she freed the girl from her restraints, and she only had one question. "Where's Peridot?" "Are you talking about the tiny one Sooraya said was her favorite?" Pixie wondered. "Last I checked, she went with our teachers to the Danger Room." Faster than the three mutants could see, Lapis zoomed off to the training room. "Please tell Peridot I find her hilarious!" Dust called after the water Gem, but her words barely reached her. -- "Okay, I do believe we've seen enough!" Xavier called to Sunstone from the viewing box. "Don't want anyone to get crushed if you fall!" "You got any pyrotechnic abilities Sunstone?!" Johnny exclaimed. "If you do, then I think we might have a little competition!" Sunstone was quick to correct the Human Torch however. "I do believe I haven't tried that out yet." they remarked, then they made the suction cups disappear from their hands and landed on the floor with extreme bravado. "Thank you, thank you very much!" "Ugh, showboat. You kinda remind me of another fireman." the Lapis Lazuli that Peridot believed might not be the one she remembers snarked. "Am I the only one who's noticing how different Lapis is?!" Peridot exclaimed. "I haven't seen you act like this since we first moved in together! What gives?" "I'm just not impressed, that's all." Lapis growled. "Something tells me we got a spy around here." Mr. Fantastic announced as he, Susan, Xavier, Moira and Doug entered the Danger Room. "Tell me Ms. Lazuli, what can you tell us about the disappearance of the ocean a while back?" "Oh well, they just vanished. That's all." Lapis answered while fidgeting with her hands. "I know a liar when I see one!" Ben growled. "And by my great aunt Petunia, you definitely look like a liar!" "That's because she is!" another Lapis exclaimed racing into the Danger Room and scowling at her double. "So, what thinks you can snatch me out of that elevator and take my place?!" she argued. "Who are you talking about? I am the real deal!" the other Lapis stated flamboyantly. "Loyal member of the Crystal Gems and this little Peridot's dearly beloved!" "Oh yeah, well which one of you likes this?" Steven declared before he began making fart noises with his mouth, causing the first Lapis to laugh and the second to smack her face in embarrassment. "What an absolute child." she groaned. "AHA!" Peridot cried. "Now we know who the real one is!" "I AM!" the pair of Lapises exclaimed in unison. "Oh please Mystique, you can use your powers better than this." Xavier tutted disdainfully. "It's almost like you're passing yourself off as incompetent to annoy us." "Of course it had to be you to expose me." the second Lapis growled as she began to change form. Unlike Gem shapeshifting, she didn't glow as her eyes turned an empty yellow, her hair was dyed red, scales appeared on her face & arms and Lapis's clothing was replaced with a white leotard that came with matching boots, gloves and a shawl kept together with a skull. She was no longer Lapis Lazuli, but instead her true identity as the shapeshifter Mystique. "Frankly, we knew this part of our plan wouldn't end well." "We?" Steven asked, but the X-Men knew exactly who she was talking about. "The Brotherhood!" Iceman shouted when the alarms sounded. "Oh hey, speak of the devil." he muttered bemusedly. "No offense Kurt." "No time to talk, we must go now!" Nightcrawler commanded while Mystique made a break for it. "You are exactly right Wagner." Scott declared. "X-Men, let's move out!" -- Where the proud front doors to Xavier's school once stood, now there was only a hole created by a massive man dressed in red, most notably a large helmet covering his entire head. "Okay ya walkin' talkin' rock candy, where are you?!" Cain Marko, better known as the Juggernaut, roared. "It's a good thing Mystique planted that hearing bug on herself just in case." his amphibious partner Toad added. "I just can't wait to see those pebbles for real!" "Hello boys." Mystique greeted her fellow mutants as she stepped out of the shadows. "I suppose you may have already gotten the news." she said. "Well I got worse news: they're after me." And Raven was right. The Crystal Gems came charging after the mutant and took up arms against the two new mutants. "And you two are?" Garnet asked. "Pardon me for being so rude." Juggernaut stated. "You can call me the Juggernaut, bitch!" he roared. "And we're all from the Brotherhood of Mutants, here for that brat with the shield!" "Let me guess, is this about my mom?" Steven asked, exasperated how most of his enemies come after him because of Rose Quartz. "No, we don't care about her! The master only wants you!" Mortimer hissed. "Now just come quietly and none of your rainbow friends will get hurt." "No dice Kermit!" Amethyst shouted. "Steven, keep yourself away from these guys and get everyone to safety! The OG-3 got this handled!" she ordered the boy. "Right!" Steven accepted. "X-Men, I need you