GOODBYE
RAGE BURNED through Steven's glowing white eyes as he stared down Rose who hovered in the sky above. Rose smiled excitedly as she saw this, her breath baited as she thought of how she could use his power to her advantage when Steven suddenly vanished!
"What?" Rose squinted and looked around when Steven appeared in front of her and impaled her with a photon spear he conjured!
Rose spat out blood as the blade drove through her and Steven dismissed the weapon, striking her hard in the head with a kick that hurtled her down into the face of a mountain below! Pearl watched in concern as Steven chased after Rose, then frowned as she felt the earth shake beneath her, turning her attention to Jasper who lay nearby.
Rose pushed broken boulders aside as she emerged from the hole in the mountain, quickly healing her wound and tensing up as Steven flew at her. She summoned her shield and prepared to defend herself when she felt the wind get knocked out of her as an invisible force hit her in the gut and carved her further into the rocks!
Steven flew over the Gem as he overwhelmed her with a telepathic barrage and he shot down toward her, grabbing her face and smashing her onto the ground! He stood over her and charged energy through his fist when Rose knocked him back with a powerful aura that burst out of her body, summoning magic circles in her hands and conjuring four light cannons around her that fired a torrent of laser blasts at him!
Steven sped downward, cutting through the lasers like nothing, and he coated his fists in energy, teleporting behind the pink Gem and punching her in the back, driving her deep into the ground! He dove into the hole and made chase as Rose fell through the soil, catching herself and summoning Gaia vines that sped toward Steven like roots!
Cranking his arm back, Steven chucked an energy ball with a punch, burning through the photon tendrils and creating explosions above ground that tore through the earth! Amethyst, Connie and Lion watched over Prasiolite's body on the surface, wondering whether she was still alive when they saw the series of eruptions barreling up to them, barely getting out of the way in time to see Rose blown into the air by the blasts and Steven flying after her!
"Steven?" Connie raised her brow and chased after the two with Amethyst and Lion following her.
Rose steadied herself in midair and saw the boy charging at her, conjuring an energy mace that she swung at him! Steven smacked the weapon aside and punched her in the stomach with so much force that it sent out powerful shockwaves that nearly blew the Gems off their feet hundreds of meters below!
Steven grabbed Rose by her hair and smashed his knee into her face, drawing blood, and he spun her around by one arm, flinging her to the earth below! Seeing her crash to the earth, the boy screamed out in rage and raised his arms to the sky, forming a gigantic sphere of energy several meters wide from his palms that outshone the moon and caused an intense heat around him!
Shrinking the energy into a small ball in his right hand, Steven flew after Rose and shoved the blast into her gut, driving her into the earth and causing a gigantic explosion that went several feet into the air! Connie, Amethyst and Lion stopped as the blast spread out toward them and were knocked back by the aftershock, sending them flying back!
Rose spat out blood and coughed severely as the smoke diminished around them, Steven rising to his feet and standing over her as the two were inside a huge crater. The woman wheezed as her dress was torn apart and her body was covered in cuts and burns, trying to get her bearings when Steven grabbed her by the hair, holding her head up and clenching his free hand into a fist.
Rose opened her eyes to see Steven go for the finishing blow and the Gem slammed her hand onto the ground, summoning an energy tube that stabbed him in the back! Steven stumbled forward and moved to rip out the vine when the tube yanked him back, driving further into him and drawing out blood, throwing him aside like a ragdoll!
"Enough games." Rose smirked. "This world is mine."
Rose stumbled forward and placed her palms on the ground, drawing three tubes of Gaia Energy that impaled her spine, pouring the energy of the earth into her! Steven skidded to a stop and frowned as Rose slowly ascended into the air, gaining more power and slowly increasing several feet in size!
Pearl and Helio watched from afar as the Gem became a giant, the pale woman stepping back as her pressure made the air heavy. "This is insane." Pearl's eyes dilated in shock. "She's become unstoppable."
"Not quite." A voice said.
Pearl turned to where the voice came from and smiled. "Sasuke, you're awake!"
Sasuke creaked his neck. "Well, I wouldn't say I got much sleep, but I suppose it'll do."
