CHAPTER 7: FIGHT OR LEAVE

The beast got up slowly, gritting its fangs, it looked at the gems with its red eyes and as it let out something that resembled a laugh, it began to rush towards them and when it was going to reach the gems, it jumped over them, with its jaws opened and with its claws extended towards them. The gems quickly dodged the monster's attack as each of them began to attack it. Before attacking, Garnet shouted at Steven.

"Steven! Hide behind the shrine!" Garnet yelled, she knew that even if Steven gained more control over his powers and could use almost all of them without many problems, this battle seemed to be too much dangerous for him.

"But I want to help you!" Steven shouted, he knew that this battle wouldn't have been easy, but he still wanted to help Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst, he wanted to protect them, even if that meant to get injured, or maybe worse…

"STEVEN…NOW!" Garnet screamed, as she dodged an attack, almost being hit by the monster; even if it was huge, the beast was very fast and as the battle proceeded, the gems couldn't notice any sign of tiredness in it.

"Garnet, what's the plan?" Amethyst yelled, picking up a large rock with her whip and throwing it to beast, which turned out to be useless when it grabbed the rock before it could hit its head, shattering it in its hand.

"We don't have a plan! We just have to keep fighting, it will get tired and we'll be able to get rid of it!" Garnet said, unsure about her own plan, it looked like that the beast would have never got tired.

The monster focused on Garnet and tried to hit her with its fast slashing attacks, suddenly, it let out a scream of pain; the beast had multiple lacerations on its back, Amethyst managed to hit it with her whip while the beast was fighting against Garnet.

"Does it hurt?" Amethyst joked, as she attacked again…but this time something went wrong…the beast grabbed her whip and yanked it hard, making Amethyst fly towards it. As Amethyst was going to collide with the beast…it punched her right in the face making her fly towards the shrine, reducing it to rubble.

"AMETHYST!" Pearl screamed as she tried to reach her, only to be stopped by Garnet, who placed her hand on Pearl's shoulder.

"Pearl…calm down, Steven is there and he will help Amethyst, we can't go there now… the monster would certainly follow us and it could hurt Steven…and we both don't want this to happen right?" Garnet said calmly, despite the situation.

Pearl nodded, with few tears running down her cheeks. They both saw that the beast was now heading towards the remains of the shrine; Pearl threw her spear to the monster's back. Much to her surprise, the beast grabbed her spear and broke it in two like a toothpick but at least it turned its attention to them.

"AMETHYST! AMETHYST ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" Steven shouted as he ran through the rubble and saw that Amethyst was laying on the ground, full of cuts and bruises, not moving. As he reached her, Steven fell on his knees and began to tap her arm, but Amethyst was still laying without moving, showing no signs of life.

"A…Amethyst…please…get up…" Steven said, as tears began to form in his eyes.

"Please Amethyst…open your eyes…you…you can't leave us…I…I don't want it to end like like this…please Amethyst…talk to me…I can't make it without you…" Steven began to sob loudly as he hugged Amethyst.

"S…Stev…" Steven's eyes grew wide and as he raised his head he could see that Amethyst's eyes were slightly opened, she coughed and hugged Steven.

"Don't…don't worry Steven…I'm…I'm fine" Amethyst said as she began to get up.

"You can't go back now Amethyst!" Steven cried, seeing how many injures she had.

"Then…please…heal me…that white jerk and Garnet can't beat that monster on their own…" Amethyst replied, falling to her knees.

"Yes they can! Please Amethyst…don't go…it…i twill kill you" Steven said, sobbing, hugging Amethyst again.

"Steven…" Amethyst caressed Steven's hair "If I don't go…they could get hurt like me…or worse…I know that you only want to protect us, but letting me go it's the only way you can protect us now…" Amethyst looked at Steven and wiped his tears.

"Please…be careful" Steven said, then he spat on his hands and touched Amethyst injures, that vanished after some moments.

"Thank you buddy…now stay here while I kick that monster right in the butt, ok?" Amethyst said, smiling to Steven, who giggled and nodded.

"Garnet we can't stop it…it's…it's just too strong! We have to leave!" Pearl said, dodging an upcoming attack from the monster.

"No…if we escape now and we let it live, it could hurt people, it's far too dangerous, we have to take it down!" Garnet yelled, charging the monster.

