Hey guys! I've been looking forward to this chapter and therefore it kind of took a bit. So for reference Domina's lines are in italics and Stevens are bold. I hope you guys like Stevima and all their...idiosyncrasies. Thank you to Squish for betaing because this thing was written in fits and spurts and needed so so many commas (ok only 13 total but still)

I hope you enjoy the chapter see you monday!

"What in star's name?" Yellow Diamond said. The Fusion looked up from their hands and grinned.

"Nah, no stars involved, though, Team Mommy Issues finally managed to mash it up. So maybe you could say they aligned? I dunno," The Fusion moved passed them to the temple door. Time to get to work. Steven had had a gem in mind from the beginning.

"Domina, what is the meaning of this?" Yellow Diamond asked.

"Domina's only listening in right now." The Fusion said, waving off the diamond. "How do I get into this thing? Can I?" They looked down at their stomach gem. Steven may have a rose quartz gem and a room in the temple but... their gem was different. The door to the temple opened and Amethyst stopped mid stride.

"Uh... hey." She said, her face lighting up as she craned her neck back to look at them. "When did this happen?"

"Like half a minute ago!" The Fusion said with a grin. Amethyst laughed.

"Awesome! WD ain't waiting around on fusion round two."

"What?" Yellow Diamond said flatly. The Fusion sighed.

"You know, she really didn't know about Sunny With a Chance of Conversation." Any further arguments were cut off by the screen door opening.

"We're- Oh!" Pearl (Crystal Pearl? White Pearl? Ma'am? Dam-Dang this was confusing.) said startled. Sabina was behind her, both of them carrying motorcycle helmets and looking a bit flushed.

"Woah..." Sabina said.

"Hey Pearl, Sabina!" The Fusion said with a wave. They were distracted once again by their one too many fingers.

"Uh... so... what are you then... Stevima?" Sabina asked setting her helmet down on the counter.

"Yeah, should have seen that coming. I dunno, don't care, trying to get this thing done so if-" And once again, the temple door opened; this time, Garnet appeared in the doorway, mouth wide. Stevima chuckled nervously.

"Pretty cool, right?" They said. "Not as well put together as The Experience or the Yo-Yoing Wonder but eh." Stevima shrugged. "It'll get the job done."

"You're fantastic," Garnet said. "Don't worry about them, you are yourself, unique." Stevima giggled.

"Sappy but nice." They said.

"What... how...? Why are you two fused?" Yellow Diamond asked. Her hand had gone to the bridge of her nose. Stevima really couldn't tell if she was angry or just baffled.

"Steven had an idea, and..." They looked at the door to the temple. "If I explain now I'm just going to have to do it again when the Blue and Pearl, er Pink, er... sh- ards this is hard." Stevima said with a sigh. As if on cue, door opened. "Awesome, there we go. Hello!" Stevima said with a wave to the two stunned pearls.

"Domina?" Pink Pearl asked, blinking up at them.

"She's listening in, we're going with Stevima. Though gemetically, I think I'm a Morganite." Stevima looked down at their stomach gem with a frown, then back at the group. "Which doesn't make any sense, not any more than an amethyst and rose quartz make a smoky quartz. It's like it's completely random," Stevima began to pace. "It's kind of funny cause like, a ruby, a sapphire, a pearl, and an amethyst make an alexandrite. God knows what Flourite's made up of. So many combinations. Theoretically, if you got the right gems you could make a dia-" Stevima stopped mid step, and turned to face Yellow Diamond with a grin that was half Steven's starry eyed wonder, and half Domina's incredulous fascination. "Is that why the authority don't like fusion?" they asked. Yellow Diamond glanced around the room and folded her arms with a frown.

"Why are you two fused?" She said sternly.

"Fine, not like both of them won't bug you about it later." Stevima said, rolling their eyes. "Steven has a theory that fused, he and Domina... me... us? Can heal the corrupted gems through their dreams. But he's wrong, so I'm going to try something else."

"Slow down." Garnet said. "We've got plenty of time. Tell us what you're going to do."