"What're you talking about? How do you plan on defeating her with the power she has?" Helio asked.
Sasuke walked ahead of them. "Just step back." He created distance between them and thrust his arm forward, opening his Rinnegan. "Chibaku-Tensei!"
Rose laughed evilly as she grew larger and larger, feeling the energy flooding into her as she ascended and shone brightly in the sky! She looked on at Steven who studied her and she opened her palm to summon a weapon when she felt a sudden force compress around her and caused her limbs to buckle up! The ground below began to break up and large rocks rose up and flew toward the Gem, collecting rapidly and cocooning her into a gigantic sphere of earth!
Opening his Mangekyou Sharingan, Sasuke forged a powerful aura around his body that transformed and shaped into an ethereal ribcage that hoisted him into the air as it further turned into a massive skeleton over a hundred feet in height! The Shinobi held his arm forward and the outer-skeleton mimicked his movement, creating an armor of pure energy that wrapped around the giant avatar and completed its transformation!
"This is the Susanoo!" Sasuke cried out as he drew out his sword, channeling energy through the aura armor and creating a gigantic blade that spanned several miles!
The Susanoo towered high above the mountain range as it eyed its surroundings and it turned its attention to Rose who was trapped in the small planetoid. Grabbing its energy blade with both arms, the Aura Samurai poured more energy into the blade, sending tremors through the ground and causing the stars in the sky to darken as it shone brightly through its display of power!
Sasuke moved his blade forward and directed the Susanoo to swing its sword toward Rose, breaking apart the ground to pieces as it drove the ethereal weapon toward the planetary ball! The sword met the rock and cut through it cleanly when a wave of energy burst out of the sphere as Rose broke out of her binds, shattering the sword and shredding one of the Aura Samurai's arms like they were nothing!
"Impossible!" Sasuke staggered back and reformed the armored titan around him. He froze as the Gem blazed with energy in the sky up ahead, her power beginning to distort reality as the air around her started to crack like glass!
"I told you, I am God!" Rose proclaimed and snapped her hand shut, conjuring several vines that wrapped around the Susanoo and manacled it instantly! She moved over the earth and frowned as she eyed Steven and the Gems below, holding her hand forward. "I was mistaken to think the earth needed a Savior, a Protector; it's clear to me now that this world is full of sinners that'd dare oppose me! This world needs to be cleansed!"
Pearl looked around as an earthquake swept the valley and was instantly held in place as several Gaia vines burst out and one of them wrapped around her! Helio frowned as this happened and turned to see the healing sphere around Jasper break apart as tubes coiled around the unconscious Gem. "Jasper!" He cried out and tried to reach for her when a tendril held him down as well!
Rose smiled as Steven and the Gems below were held down and she held her arms out as a massive Gaia Energy tube emerged out of the ground when the tube suddenly wrapped around her and bound her as well! "What in the world!?" Rose frowned as the photon vine began to pull her toward the earth!
A small explosion erupted nearby and out of the ground came Ruby who piggybacked Peridot as they dug their way out of the collapsed temple. "Ha! We made it!" The green girl smiled.
"Yeah, thanks for helping me break through several tons of rock!" Ruby frowned.
"You're welcome there buddy." Peridot got off the red woman who grumbled in anger and she looked around, seeing Rose being dragged down up above and the energy vines around slowly break down. "Aha! It worked!"
"What did you do!?" Rose demanded.
"Well, it's quite simple actually; I altered the ritual you performed." Peridot began. "With a small change to the conditions of your blood contract, I severally shortened the time you had before you had to fulfill your end of the bargain to the Gaia Spirits that inhabited the earth's core, and now they want your soul."
"Why you –," Rose thrust her arm out at her and grunted as the vine yanked her back and began to drain the energy from her body, slowly returning her to her normal size!
"You played a dangerous game dealing with parasitical spirits that feed on energy, and I thought, why not give those greedy bastards what they want and let them have your soul a few decades early." Peridot crossed her arms. "And just like coding, I simply changed a one to a zero and stopped the ritual."
