"SCRAAAAAAAAAH"
…
A gut wrenching scream of pure agony reverberated along the womb walls of former gems, followed by an unsettling silence. But for one gem…it was a beautifully conducted orchestra to her head holes.
"Well…that was rather dull" the shrouded black gem spoke as she picked up the hodgepodge gem. "This is what Yellow Diamond's been waiting for all this time? Pffft! Then again, it's nearly impossible to replicate a perfect gem such as myself" she smiled as she enclosed the conjoined shards in a color-coordinating bubble and sent them off to a location known only to her. The ash-colored dirt coated her feet as she continued her expedition through the kindergarten, basking in the some-what familiar surroundings.
"At least this signals that the cluster should be emerging soon. Still…they couldn't handle a simple…? Hello? What happened here?" Pitch asked herself when she came across the shattered remains of an injector.
"Hmmm…" She crouched down and examined the ground beneath her – running her thin fingers over the scars that had been left on the bedrock.
"A battle…a duel" she surmised as she shook the dirt off her hands. "Hmmm…these footsteps belong to much smaller gems. The whip marks undeniably come from a quartz as well as the dash grooves. But the other ones baffle me…very fleet-footed though."
She continued to walk around the immediate area until she noticed some dried up markings on the ground.
"What's this?" she asked herself as she crouched down to get a better look. Although its color had long since faded, she immediately recognized the substance as the genetic material inside of an injector…no doubt from the demolished machine she just passed. But the more she examined it, the more "concerned" she became.
"What kind of creature could've made these foot prints? Well…whatever it was, it hasn't been back here for some time. Heh…maybe those fusion experiments gave it its untimely demise" she sadistically chuckled as she stood up and continued her trek.
It wasn't long until she arrived at the newly added "blast zone" of the kindergarten.
"What in home world?!" she gasped when she saw the demolished area. "Must've been an ambush. These shot marks are all over the place…and they're recent" she observed as she looked at some the ruined orifices along the walls.
She walked into one of the holes to see if there were any remains.
Empty.
The only thing that lingered was a faint yet distinct scent.
"A Peridot" she deduced after taking a good whiff. "I guess those mongrels on the beach were more skilled than I gave them credit for. But still… something's not adding up. There's no way they could beat a water elemental and a…!"
Her internal contemplation over the possible scenario came to a screeching halt when she heard the sound of heavy footsteps in the distance. She swiftly scaled up the sheer cliff and hid in one of the larger orifices. She reached underneath her cloak and pulled out a pair of shiny, coal-black short swords. Each one had an intricate silver pattern on the hilt that almost resembled two snakes coiling around each other.
She carefully peered out the hole – her body completely camouflaged by the encompassing darkness. She was in her element and she was loving every second of it. The hunt was on.
Soon a massive figure came around one of the destroyed boulders. A glint appeared in her icy blue eyes and a wicked grin crossed her features.
"Got you" she thought before launching herself out of the orifice at high speeds. She held her mini swords crossed in front of her chest like an X, ready to deal her signature death blow.
**PINGGSSSHH**
Well…the blow occurred, but not the death part.
The random trespasser somehow managed to block her vicious assault with her own orange colored helmet. And just in the nick of time too. Had she been one millisecond later, she would've been another mark on Pitch's current and lengthy winning streak.
However, the striped gem wasn't out of danger yet. The force of the blow knocked her hard onto the ground, coating her with the sickly colored soil.
"Uhhhhhh…" she moaned as her helmet disappeared. She tried to sit up, but was immediately pinned down underneath Pitch's body. "GUUGH!"
She quickly opened her eyes…but in retrospect she wished she hadn't. She couldn't even form coherent words as she basically stared at death itself. And it was no consolation that she was one of the "lucky" few who actually saw her concealed form; nothing goes with you to the grave. She couldn't get her off of her, which under normal circumstances would've been easy to do given that her assailant was lighter and a little bit smaller than her. But there was something about her icy eyes that kept her paralyzed.
However, that basic self-preservation instinct helped her overcome her fear when she saw her lift one of her swords into the air – ready to slice her head off.
"W-Wait! I'm not your enemy! I-I was sent to Earth to check the status of the cluster!" she managed to stutter out as the mini guillotine came down. She flinched and closed her eyes, preparing herself for the inevitable demise.
But it never came.
Once again she cracked one eye open at a time. Little sweat beads appeared on her forehead and her pupils constricted at the sight of Pitch's face only an inch above her own. She was just staring at her…analyzing the words she just spoke.
"…State your full identification" Pitch demanded as she pressed the blade against her oblong-shaped gem.
She immediately furrowed her eyebrows and adverted her eyesight. "… Jasper. Facet R3JT. Cut F4L" she growled out.