to help me find the students!" As Steven led the mutants and the Fantastic Four away; Garnet, Amethyst & Pearl charged at Juggernaut, Toad & Mystique with weapons ready. "Do you wish to know the qualities of the mighty toad?!" Mortimer bragged as his long tongue tangled with Amethyst's whip. "Wait wait, I think I got this!" Amethyst exclaimed. "This can happen to them." Suddenly, Amethyst tossed Toynbee around by her whip, still tangled with his tongue, and smashed him into the ground multiple times. "Okay!" Mortimer declared, getting more desperate with each pound. "I surrender! Same thing that happens to everyone else! Make it stop! I'm gonna be sick!" "What business do you have coming here following us and replacing Lapis?" Pearl asked as her spear clashed against Mystique's knife. "We are simply in league with someone who wants that child's gemstone." Mystique replied. "He desires it for experimental purposes." "If you think you can take Steven from us, then you got another thing coming!" Pearl howled protectively. -- "Okay, that should be all the students." Cyclops announced while doing a headcount of the school's student body. "I swear, we should really increase defenses at some point and maybe build a stronger building." "But I on the other hand believe the school being damaged builds character." Colossus responded. "So what can we do now guys?" Steven asked his fellow mutants. "I mean, is there any way we can just reason with these villains and make them leave the place?" "Don't you go thinking some cutie pie words will just make us surrender pink brat!" a new mutant declared emerging from the dust & rubble. He looked very similar to Wolverine, but looked more feral with blank white eyes, crazy blonde hair and a red & brown costume. Beside him was a pale Japanese woman dressed in tight black leather that had an Oriental style to it. Also like Logan, they both had metal claws emerging from their hands. "Creed. Oyama." Logan snarled at Sabretooth and Lady Deathstrike. "Looks like we almost got the whole Brotherhood here." Emma Frost implied. And just as she said so, a morbidly obese man in a blue singlet came rolling in using his fat body. "HOWDY TRAITOR!" the Blob shrieked. "And lookie here, we got us a good one!" "Why don't you just hand over the boy and no one will have to get hurt?" a pyrokinetic mutant offered while standing alongside another member of the Brotherhood in steel blue armor who was causing the school to slowly fall apart. "Naw just kidding to be honest, someone is probably gonna get hurt no matter which side they're on!" "Don't get too cocky John." the Brotherhood's earth-moving tactician Avalanche coldly reminded Pyro. "Now where could Tom be?" "Right here gang! And guess who I found?" the plant controlling Black Tom Cassidy announced while having assisted Juggernaut, Toad & Mystique in detaining Garnet, Amethyst & Pearl with his vines. "Seriously, who are you crazy people?!" Lapis exclaimed in fright at just how one man was able to defeat three powerful Gems. "They're the Brotherhood of Mutants, a group of extremists dedicated to more violent ways of mutant peace." Jubilee exposited. "And by the way, what do you want now?!" "They want Steven! I don't know why exactly, but they're working for someone who wants him for science junk!" Amethyst cried out. "That's not untrue runt." the Brotherhood's leader Magneto concurred while descending from the sky in a sphere of purple energy. "I do apologize for making this much of a scene but I implore you all, give us the child and you'll go free." "You shall do no such thing Erik." Xavier boldly rebuked the master of magnetism. "Just who are you in alliance with?" "Well, it should be someone quite familiar to some other guests of yours." Magneto answered while looking at Reed and company, who knew exactly who he was talking about. "Doom." Richards muttered in shock. -- As the invasion of the mansion went on, a man dressed in green robes and silver armor watched everything play out through a holographic screen in his castle in the nation of Latveria. Its literally iron-fisted ruler Victor von Doom slouched in his throne as he watched the Brotherhood of Mutants contend with the Crystal Gems and their new allies before he got up and walked towards the screen. With a devilish grin that couldn't be seen through his emotionless mask, he traced a circle around Steven and let out a menacing laugh. "Soon child, your gemstone shall belong to Doom." -- At long last, chapter two is done! Yeah, tons of things got in the way of its creation like my bad habit of unintentional procrastinating along with a certain virus that's been ruining everyone's fun lately. But on the bright side, I've been able to get this out long after the grand conclusion of Steven Universe Future, so I'd have a lot to work with for future stories. But for now, stay safe out there in these trying times and stay tuned.