"Hey, I was part of the plan too!" Ruby yelled.
"Yeah, she was part of the plan too." Peridot stated, annoying the red woman.
Rose chuckled and grabbed an energy vine, drawing energy from it again! "Your foolishness will be your undoing!" She tore the tube in half! "The Gaia Spirits are far beneath me! And if they want to oppose me, they'll fall like all the rest!"
Connie watched as the Gem began to break free from her binds and she sifted her mind, running into the fray. "Connie, what're you doing?" Amethyst called out.
The girl ran up to the vine that held Rose down and she coated her arms in Gaia Energy, thrusting her hands into the photon stream and creating more tendrils that wrapped around the Gem! Steven watched in awe as Connie directed the massive tube down to the ground, pulling Rose down with it! Connie began to pant as Rose was dragged down when the Gem grabbed her neck, causing her to let go of the vines!
"I won't let anyone get in my way; the Diamonds will pay for what they've done!" Rose yelled as she choked the girl.
"Connie!" Steven flew toward her when Rose's stomach burst out, spraying blood all around. "What the?"
Rose gasped and looked forward to see that a hand stabbed through her stomach and held her gemstone out of her body, letting go of Connie and realizing who had impaled her. "Jasper …?" She looked back to see the orange Gem standing behind her.
"I'm sorry, Rose." Jasper said, setting her down as she felt the life drain out of her sister's body.
"D-don't do this …" Rose pleaded, tears welling in her eyes. "We have to s-stop the …. Diamonds …"
Jasper held Rose's face with her free hand and crushed her gemstone with the other, killing her sister. Jasper placed Rose's body on the ground and stepped back as the energy vines wrapped around her body, pulling her deeper into the soil. The orange gem watched as the vines receded and Steven ran up to her, freezing up as he saw Rose slowly disappear into the soil, her face being the last he saw of her as she submerged completely.
Pearl, Helio, Sapphire, Ruby, Peridot, Amethyst, Lapis, Lion and Sasuke drew closer as Steven stood and quietly watched the mound of soil where Rose once was. Connie remained behind as she saw the boy remain silent, unsure of what to say to him when Pearl went up to Steven and placed a hand on his shoulder, feeling his emptiness as he didn't react at all to her.
A solemn silence fell across the valley as the Gaia Energy receded and Rose's grave disappeared when lights began to glimmer from the earth all around them! Steven stirred as he saw this and his eyes widened as a rose slowly sprouted out of the ground, followed by several other flowers that rapidly germinated and started to fill the valley!
Tears went down Pearl's face as she recognized the plants that began to grow all around. "Rose …!" She said shakily, covering her mouth as she began to weep.
"It's like the garden she planted on Home World long ago…" Sapphire realized.
"I remember this…" Jasper said finally.
Steven looked around as a massive garden quickly filled the once barren valley, filling the area with a wide array of flowers and trees that created a forest twice as beautiful as the one that stood before. He squinted as this happened, unsure of how to feel when he suddenly felt Rose's presence sweep past him as wind blew and cast flower petals into the night sky up ahead.
Steven clenched his fists shakily as tears went down his face, seeing the garden of roses standing at his feet. "Goodbye, mom…"
DAYS LATER, Amethyst, Jasper, Helio, Lapis, Finn, Jake and Wendy sat at a counter having a meal at a bar in Breakfast Kingdom in the morning. "Whoa! You fought a god!" Jake shot out of his seat with shock on his face.
"Yeah, she was a pain to defeat honestly." Amethyst sat back and drank a beer.
"I don't think it's such a good idea to drink this early." Finn noted.
"Ah, whatever – morning, afternoon, night, I drink when I want." The purple woman took a large gulp.
"Are you sure you're okay, Amethyst? I mean, I thought Rose meant a lot to you guys." Lapis asked.
"Well, yeah, but I let go of her long ago honestly." Amethyst said and sat up. "I thought she died and then I find out that all I knew about her was a lie, I say good riddance!"
Lapis squinted, unsure if she believed her when she heard Jasper laughing beside her. "That's the spirit, Amethyst, fuck that bitch!" The orange gem chugged down Scotch from a bottle.
