An Unstable Balance.
Steven played with his hands anxiously as he watched Opal eliminate the last of the flying monsters. It was cold at the top of the mountains, the wind cut through his face and his heart was still pounding at his chest (understandable, after all of the adrenaline). Steven was standing there on the ground, motionless; he couldn't do anything aside directly staring at Opal's beautiful moviments.
She eventually turned around, slowly, letting Steven take in her features properly. They were strongly familiar but he couldn't quite describe in what aspects. Sure, her nose was pointy like Pearl's but...not exactly; he easily noticed her mouth hanged half-open like Amethyst had a habit of doing, but her lips were shaped differently. Opal then proceeded to kneel close and offer one of her hands to him. Steven had no idea of what to do, she was so big and different compared to everything else. He observed in pure awe.
Her hair was long and smooth, a creamy white. It honestly looked like she had used one of those puffy hair brushes you see in vintage movies. But obviously the most fascinating were her arms. She had four of those, all very long and shaded in a pretty gray-ish lilac. Two on her back were holding her weapon: a bow that although was made of pure light, still presented carvings and symbols to cover it top to bottom. The string alone was twice Steven's height.
Steven hesitated for a second to accept her hand. Once he got up he felt the need to say something. A scary thought had been bothering his mind for some time now. "Uhhhh...do you... know who I am..?" He looked up innocently.
Opal stared down for a few moments and let out a light chuckle (one that neither Amethyst or Pearl would ever be caught doing, of that he was sure). Then, her soothing voice seemed to fly with the breeze as she calmly sang to answer his question:
"All you wannna do, is see me turn into..."
"A giant woman!" Steven gasped in surprise, unable to keep his excitement any longer. He raised his hands in her direction, feeling a complete new wave of happiness explode in his tiny body. "Haha! that was amazing!" Any tension that had been building up was now gone. She was his family, after all. Two of the people that cared so much about him, right there, tuned in perfect synchrony.
Fusion was such a new concept for him, ever since that morning it had been bubbling in his mind non-stop.
Opal had a light-hearted smile on her face. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and extended the arms on her back. The bow suddenly vanished in tiny sparkling bubbles, flying to the sky and popping one at a time, similar to the rhythm of butterfly wings.
"Oh my gosh. It's actually you! Opal! The fusion!" Steven kept jumping around, finding everything beautiful and fun. "I have so many questions. When did Pearl and Amethyst first formed you? Do you have to choose who controls the legs and who the arms? How come you never told me you're so good at archery? Which one named you Opal?"
She looked around for a little while, not exactly lost in thought, only a little distracted. Her eyes finally darted down to Steven, she said:
"Come on. We shouldn't stay up here for long." Her body bent over a few inches as she tried to look at him more directly at his eye-level. It didn't do much, she was still around 16 feet tall.
Steven answered with a simple "okay". Opal extended one of her arms in his direction and gently placed it on his back, right between his shoulder blades. Her fingers were hovering, barely touching, but Steven welcomed the action anyway. The other three hands were holding to her waist loosely, where different fabrics met in order to tie her clothes.
Steven felt a gust of wind informing that Opal had straightened up and was following right behind him.
The sun was going down, it was still fairly early though; around 5 in the afternoon, was Steven's guess. He thought of mentioning the view but decided against it for no reason.
At some point, her voice was very unexpectedly meeting his ears again:
"Pearl and Amethyst can't use the bow and arrow." She said in a low and casual tone.
"Huh?" Steven's curiosity was immediately spiked again. He turned around and continued to walk backwards, so he could look directly at her. His eyes were wide open and a smirk was forming at the corners of his mouth.
Opal looked down a few times before continuing the conversation. "They don't know how to. Only when I am me."
"How does that work?"
"Well, Pearl is too rigid to shoot arrows. Amethyst is too...loose, I believe." Opal was clearly taking a long time to put her thoughts together. With each sentence, she would take a breath and slow down a little bit more. Once she had finished she glanced around, as if thinking about something completely different by each passing second.
Even though he was still very puzzled, Steven decided to give her time, instead of pressing for information. They continued the slow walk together, the only sound present were their footsteps and the wind.
"It's not just one plus the other." Opal stopped, lightly bumping on Steven with her legs. She was now looking up, watching the petals and leaves from a nearby tree, one of her hands was reaching for a flower. Steven had to admit, that was an inspiring sight: a four-armed, incredibly tall lady just enjoying nature.
"It's more of their feelings. You see, I am what Pearl means to Amethyst and what Amethyst means to Pearl. That feeling can change and evolve."
"So you do too." Steven added in understanding. "It makes sense."
Opal nodded, still looking up. "I have to make sure I absorb everything. The sounds, the places, the tiny creatures." With that last word she turned her head to look at Steven. Another of her hands was now ruffling his hair. "I never know...when I'll get to see through these eyes again."
Steven was understanding a bit more about this phenomenon now. Opal needed perfect balance to be here. Everyone knew that was something rare between Pearl and Amethyst. Steven started to wonder if her thoughts were completely plain or rather extremely confusing in her mind.
Their walk continued with a little more silence and a little more observing. The warp pad was not too far away.