"Hmm, ok." Stevima said. "So their powers are basically the same, Steven and Domina can both interact directly with a gem's base programming. Steven works externally and Domina works internally. I can be a bit more flexible." They smirked. "These two dorks already tried working externally and that ended up with Steven being corrupted." Stevima inspected the section of their hair that had been turned light pink from a combination of corruption and well meaning bleaching. "So I'm gonna give some internal manipulation a try. It's safer and less likely to end up with one of them... or me... turning into a giant monster." The room settled into silence.

"That... kinda makes sense." Amethyst said.

"It's still incredibly dangerous." Pearl said.

"That's what makes it exciting!"

"Just get this over with," Yellow Diamond said with a sigh.

"Right!" Stevima said, clapping her hands together, "The only reason Boy Wonder managed to talk Air to the Throne into this is because they promised to stay close. Steven thinks I should start with the Kindergarten Kid that Could, cause she's been corrupted for less time. So, can someone let me into the burning roo-?" Stevima's voice suddenly shifted, fluctuating between approximations of Domina and Steven's voices.

"Burning room, why is it called the-"

'I dunno there's a lot of fire and lava and st-"

"But it's where the bubbles go?"

"Yea-"

"Ok you two, keep it together." Stevima said, gripping the fabric of their jeans on either side of their legs. "I haven't even gotten started yet." They forced a smile to the rest of the room.

"You're not as stable as you seem," Blue Pearl said, with a frown.

"Nah, I got this. I'm like hybrid squared." Stevima looked to Garnet. "Burning room?" Garnet looked at Amethyst and Pearl, then adjusted her glasses and opened the burning room. Amethyst brought out the purple bubble holding a jasper gem with triangular facet.

"Wait, is that...?" Yellow Diamond asked leaning forward to get a better look. Amethyst chuckled nervously and looked away while Pearl awkwardly rubbed the back of her head.

"Oh, this is gonna spawn all kinds of awkward conversations when this is over." Stevima said.

"Yeah, it's kind of a long story." Amethyst said. "You need her popped?" Stevima shook their head and took the bubble gently.

"No, not yet." Stevima stared at the gem within the bubble, then closed their eyes, and effortlessly, their gems began to glow.

What happened was not exactly a copy of Domina's experiences in seeing a person's memory laid out in front of her, nor, was it the feeling Steven got of falling into a dream, it was something in between. Like watching a 3d movie, or viewing a scene from a holoprojector. But it was loud, so loud. And unlike the time spent in the centipeetles' dream, it was out of focus. Stevima couldn't make out distinct shapes or feelings other than fear and confusion. They couldn't hear anything other than dissonant chords playing erratically to the point of being painful.

They pulled out of it violently, flying back into the counter with a crash.

"Are you alright?" Yellow Pearl asked, going to her side.

"I'm fine," Stevima climbed to their feet,"I-"

"This isn't going to work." Stevima gripped the table.

"We can't do this." Their form began to shudder.

"No! Hold on you two! I can do this! Let me try!" Stevima pounded a fist on the counter and their form suddenly solidified. Everyone in the room took a step back as a wave of air pushed out from them. "I've got one shot at this before I get benched, possibly forever."

"Stevima." Garnet said calmly. "Relax, everything's going to be ok." Stevima was suddenly aware of the states of everyone in the room. They were all worried, some more than others. Stevima needed to make sure they had nothing to worry about.

They looked at Amethyst, not for answers, just to have someone to focus on.

"I'm missing something." They said, taking a deep breath "Corruption is a tear in the mind." Stevima turned and looked at Garnet "Mind... mind... White is mind." They touched the gem embedded in their forehead. "Mind, body, and soul. White, Yellow, Blue." Stevima began to hum, turning to look at a very confused Yellow Diamond. They hummed three notes, high, middle, low and raked their hands through their hands tugging at the pale pink strand.

"It's a song but it's not right!" Stevima brought their other hand to their temple. "Shards, how do I make it right?"

"What are you talking about?" Amethyst asked taking the bubble back.