[negaifreak]

Avengers: Omni Force Special Look

There was a certain dread filling the air around the heart of Wakanda and the forests surrounding it. Erza looked over at Vision's lifeless shell of a body. The android that held onto the Mind Stone was in any sense of the word... dead.

"Where could he have gone?" Erza asked, breathing heavily as blood dripped from her cuts and wounds. The Outriders were one thing to deal with. Thanos was another.

"Erza?" Shuri's voice rang out, catching her attention. But as she turned her head, her eyes widened. The princess of Wakanda was fading into dust, with flakes coming off of her left arm before she fell over and completely disintegrated, Panther Habit and all. Erza's eyes shook in realization.

"No..." she uttered, hurriedly running out towards the forest in the distance. Left and right, Wakanda's citizens were fading into dust as well. Erza grimaced. Did Thanos actually do it? Did he actually get the last stone and complete the gauntlet? The answer seemed obvious, but...

"Toothless!" Hiccup cried out as he ran through the forest in search of his dragon companion, holding onto his broken left arm. He breathed heavily as he looked around, panicked. That blast they took earlier caught them both off guard. He then heard a familiar moan. "Toothless!" he yelped, hurriedly rushing over to the source. Lying on his stomach was the Nightfury next to the rock wall. He pushed himself up, shaking his head. "Oh thank god..." Hiccup uttered out, catching his attention as he saw him jog over, "You all right, bud?" he asked out of concern. Toothless looked over to see his broken arm. "Hey, hey... it's okay..." Hiccup reassured, "I can get myself fixed up in no time..." he promised, putting his hand onto Toothless' head, "I'm not leaving you behind, bud..." he added reassuringly. Toothless happily tapped his head against Hiccup's, closing his eyes. He felt at home with him there. He felt safe. He felt... nothing...

Toothless' eyes jerked open the moment he could no longer feel Hiccup's touch. And to his shock, he wasn't there anymore. Only flecks of dust that wafted in the wind.

"Rose?! ROSE?!" Pearl screamed as she trudged around the forest. She was the most panicked by all of this. She had seen Rose's shield get shattered in an instant. Like it was nothing but glass to Thanos' power.

"Ugh..." a familiar voice groaned, causing her to gasp in realization. She looked over and saw Amethyst crawling out from the underbrush, covered in scrapes.

"Amethyst!" she cried out, hurrying over to her, "Are you all right?! Where's Rose?!" she frantically asked. Amethyst inwardly groaned. Of course Pearl was more concerned with Rose... She herself was lucky that she hadn't been poofed. "Ergh...!" Pearl grunted as she helped pick her fellow Crystal Gem from the ground, "Okay..." she uttered out, "We'll find Rose and then get Garnet..." she declared in between breaths.

"Agh..." Amethyst groaned in pain again, "Yeah, yeah..." she repeated in understanding, already exasperated enough with Pearl's obsession over being with Rose. But suddenly, Amethyst fell to the ground. "OW!" she yelped, "Pearl, what the-?!" Amethyst's eyes widened. Pearl wasn't next to her anymore. In fact, only specks of dust remained. "P-Pearl?" she stuttered, glancing around. She looked down to see if her gem had been poofed. Did she suddenly shatter without warning?

"She's gone..." another voice said, catching her attention as she looked over to see Rose standing there with tears streaking down her cheeks. Elsewhere in the forest, Steve, Hank, Luffy, Law, Zoro, Genos, and Hancock all witness several Wakandan soldiers all fade into dust, disappearing left and right.

"They... failed?" Hank uttered in disbelief. The two stones that were being protected on two fronts, protected by both the Avengers and the Omni Force alike... fell into Thanos' hands?

"We need to radio Tony right now," Steve stated. This was unprecedented. Despite all odds, despite the numbers the heroes boasted against this threat... they lost? As Hank was ready to pull out his membership card and contact Tony, he gasped. Everyone looked over and widened their eyes. His body was flaking away into dust, with his lower half completely disintegrated.

"Cap..." he uttered out before the process reached his head, preventing him from saying another word.

"Oh god..." Steve uttered in disbelief. Genos then glanced over and spotted something, widening his eyes again.

"Law!" he shouted, catching his squadron leader's attention. He looked down and gasped to see that his body was evaporating into dust as well.

"Traffie!" Luffy screamed, stretching his arms out to try and grab the specks of dust to try and keep Law together. It was fruitless. The disintegration had already reached his neck.