"Jasper, are you sure you should be drinking?" Helio asked.
"Hey, hey, don't think just because we're in public that I won't fuck you right here and now." Jasper draped her arm over his shoulder and burped. "You're looking pretty fuckable right now."
"Alright, alright." Helio backed off and Jasper laughed hysterically.
"Uh, I thought you're not supposed to drink when you're having a kid." Lapis said.
"This's how she grieves." Helio explained. "Leave her be."
"Man, we missed everything." Finn crossed his arms and sulked. "I wanted to fight a god."
"Don't worry, man, at least we got the bounty!" Jake grinned as he shook a sack of gold he had in hand.
"From how powerful Rose sounded like, you'd have fucking died if you fought her, Finn." Wendy said.
"Hey, I can hold my own against a god." Finn retorted.
"Not one that strong."
"Can too." Finn frowned.
"If you say so." Wendy stirred her coffee.
RUBY POCKETED her hands as she stood on a sidewalk and watched at the townspeople of Oval Town mingle with those of Breakfast Kingdom, amused by how uniquely different they looked from the humans she'd seen before. She leaned on a lamppost and glanced to her right, seeing Sapphire descending from the sky. "Hey, Ruby." The blue woman said.
"Oh, Sapphire." Ruby said, moving up to her. "Where're the others?"
"They're eating at a diner." The blue woman explained, landing beside her.
"You're not hungry either, huh?" Ruby asked.
"No, not really." Sapphire looked into the street, sifting her mind. "Ruby, I … about earlier –,"
"I told you, Sapphire, it's fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I am." Ruby turned to her. "I understand the choice you had to make; I'm not mad, honestly."
Sapphire looked around. "But … what about us?"
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked and looked into her eye, realizing what she meant. "Oh …"
"I'll understand whatever decision you make, I just …" Sapphire walked up to her and held her hand. "I just wanted to know if we're still together."
Ruby pulled her hand away from hers and tried to think, sighing finally. "I don't think I can do this anymore."
"Oh …" Sapphire looked to the ground.
"I –," Ruby paused. "It's not you; I just need to find myself again." She explained. "We've become very different people since we met on Home World and I've realized how much of myself I put away when we became Garnet. And now that I know that you're … you, I …"
"I understand." Sapphire replied. "I should've told you the truth before, but we're here now."
Ruby looked to Sapphire for a bit and pulled her in, placing her lips against hers and kissing her softly. She stepped back and held her hand. "I love you, Sapphire – I still care about you and I'm not leaving the Gems … but I need to take my life in a different direction." She let go of her. "Goodbye, Sapphire." The red woman walked off, leaving the blue woman to think.
GEN SAT on a bench elsewhere in the city, holding a small sack in his hands and withholding tears as he felt the ashes inside. He sighed and saw Pearl walking up to him, quickly putting the bag aside and standing up. "Oh, Pearl, you're back." He said.
"Yes, we had a lot to deal with." Pearl replied and looked around. "Looks like your people have settled down."
"Yeah, King Waffle allowed us to stay here for as long as we need and offered to help us rebuild the town." Gen explained. "He's a kind man."
"That's good to hear." Pearl said, her expression falling slightly as she continued. "Gen, I just came to tell you that we're leaving."
"Really?" Gen raised his brow.
"We came looking for a way to get to Home World and we didn't find it here, so we have to keep moving." Pearl said. "Now that your people are safe, there's nothing more for us to do."
Gen huffed and nodded. "Very well, I won't hold you back here then." He held his hand out to her. "Thank you for everything, my people wouldn't be here without you and the Gems helping us." He smiled wistfully. "I'm going to miss you, Pearl."
Pearl looked into Gen's eyes as he offered to shake her hand and she moved up to him, kissing him and holding his face with both hands tenderly. She pulled back and blushed, running a finger through her hair. "Heh, sorry about that."
"No, it was –," Gen cleared his throat and looked around.
She stared into his eyes once more and shook herself out of it, clumsily pulling out a black disk with a red symbol on its front from her pocket and placing it in his hand. "Here, use this to contact me while I'm gone." She said. "J-just use the red button."