Jasper despised her facet and cut identification with an unbridled fury. Only a select few were given the dubious honor of having that particular label and the significance of it wasn't lost on the executioner as she started to laugh.
"Oh…you're that Jasper" she smirked; even though Jasper couldn't see it she could sense it by the mocking look in her eyes. Thankfully she got off of her and dismissed her twin swords. If Jasper had a heart, it would've needed to be resuscitated about ten times after that potentially fatal encounter.
"Well…well…well. And here I was just thinking about the group you were assigned to lead for such a simple mission" she commented as she crossed her arms.
Jasper slowly stood up and remained silent as she brushed the dirt off of her body. She had already been spared once, she wasn't about to mess it up by letting her temper get out of hand.
"Then again…I shouldn't be too surprised to find you out here. Even if it wasn't the site of a bunch of cluster experiments, a gem instinctively returns to the place where she was made. Well…almost. I doubt yours is still standing considering what kind of material was used to make it" she stated.
Jasper stared at her wide-eyed and stuttered, "H-How did you-?"
"Please. I'm a commander. And even if I wasn't, that kind of knowledge is easy to obtain if you're interested in that sort of thing. Most gems aren't. Not to mention, thanks to my status I have access to certain data that would otherwise be inaccessible to regular gems. Especially ones like you" she pointed out.
"HEY! I'm a commander as well!" she countered before being shut down by Pitch's correction, "Former commander. Now you're nothing more than a glorified body guard. It was only because of your personal history with this planet that you were chosen to be an escort for the rest of your group."
"Tch" Jasper angrily muttered as she glared at the ground.
Pitch smiled at her agitated silence; nothing better than putting someone under your foot so to speak.
"Besides" she shrugged her shoulders as she approached her. She leaned in close to her head hole and whispered, "To be an expert assassin…you have to know everything about your target."
Jasper gulped and quickly backed away. "Wh-What's wrong with me?! I'm Jasper darn it! I'm the tiger teacher to a diamond king!" she thought as she shook her head to try and rid herself of these fearful vibes coursing through her body.
Pitch chuckled at her distraught state of mind but quickly got back into her stone-cold, no messing around attitude. "Alright look. While I absolutely adore the terrified look you're displaying right now, I am on a schedule so I'll actually need you to open your mouth and speak when spoken too…like a good little reject. Got it?" she harshly spoke.
"…Got it" Jasper bitingly replied.
Pitch nodded at her cooperation and asked, "So am I safe in assuming that you were still gathering intel on the cluster despite running into…complications?"
Jasper merely nodded her head.
"…Really?" she spoke in a disbelieving tone.
"…More or less" she answered.
"Hm…talk about dedication. If I was stranded on an unknown planet, my own survival would be my main focus. Then again it's not like you had much of a choice, given Yellow's waning patience with you. I can handle a scolding from her…you can't" she extenuated as she pointed a finger at her stripes.
"Still, I'm somewhat impressed. Especially since you were able to block my attack. So that begs the question…what happened to you and the group you were supposed to protect? Even if you are a sub-standard gem, I find it very hard to believe that the gems that disabled our ship's camouflage devices could've posed much of a threat to someone of above average skill such as yours and a water elemental" she questioned.
"We…we were ambushed" she replied.
"That much is obvious" Pitch flatly responded as she gestured her arm around the area.
"Not here. On our ship. I don't know what happened here, but with me…I underestimated one of them" she clarified.
"One of them? Which one? And please don't tell me you lost to the Pearl" she said as she placed one hand on her hip.
"No, it wasn't the Pearl. It was the hybrid" Jasper answered.
"Hybrid? You mean a cluster defeated you?" Pitch as she raised one eyebrow.
"No. I don't know what it is, but it wasn't one of the experiments. I easily defeated those gems, but this creature…its power and ferocity was almost diamond-like" she explained.
"What? That's impossible!" Pitch countered.
"I know what I faced!" she shot back, but reined in her emotions when she remembered who she was talking to.
"We…we were outmatched. I had no choice but to run away" she finished.
"Hmmmm…I see" she hummed as she played the edge of her shawl around her face. "I suppose that explains the distress signals we've received."
"What signals? That thing released its comrades and ran amok, causing our ship to crash back down to Earth."
"It was from the Peridot. I believe it was Facet 2F5L Cut 5XG. She still has home world technology remember? Well…not anymore. Based on the damage and what I observed, some of those other gems tracked her here, but got frustrated and lashed out at each other since they couldn't find her. A few deci-days later this "hybrid" tracked her down and she fired aimlessly at it trying to defend herself. Obviously she didn't make it" she deduced as she walked around while placing her hand underneath her chin.
"…"
Jasper wanted to roll her eyes so badly at that ludicrous rationale but remained quiet.
However Pitch's heightened senses picked up on the subtle emotional change. It wasn't fear…it was almost…
"Is she belittling my hypothesis?!" she angrily thought before asking, "…What?"