Garnet began to attack the beast with all her fury, as fast as she could, and finally she hit it in the stomach, but suddenly it grabbed her gauntlet and lifted her in the air, the beast raised its claws, ready to strike when… a large rock hit its head, making the beast scream in pain.

"Not so easy to take me down you dumb ass huh?!" Amethyst shouted angrily, charging the beast, tearing its arm with her whip, making it release Garnet from its grip.

The monster held its arm and turned to Amethyst, its eyes became red fissures as it began to walk towards her.

"Wanna fight big guy?!" Amethyst yelled as she began to attack the beast.

Pearl and Garnet began to rush towards Amethyst, who was trying to dodge all of the monster slashing attacks, it was really hard however since Amethyst wasn't as fast as Pearl or Garnet. When they reached her…Amethyst made a fatal error, she tried to attack the monster using her whip…the beast saw its opportunity and grabbed her whip again…this time however…the beast didn't threw Amethyst anywhere…it just smashed her into the ground and then began to hit her repeatedly.

"No! Leave her alone!" Steven shouted as he began to rush towards Amethyst.

"Amethyst!" Pearl yelled as she aimed to the beast's head and threw her spear at it.

The spear made its way to the monster's head and got stuck into it, causing the beast to scream in pain.

"Finally…" Garnet said, smiling slightly, but that smile faded away quickly.

"Garnet…why doesn't it retreat into his gem? WHY IS IT STILL ALIVE?!" Pearl screamed, as she saw that a few moments passed, but the beast was still there.

And Pearl's horror grew as she saw that after some moments, the beast took out from its head the spear. The monster looked at Pearl's spear with anger, then…a terrifying smile grew on its face as it looked at Pearl for an instant, and then at Amethyst. It all happened in a moment…the beast took out Amethyst from the ground and then… it stabbed her from side to side with Pearl's spear.

"NOOOOO!" Steven screamed as he reached Pearl, who had both of her hands on her mouth and tears in her eyes, and Garnet, who was gritting her teeth.

The monster began to laugh as it released Amethyst form its grasp. Amethyst got up from the ground, the pain was unbearable, she looked at Pearl, Garnet and Steven with tears in hear eyes and then…as she stretched her arm towards her friends, she disappeard into clouds, leaving her gemstone on the ground.

"DAMNED MONSTER!" Pearl yelled as she ran towards the monster and attacked it with all her strenght, with all her rage, with all her despair. Garnet did the same but then she noticed that Steven wasn't hiding anymore, he was running towards Pearl.

"NO STEVEN! COME BACK!" Garnet yelled.

Steven picked up Amethyst's gemstone and put it in his pocket as Pearl noticed him, assuming an horrified expression.

"STEVEN! GET OUT OF HERE!" Pearl shouted as she dodged an upcoming attack.

"NO! I WANT TO HELP! I DON'T WANT TO LOOSE YOU TOO!" Steven yelled at Pearl with tears running down his cheecks. Pearl's expression softened as Garnet reached them.

"We have to leave! It's too dangerous for Steven!" Garnet shouted as she reached Pearl and Steven.

Steven looked at the monster, he couldn't believe that such a horrible creature could exist, but there was something more…something familiar in that monster…but he couldn't think about it because as the gems decided to leave, the monster rush towards them and jumped over them. Suddenly…Steven summoned his protective bubble and as the monster touched it, its red eyes became wide. There was a loud explosion and a blinding light, a loud scream of pain could be heard. When Steven opened his eyes, he realized that he, Pearl and Garnet had left the battlefield. Pearl had Steven under her arm and she was running through the forest with Garnet on her side.

"Where's the monster?!" Steven asked looking behind.

"When the light began to fade we were already running through the forest, but I'm sure it couldn't have survived, thank you Steven…" Garnet replied, smiling slightly at Steven.

"Look!" Steven yelled, as he began to see the warp pad.

Pearl had tears in her eyes but she began to smile, seeing that their safety was very close. So she began to run faster and as she reached the warp pad she kneeled down and hugged Steven.

"We're safe now Steven…we're safe" Pearl whispered to Steven.

"Pearl…" Steven asked, starting to tremble…

"What?" Pearl replied, with her face still buried in Steven's hair.

"Where is Garnet?"