"Oh, cool." Gen analyzed the card then looked up to see her walking away hurriedly. "How does it work –,"
"Goodbye, Gen." Pearl said hastily, leaving Gen chuckling slightly.
SAPPHIRE RUBBED her arms as she flew across Breakfast Kingdom, trying to get her head off what'd happened and focusing on the task at hand. She came to a hill on the outskirts and descended, looking around and waiting when Sasuke appeared beside her.
"Is something wrong?" Sasuke asked.
"No, just a thing with a friend." Sapphire avoided the topic. "How's the forest?"
"The decay seems to have subsided since Rose's demise and her garden's quickly replaced the forest." Sasuke said. "I'm sorry about what happened with Rose."
"No, it's alright." Sapphire replied. "We all make our choices."
"Well, I'll continue my investigation until I'm sure Gaia Energy doesn't resurface elsewhere." He said. "I have to thank you Gems for your aid in the situation; it was invaluable."
"No, you're the one we should thank." She countered. "Oval Town would be destroyed if you hadn't stepped in."
"I suppose." Sasuke began to walk away. "I have to say, you're more than I expected you to be – Daisy Johnson was right about you."
"Wait, you're working with SHIELD?" Sapphire realized and the Shinobi vanished.
STEVEN AND Connie stood in a small hospital room as Doctor Princess checked on Greg's vitals as he lay unconscious in bed. "Is he going to be alright?" Connie asked.
"He should be." The Doctor turned to them. "It'll take a while for all his injuries to heal, but we did our best."
"What was wrong with him exactly?" Steven asked.
"Well, he took an experimental healing serum to fix his broken spine, but it was a temporary solution." She began. "Without a proper medical evaluation afterward, he was unaware of the other injuries he'd sustained." She noticed the worry in the boy's eyes. "But don't worry, he should be fine soon; it should take only a few days before he wakes up."
Steven and Connie listened to the Doctor's explanation and they remained behind for a bit, watching over the man who lay connected to machines and IVs. After a while, they stepped out of the hospital into the street, Connie becoming concerned as Steven had been silent the whole time. "Steven, are you okay?" She asked finally.
Steven looked out, seeing a family chatting through the window of a shop across the street and sighing. "I don't know …" He frowned. "I don't know what to do anymore."
"It's okay, Steven, you don't –,"
"I wanted to kill my mom." He turned to her, clenching his fist. "I was going to kill her – what kind of person does that make me?"
Connie saw the confusion in his eyes. "We have to make tough choices sometimes and I can't tell you whether it was the right one or not." She continued. "When we left Beach City, I told you my parents let me come along, but I lied. I wanted to come with you so I could find out who I could be; I knew there was so much more out there I had to discover." She placed a hand on his shoulder. "There's still more out there for you too, and I'll be with you whatever it may be."
Steven looked to the family across the street and thought for a bit, sighing. "I need to go."
"Huh? Where?" She asked as he walked off.
"I don't know who I am anymore, Connie." Steven said. "All this time I've fought for the Gems and I thought my mom was this great hero and that was a giant lie. I need to find myself, and I don't know when I'll be back."
Connie tried to argue, but cut herself off. "I understand …"
Steven saw the worry in her eyes and moved up to her, embracing her. "I'm sorry about all of this; I didn't think would end up so bad when you'd join us."
"No, it's not your fault." Connie held him. "I don't regret any of it."
Steven smiled and stepped away from Connie, ascending into the air. "Take care of the Gems for me."
"Sure." Connie chuckled and watched Steven as he shot off and disappeared into the sky.
PERIDOT TIGHTENED a bolt in the engine of the Carwash RV, frowning as a rabbit hopped onto the radiator. "Come on, Pooky, you're gonna get hurt." She picked up the rodent and giggled as it fidgeted in her grip, turning to see Pearl, Greg, Sapphire, Amethyst, Jasper, Helio, Lapis, Ruby and Lion walk up to her on the beachfront. "Oh hey, you came!" Peridot smiled.
"So, this's where you've been this past week." Jasper noted.