"When a gem's corrupted and Domina took a look at its memories, it's mostly just noise." Stevima said, they had gone back to pacing. "The apatite was the same as Jasper. But different than the... centipeetles." Stevima stopped and turned suddenly. "Of course it didn't work, Jasper doesn't remember yet!" Their face broke into a relieved grin. "The centipeetles, the nephrites! They know! Steven's spent time with them, already tried to heal them physically. They remember they were people!" Their grin faded and they frowned.

"But their song is still dissonant... it needs... it needs... I need to counter it but... a ukulele's not right... shard how do I- what do I..." Stevima stopped and looked down at Steven's gem, and felt for Domina's. In one swift movement the shield and sword were drawn. Stevima stared at the weapons in their hands.

This shouldn't work. This was so ridiculous.

Stevima sighed and the weapons began to glow, and split and merge until the glow faded and in the place of the shield and sword was...

"Are those bagpipes?" Sabina asked.

"I am just as confused as you are." Stevima said. Neither component knew how to play the bagpipes but apparently intrinsic knowledge of how to play weird instruments came with the fusion package. The notes were loud but clear, and played perfectly. 'F' Sharp Major Seventh, B Major Seventh and E Major Seventh. Stevima looked at the rest of the group.

"I know what I need to do."

Stevima stood with the world's dumbest looking bagpipes in the center of the floor of the centipeetle dropship. The corrupted nephrite were in front of her, the group from the beach house behind her. They took a breath and they're gems glowed. Instantly, they were overwhelmed by the sound of the corruption, and through gritted teeth played the first set of notes, high, middle, low.

Stevima could almost hear an echo within the centipeetle's memories, they played it again, and again and slowly, the corruption's song began to align, to become orderly. That wasn't enough though. It was still loud. Like it was panicked. Like they were afraid. Stevima pulled from their components' own memories, soothing words, and projected them, like Steven or Domina would in a dream, pushing them at the centipeetles. Memories of flying lessons and chapps. Memories of protection and friendship. Stevima began to play quieter and quieter until they weren't playing at all, until all that was left were the echoes of pain and fear. Stevima felt the heat release from their gems as the restored pictures of memory faded and the rest of the world came into focus. There were three nephrite gems on the ground and Stevima's heart caught in their throat.

"...Did it work?" Sabina asked hesitantly.

"I... I don't," Stevima stammered. They were tired, so tired, like they had been up all night, and they could feel blood dripping from their nose. Holding themselves together was becoming more and more difficult. But this might be the last time they ever 'were'.

One by one, the nephrite gems rose into the air and humanoid forms expanded. Stevima gave a sigh of relief and laughed almost hysterically. Then, they let go.

Domina landed on her butt next to Steven, feeling like she had just walked gem first into a door.

"Domina!" Pearl cried, running over. Domina grinned up at Pearl, still shaky.

"Hey Pearl... I think that worked..." Domina said. Pearl sighed and hugged her.

"I think you're right. Do you feel alright?"

"Fine, fine, I have a headache, but I'll live."

"It's... Steven, right?" A voice said. Domina looked over and saw three nephrites, uncorrupted. There were still some distortions around their eye gems, the lines weren't quite as straight as they should be. The one that had spoken was obviously the captain. She wasn't dressed any different than the other two, but Domina could see it her her posture, commanding, alert.

"Ye- yeah!" Steven said, staggering to his feet. He looked as exhausted as she did. "Centi- er wait no you have an actual name." The Nephrite Captain chuckled, sounding relieved.

"Nephrite Facet 1G3K Cut 5CN, These are 4QW and 7HK." 5CN said gesturing to the other two nephrites.

"It's nice to meet you, officially." Steven said. Meanwhile, the other two nephrites had taken notice of the odd group congregated in their dropship. Steven followed their gaze and chuckled nervously. "Maybe we should start from the beginning."

Wow that was exhausting. I really loved writing Stevima and hope you guys did too!

To Naomi: Glad to see you're ok! I hope you enjoyed both chapters, cause now it's like you get a bonus one! always appreciate your reviews whenever I get them!

And as always thanks to everyone who reads the fic and leaves reviews you all make my day!