"Shit..." he cursed before fading away completely into the wind. Everyone looked on with widened eyes of disbelief. This was bad. Really bad. Hancock then noticed a few more specks of dust rising off of someone. She wished she hadn't looked to see who. Her gasp was audible, even as she covered her mouth with her hands.

"What's wrong...?" Zoro asked as everyone looked towards her. They then glanced in the general direction of where she was looking. Their eyes all widened. It was Luffy. His right arm had already fallen to pieces of dust, and the rest of his body would be soon to follow. He looked over at his friends, who all were in disbelief. And as the disintegration process reached his head, he resigned himself to his fate, shutting his eyes. His body soon faded completely, along with the straw hat he held so dear.

"L...Lu...Lu..." Hancock stuttered out as tears streaked down her cheeks, "LUUUUFFFFYYYYY!" she screamed in dismay, bawling as she fell onto her knees. More people were disappearing throughout the landscape. T'Challa, Natasha, Clint, and Janet were all victims as they crumbled into specks of dust that danced away with the wind.

"Hang in there, Tai..." Agumon pleaded as he helped his friend trudge along out from the forest. He wasn't faring much better. Despite Digivolving twice to fight against Thanos, he was still overpowered.

"Tai!" a voice cried out, catching their attentions as they saw Zyro running towards them with Ichigo in tow.

"Zyro..." Tai uttered, trying to walk on his own before falling over onto the ground face first, dropping his Digivice.

"Tai!" Agumon yelped, going over to make sure he was all right. Tai clenched his teeth. He was feeling such great pain and then... nothing. That's because he faded into the wind just as his comrades finally came to him.

"What the hell...?" Ichigo uttered in disbelief. Zyro squatted down and picked up the Digivice. Tears formed in Agumon's eyes as his lips quivered.

"T-Tai..." he stuttered out. Elsewhere in the forest, Korra dragged a bleeding Gray over her shoulders while injured herself. A trail of blood was behind the two as they trudged along slowly, barely conscious at all. Korra then tripped and fell over with him, hitting the ground hard. At least, that's how it felt.

"Kor...ra..." Gray managed to blurt out before coughing up more blood. The Avatar lifted her head and turned it to see that the ice wizard was barely breathing, starting to feel faint. She could feel it, too. It was as if there was nothing left but to embrace the feeling of death. It made her wonder what would happen. Would Raava be able to find someone else to become the next Avatar? She of course cared about that, but...

"You... should've stayed home... dumbass..." she told Gray, who perked up. He managed to curl his lips into a grin.

"Yeah..." he agreed softly. Without realizing it, both of them soon faded into ashes, as no one saw them disappear. Erza ran across the battlefield at a breakneck pace, praying that no one else was falling victim to whatever plagued Shuri and the Wakandan people.

"Erza, over here!" a voice cried out, catching her attention as she looked over to see Elsa with Samus and Kirby, appearing to surround something. She rushed over. To her surprise, all she saw was Leonardo, who appeared despondent. For a moment, nothing seemed wrong... but...

"We lost Raph..." Leonardo uttered out. Erza's eyes widened in shock. The ashen plague had spread to her teammates?

"KAKAROT!" Vegeta's voice boomed, causing them to all perk up to see him screaming at the sky, "COME OUT!" he bellowed, "STOP PLAYING GAMES WITH ME AND SHOW YOURSELF! KAKAROT!" he yelled angrily. Goku was gone, too? Erza was shaking. This was the nightmare scenario Tony had been talking about?

"Erza, what should we-?"

"Call Ben," the requip user interrupted, running off, "I'm going to find the others!" she declared. The ninth squadron members all shared worried looks with each other. How could this all be happening?

"Ergh..." Wendy grunted as she trudged out from the forest, holding onto her hurting hip.

"Wendy!" a voice cried out, catching her attention as she was suddenly tackled into a bear hug by Carla, who shook as she held onto her.

"Carla...?" she uttered in surprise, grimacing a little. She was more focused on trying to figure out why Jake and Danny's scents suddenly disappeared...

"Come along, child," Carla beckoned after letting go, taking Wendy's hand, "We should regroup with the others and help heal them if we can..." she advised, about to go off with her. But then she felt nothing in her hand. "Wen-?" Carla stopped talking as she turned and saw that the Sky Dragon Slayer was gone. Her eyes began to widen in realization. "Wendy? WENDY?!" she screamed, hoping that it wasn't true. Wendy couldn't have been taken! ...Right?