"Oh, hey, how's Lion? Did you manage to break the silence curse on him?" Peridot asked.
"Unfortunately, it seems to be the type that persists even after the caster dies." Pearl explained. "Sapphire and I spent days trying to break it, but to no avail."
"We can only communicate with him telepathically for now, but even that's still a challenge." Sapphire said, looking at the Gem who sat by himself a few feet away. "He lost a lot of his power and a lot more because of the curse; we can only hope to find a way to free him soon."
"Oh, okay." Peridot looked at Lion.
"What'd you call us here for?" Amethyst asked Peridot then raised her brow as she finally saw that the RV had a different paintjob. "What'd you do?"
"My baby!" Greg cried out in horror and ran up to the vehicle.
"Oh, hey there, Steven's dad, you recovered from surgery." Peridot said. "Don't tell me you have amnesia now – oh wait, that's after a coma." She tapped her forehead. "Got my earth drama tropes mixed up again."
"What'd you do to her?" Greg asked.
"Well, I upgraded her so she could be ready for space travel." Peridot shut the hood of the vehicle, giggling as Pooky sniffed her ear. "I replaced the engines, added artificial gravity and added a spatial distorter so there's more room on the inside than there actually is." She put her hands on her hips smugly. "Home World's tech isn't only good for combat."
"Okay, but why did you do that?" Pearl asked.
"Well, I detected Home World transmissions in our star system, so Home World's most likely coming to earth again." Peridot said.
"What!?" Amethyst eyes dilated in horror.
"You can't be serious." Ruby frowned.
"My RV!" Greg wailed and hugged the side of the vehicle.
"I guess we don't have time to waste." Jasper stepped forward. "We have to take the battle to Home World, now!"
"Wait, we're just gonna go right now? How're we gonna face the Diamonds by ourselves?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah, can't we at least call the Avengers to help us or something?" Amethyst suggested.
"No can do." Lapis replied. "I'd hacked SHIELD's databases when we'd invaded Beach City and the Avengers are spread out tight trying to keep the peace. We're doing this ourselves."
"I've prepared for this for centuries and I've amassed armies on several worlds." Jasper grinned proudly. "There's no way we can lose!"
"Uh, are we sure we should be fighting them so soon?" Helio asked, pointing at her slight baby bump. "You won't be combat ready."
"I'll have delivered by then – it only takes three months and that's exactly how long it'll take to reach Home World, and what matters right now is taking the Diamonds down!" Jasper grinned.
"Hell no, we're staying here until you've given birth, 'cuz I'm ain't no fucking midwife." Amethyst walked off.
"Oh, you're gonna be a midwife!" Jasper chased after her.
"No, leave me alone!" Amethyst yelled as the taller Gem grabbed her. "This's harassment! This's harassment!" She clawed against the ground as Jasper dragged her away. "I don't wanna touch a pussy!"
Pearl groaned as the two ran about. "This's gonna be a long trip."
"Yup." Sapphire deadpanned.
MEANWHILE IN outer space, White Diamond walked around her laboratory aboard her gigantic space ship, eyeing several specimens that floated in containment chambers in the large room when a door slid open behind her and an Agate walked in. "My Diamond, we just got word; our scanners showed that Rose Quartz's energy signature has disappeared from the star system." The Gem said. "She is dead."
"Very well, leave." White Diamond said and the Gem exited the room, leaving her to ponder. "Hmm, her energy level vastly surpasses ours and she suddenly dies? She must've taken part in a failed ritual or something. No matter." She walked toward two forth-dimensional cubes that housed two women that were unconscious. "We'll be ready if anything like that ever happens again, won't we, my Saiyan pets?"
And there you have it, the end of the second arc!
For those who don't know, the RealDone Universe is fanfic version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe meaning every book we do is connected to a larger universe. You don't have to read every book to know what's going on, but if you're interested in any of our other books, check our bio. We'd suggest the Gravity Falls books, Big Hero 6 – both of which are ongoing – or Adventure Time.
The next arc titled Home World, starting in the next chapter, will be the final in this series, so be on the lookout for that. Thanks for reading
