"Either tell me where Rose Quartz is, or watch this traitor get crushed flat," Aquamarine said. "The choice is yours."
The light from her wand wrapping around the boulder was the only thing keeping the giant stone from landing right on top of Topaz, who was still unconscious and beyond anybody's help. Lars looked at the knocked out Gem, then back at Aquamarine, whose eyes were twitching more frequently than before. That's how Lars knew she was beginning to lose her grip on the remaining sanity she had left. Her tiny mouth widened into a big, toothy grimace of a smile, and started cackling again, this time at a softer, subtler, yet no less menacing tone. Unsurprisingly, this was starting to frighten Lars, to the point where he was thinking of just running for it and leaving Topaz for dead.
But luckily for Topaz, Lars knew he had to no something about Aquamarine. A Gem as prejudiced towards off-colors as Aquamarine couldn't be left to her own devices, and Lars understood that something had to be done about her before it's too late. What exactly could be done about her, however, was something Lars was still mulling over. At first he was having fun toying with her and playing with her emotions, but as he was looking at her now, Lars realized she was getting horribly desperate. The little Gem could only take so much humiliation and ridicule, and it was obvious she was finally at her limit.
"You've got to be kidding me, Aquamarine," he said. "You're that obsessed with Rose Quartz that you'd harm your own partner?"
She gave out yet another horrible cackle.
"Spare me the 'everyone is equal' spiel, human," she said. "Topaz isn't my 'partner'...she's my tool. A tool given to me by the Diamonds to use until the day she breaks."
Aquamarine started to eyeball Topaz's unconscious body on the cold, hard, dirty floor.
"That's all these fusions are," she said. "Tools designed to do whatever they're told...and to never, ever think about turning on their masters, let alone think at all. I would've told the Diamonds what she did if I'd known this is where they'd send me."
"How in the heck can you be so...cold?" Lars asked sentimentally.
"BECAUSE I DON'T GIVE A DAMN WHAT YOU THINK!" the little Gem yelled, so loud it echoed throughout the entire cave. "Now tell me where Rose Quartz is, or else!"
Lars looked down at the poor Topaz, and then back at the hot-headed Aquamarine, and took the time to mull over what he should do. He was starting to realize just how big of a mistake it would be to give Steven's location away to the horrid elite Gem; sure, Steven may be light-years away from Homeworld, but it's unlikely something like that's going to stop Aquamarine-let alone the Diamonds-from going after him. And then Lars started thinking about what Aquamarine would do to Steven once she got a hold of him; Topaz would be simply poofed and broken to pieces, and that would be the end of her. But Aquamarine wouldn't let him go just like that. No, she would most likely make the poor half-Gem suffer...she'd make him pay for everything he done to Homeworld, despite the fact he hasn't really done anything to Homeworld at all.
Lars imagined Steven yelling out in agony, crying for help, and wishing Aquamarine would kill him and finally end his suffering. But then Lars imaged Aquamarine just cackling in Steven's face every time he let out a desperate plea for release. This was beginning to disturb Lars; he didn't want to wish such a monstrous fate upon someone like Steven. But then again, he didn't want to wish a fate like being crushed by a giant stone upon Topaz. But alas, Lars was ready to decide. Which is why Lars put a stop to his imagining, let out a huge breath, balled up his bright pink fists, looked Aquamarine straight in the eye and said...
"Hell no."
The Gem's eyes started to twitch again.
"...What was that?" she asked. "I... I believe I misheard you."
"I said 'hell no,' you deaf bitch!" Lars said, even more confident than before. "As messed up as this sounds, I'd rather shatter Topaz myself. And do you want to know why? Because I consider having to be around the likes of you every day for thousands of years to be fate far worse than death."
"...I-Is... Is that s-so?"
"Yes, it is. And the sad thing is, if she were up right now, Topaz would likely agree with me. Back on the ship, 'Rose' and I earned her respect, because we showed her something that neither you nor those crazy Diamond women nor any of the other elitist Gems on this hellhole of a planet are capable of showing her: understanding."
"..."
"Topaz betrayed you because you couldn't understand her. And that's the exact reason why the Topaz after her will more than likely betray you, too...because you don't know how to care about anybody other than yourself."
Aquamarine's eyes twitched more than they ever twitched before, and she held her head with her free hand in agony and despair and what she was hearing. She was muttering and mumbling gibberish to herself, and starting looking around the room erratically. Her grip on her wand was getting tighter and tighter, but the beam emitting out of the weapon's end was still strong, keeping the boulder firmly in place above Topaz. but Lars was starting to get worried. He noticed something change in Aquamarine. She was still mumbling and shaking and holding her head, to the point where it looked like she was about to explode...but that's when she stopped all that. Instantly. Which made Lars all the more nervous.
She looked at Lars, and the human noticed a drastic change: the whites of the little Gem's eyes were slowly turning bloodshot, and her pupils were empty-looking, and shrunken to a point.
"Good speech, Lars," Aquamarine said, her voice cracking at points. "Overtly platitudinous and completely ineffective...but very good, nonetheless. But guess what, little human? IT WON'T SAVE YOUR FUSION FRIEND!"
Aquamarine pulled back her wand, and the beam of light surrounding the huge boulder, and the stone began plummeting down to the ground. Lars yelled in anger and horror, but knew there was nothing he could've done to save Topaz from her fate, and closed his eyes and plugged his ears, to save himself at least some of the torment of his decision. But little did Lars know-since he could neither see nor hear anything-that right there, at the bottom of the Kindergarten of Homeworld, a miracle of sorts occurred.
For right as he boulder was about to crush Topaz as flat as a pancake...the rock was swatted away from above the unconscious yellow fusion, and was sent hurtling towards Aqumarine! Naturally, the little Gem flew out of the way, and the hard rock collided with an even harder wall, and it shattered into hundreds of harmless little pieces instantly. Aquamarine, completely astonished at what just happened, looked back at Topaz, and saw something that she thought she dealt with hours ago...
It was Fluorite, picking Topaz up from the ground and holding her close, intending to keep her safe from any further harm.
Lars opened his eyes and unplugged his ears, and he saw the huge Fluorite right in front of him. His mouth curled into a wide smile and he ran up to Topaz and gave her a hug, and the fusion hugged him back. But their reunion was cut quite short, as Aquamarine was busy yelling out in anger at the countless impossibilities that were unfolding before her.
"WHAT!?" Aquamarine exclaimed. "Y-You... You're not supposed to be here... YOU FILTHY OFF-COLOR! YOU DAMNED MONSTER!"
"You're the only monster here," Fluorite said. "What kind of Gem would do that to their own comrade?"
"SHUT UP! I'll break you, you hear me!? I'LL BREAK YOU AND ALL YOUR FRIENDS! I'LL HUNT THEM ALL DOWN, BREAK THEM ONE-BY-ONE, AND I'LL MAKE YOU WATCH BEFORE I DO THE SAME TO YOU! Then... Then Diamonds will love me again... I-I can be by their side again... Heh, heh, heh, heh... HAHAHAHAHA! BAAAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Fluorite shook her head in shame.
"Your obsession's driven you mad, little one," Fluorite said somberly. "Sad...yet oddly satisfying."
"I said...SHUT THE HELL UP!"
Aquamarine pointed her wand directly at Fluorite, fired her beam at the giant fusion, and stopped her right in her tracks!
...Well, Aquamarine would have done that, if she actually had her wand in her hands anymore.
"H-Huh?" she said. "W-Where... W-Where is-"
"Looking for this?"
Aquamarine turned around...
And in an instant she was enveloped in a bright blue light.