Naruto was gone. Rook was gone. Kyoya was gone. Jack was gone. Meliodas was gone. Omni Force members were disappearing like the Avengers and the Wakandan soldiers. At random, they were fading into dust. Erza kept running. She ran through the river, getting closer to the edge of the forest. Inside, Weiss was sobbing over Lance's lifeless body, putting her face into her hands. Watching from afar was Ruby, who leaned up against a tree and wiped the blood off of her lips.

"Ruby... I'm so sorry!" Weiss apologized while continuing to cry. The huntress was about to say something in response until she saw the flecks of dust coming off of her hand, followed by the rest of her body as it was fading. There seemed to be no way stop it...

"No Weiss..." she said, catching her friend's attention as she looked over and widened her eyes to see her fading away into ashes, "I'm sorry..." she apologized before disappearing completely. Just as the disintegration was completed, Erza had arrived at the forest's edge. And she had seen everything. She could feel her heart shatter the moment she saw Ruby evaporate. The girl she cared for, the girl she promised to train and keep safe... was gone.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" she screamed into the sky as she dropped to her knees. Despite all odds, despite everything... the Omni Force had lost.

END

[sushigal007]

Now We’re Only Falling Apart

That title could now be used to describe the entire show.

So. My thoughts on the new episode under the cut. Spoiler warning: I hated it completely. I can find nothing to like in this episode and this is the most critical post I have ever written about an episode.

Yeah. Not even remotely impressed by this episode. Why is Amethyst COMPLETELY unbothered by this revelation? For that matter, why is Steven? We had months of angst when he thought Rose shattered Pink, is the discovery that she faked it enough of a relief for him to not care about the useless war that destroyed hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides, the millennia of lying to her friends and lovers, including his own father, the imprisonment of Bismuth so she couldn't give away the secret about her sword or shatter her sisters... I guess all that's OK because yay, she didn't shatter Pink Diamond, what a hero.

Also where the fuck is Peridot when all this is happening? It was bad enough that they ignored her all the time when she was living in the barn, now she lives in the damn bathroom and you still can't be bothered to include her? You said she was a Crystal Gem! What was even the point of her redemption arc in S2 if you were just going to ignore her forever afterwards? It would've been kinder to everyone if they'd actually caught her in Message Received and bubbled her away, it's not like she made any difference to the plot since then.

Ahem. Moving on. Sapphire lashing out is kind of understandable, but she's doing it towards completely the wrong person. Lash out at Pearl, lash out at Rose herself. Ruby had nothing to do with this. And she's asking all the questions we asked, but none of the answers really hold up. Blue and Yellow wouldn't listen? So what? It's your damn colony. Do what you want and don't tell them. They made the zoo? It's still yours. Undo it. You want to rebel? Do it as you instead of splitting your troops up to fight each other, you selfish knob. "Only on Earth!" No, Pink, there are different gems fusing on Homeworld too and they die because of you. The real Rose Quartzes are bubbled because of you. Your army is corrupted because of you. Millions of shattered gems are fused together in an agonizing abomination designed to destroy the planet you wanted to save because you are an awful awful person who never stopped to think about the consequences of your actions and no amount of pretty scenes of you giggling and running through flowers with Pearl will change that. Rose Quartz sucks and everyone should be united in their anger against her.

But instead, Sapphire has already forgiven her, Steven has already forgiven her, Pearl was always up her arse, Ruby is presumably more mad at Sapphire than Rose, Amethyst didn't give a shit at all, and I guess Peridot is just asleep in the bath again, blissfully unaware of what's going on and probably won't find out until Lapis shows up with the barn again and somebody lets it slip and they'll just smile and nod and hit the bench again to watch CPH hahahaha oh wow, look, this is it, you can actually see it, here is the point where I stopped believing things might get better. I'll still watch it for the same reason I read Little Lord Fauntleroy all the way to the end - because I hate leaving things unfinished and want to see how it ends. But this show peaked at S2, it has squandered all it's potential and I see no way out. Especially not when they really are trying to push the 'Rose really loved the Earth and wanted to save it and meant no harm and she was secretly good all along' angle.

Diamond redemption is coming. We're going to cry at genocidal slave-owners and then go out for pizza as a big ol' happy family. I hope you're ready.

Also the art was fucking ugly. I’ve drawn about twenty pieces of fanart and I can say with complete confidence that in doing so, I have used the model sheets more than the people who work on the show.