Chapter 1

Steven's POV

Everything was black. My ears, they were ringing. I couldn't feel anything. It was almost like I was dead or something.

It all happened so fast. Too fast. My memory was a haze. I remembered shielding Connie while she swung her sword at Jasper to protect her from harm. I remember hearing the sound of her sword making contact, causing Jasper to step sideways while I shield bashed her once and sent her backwards onto the dirty ground of the Kindergarten around us. Jasper was exhausted, unable to keep fighting after she'd gotten attacked by Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst and Lion beforehand, with a little bit of extra back up from Lars and Sadie who had tripped Jasper off of a cliff using a trap they'd set up on Garnet's request. Jasper was finished, done, defeated. Ready to be poofed and bubbled back at the temple by me and Connie. It was all going according to plan. We'd won.

The gems, our human backup Lars, Sadie, Jamie, Buck, Sour Cream, Vedallia, Ronaldo and PeeDee, and Lion all crowded behind me and Connie to see the orange gem in front of us hurt and finally down for the count. It had taken us only a few minutes to fight and capture Peridot, with Pearl taking full charge while Lapis instantly surrendered to Amethyst without conflict because of how she was mistreated by Jasper. But when it came to taking down Jasper and stopping her, it took literally forever to bring her down to the state she was in, as she kept standing back up and fighting even though Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and us had done a number to her. Any normal Gem would have poofed hours ago. But she just wouldn't give up and continued to stand up again and again and again. But not this time.

Finally seeing her on the ground injured caused everyone around us to finally breathe a sigh of relief. Our battle was over for now. The Homeworld Gems who had attacked Beach City a few months back were all finally caught, and were now all going to go back to the Temple so we could figure out what's been going on up in Homeworld since Garnet and Pearl left from there during the war for Earth with my mom all of those many years ago. Maybe now, the Gems and I could get some real answers about what's been going on. And maybe still, we could learn some new things about fusion that even Garnet can't tell me.

"Did we get her?" Pearl asked, keeping a tight grip on her spear as everyone around her looked to Jasper for any signs of movement. Connie and me looked at one another questionably, as neither of us could tell exactly whether or not Jasper was actually finished off. Her question was suddenly answered by Garnet, who smiled and poofed her gauntlets off of her hands.

"She won't be getting up this time." Garnet said with a boom in her voice. "Steven and Connie, you did it!"

Me and Connie looked at each other with shock, neither of us able to actually take in the fact that we'd both actually just taken out the meanest and most powerful of the Homeworld Gems together. Our faces of shock immediately turned into faces of happiness, with Connie suddenly dropping her sword and running right at me, both of us hugging each other tightly when we she ran smack right into my arms as the people and gems behind us cheered happily. Lars was screaming the loudest out of everybody, besides Garnet anyway, causing me and Connie to let out a "Woo!" of our own, while Connie hugged me again. We giggled happily as everyone celebrated.

Suddenly, an ear deafening screech coming from above us on the cliff wall behind Jasper, who luckily for us, was still unconscious. It was like a slow motion response, as everyone except Jasper slowly glanced up, only to see that one of the Injectors was suddenly falling from the wall of the cliff. I looked at Connie as the heavy object started to fall closer to us, her eyes going from happy to scared in barely a second. The cheering from our friends suddenly turned into a large gasp as we all processed what was going on. It's like time suddenly stood still.

"EVERYBODY, GE'OUTTA HERE!"

Garnet's yell suddenly boomed through everybody's ears to tune us into the danger above, causing everybody behind me and Connie to run away from Jasper, screams following as they all attempted to look for something to hide behind. I grabbed Connie's hand and followed them behind, but Connie ended up outrunning me pretty quickly. We were both exhausted ourselves from all of the fighting, both of our legs feeling wobbly from the hours of running, shielding and slashing. It was only moments after we both started to run. I felt Connie start to slow down after only a few seconds of running. Shortly after the slowdown, I watched as her delicate legs suddenly gave out, her entire body falling to the ground instantly, pulling me down with her. I felt time suddenly go even more still, as I watched in horror as my best friend suddenly became unable to walk and pulled me down to the dirt.

"Connie!"

I yelled her name, but she didn't say a word. I felt tears suddenly form on my eyes and rush down my face. I wanted to pick her up and run to where everyone else was headed, but I could tell that even I was too weak to do even something like that with the energy I had. I wanted to call for Lion to save us using his lightning fast speed, to pick us both up and race us out of danger. But it was unlikely that I would have even had the chance to speak at all, as I looked up to see the falling Injector only about ten feet above our heads.

This was it, the final few milliseconds before the Injector would smash into the ground, and both me and Connie were unable to get away from where it was gonna land. The world around us still felt as if it was moving in slow motion, as I could faintly hear the sound of the others yell out my name in the distance. At that moment, I felt my human instincts suddenly take control of my body, as I threw myself over Connie and used the last bit of my strength to make a weak bubble around us. I watched as the gloomy light of the Kindergarten went from dull, to darkness, with a loud explosive like boom surrounding both of us. All I heard was this sound, which shattered my weak bubble instantly. Soon there was no noises. No sounds.

And the world around me, just faded to black.