"What?" Jasper asked back.
"You looked like you had something you were dying to say" she stated while crossing her arms.
"…I was just thinking that we should be wary. I have no doubt that the hybrid and its little band of misfit gems will find us thanks to your not-so-subtle entrance" Jasper spoke.
"I doubt it" she confidently assured with a concealed grin. "You've managed to evade them so far. How is beyond me given how you describe them. Very peculiar I might add."
She gulped when she said that but Pitch brushed it off by adding, "Well…you've always been a survivor. And extremely lucky. But that's irrelevant. Right now my "body guard" is battling them as we speak. She is quite the capable fighter…even if she is a few shards short. Seems to be a recurring theme with Earth gems."
"You…have an escort?" Jasper couldn't help but ask with a raised eyebrow.
"Not by choice. And you can best believe if it wasn't for Yellow Diamond's insistence on the matter, I would not have brought her along. Although I suppose I should find it endearing that she'd want to keep me safe" she boasted.
"Ugh…" Jasper internally groaned.
"Still, even if she does fall at the hands of this so-called diamond-esque monstrosity…it'll be a pleasure adding its hide to my personal trophy collection" she viciously chuckled.
Jasper gulped at that comment. Not only was her laughter unsettling, she just realized an error in her plan. "Rock…I hope to the stars that this plan works or I just sealed Steven's fate. I was hoping that would scare her but of course it had to rile up her hunter side! I just had to talk about him in such high regards! Even though it's true and I won't take it back even if meant reeducation but that's beside the point. And diamond-like?! Really?! I might've well have said, "The reincarnation of Pink Diamond is living on the beach!"
All that internal chastising erupted in a loud "GRAH!" as she ran her hands through her hair. Her frustrated yell echoed across the desolate canyon.
**POW**
"OW! What the-?!"
"Get a hold of yourself reject!" Pitch commanded before thinking, "This is why I hate working with other gems!" "Nothing's going to happen so quit freaking out! Jeez! I should've just sliced your lips off instead of hitting you on the head! Unfortunately I can't."
That little semi-threat caused Jasper to straighten up real quick.
"In case you've forgotten, we have a mission to complete and I'm not going to be held back by some puny, scared Earth runt with an enhanced yet scarred mineral shell! Now…either you'll help me find the encasing chamber or I'll leave your gem behind for this feral hybrid to find. It's your call" she offered.
"…My call" she silently repeated.
"Talk about déjà vu. Same vocabulary but completely different gems. I'd rather deal with a Dark Levon than her any day" she thought before saying, "I know where the encasing chamber is."
"Do you now?" she asked and Jasper obediently nodded her head. "Well done little reject" she sneered before patting her on her fluffy head.
"Grrrr…" she growled out. This was nothing like Steven's caresses. Her long, cold fingers scratched against her scalp, causing her to jerk away from her touch.
"Heh…I love doing that" Pitch chuckled to herself before saying, "After you" with a slight bow.
Jasper nodded her head and the two of them started walking out of the "ambush site."
**SNIFFF SNIF SNIIIIFF**
"Rrrrrrrr" A low rumble passed through a shadowed creature looming on the edge of the canyon cliff. With its target's scent firmly ingrained in its nose, it tailed the two gems like the stealthy hunter that it was.
"…Curious. Very curious indeed" Pitch commented.
It didn't take long for the duo to reach the entrance to the underground chamber, mainly because Jasper wanted to enact her plan as quickly as possible before there were any repercussions to either her or her family. Not to mention she was tired of being scared stiff by her little sadistic quirks. She wasn't sure how much her construct could take!
"What so curious about a hole in the ground?" Jasper asked.
"It's not the hole stupid. It's the fact that it's open. You distinctly told me that this so-called hybrid freed its comrades and crashed your ship."
"Yea, and?"
"And the only way to activate the plug robanoid elevator is with the right technology, specifically the one belonging to a Peridot" she irritably finished.
"What are you trying to say?"
"How is this entrance open?" Pitch finally asked.
"I don't know" Jasper answered.
Tense silence enveloped them as Pitch just stared at her. Jasper had her arms at her side, fists tightly closed and stared back at her.
"…You don't know?" she repeated as she crossed her arms and Jasper shook her head reaffirming her earlier response.
"You said you were more or less gathering intel on the cluster correct?"
"Yes"
"What kind of intel did you gather per se?"
"Observational intel, just like you were doing I assume. I saw a few of them walking around the kindergarten. The only reason I knew about the entrance to the encasing chamber was because in one Peridot's files, this was the location where her previous inspection was interrupted by those rogue Earth gems" Jasper explained. "Kinda surprised you didn't know that, commander" she dissed.
"…"
Pitch didn't comment which gave Jasper at least a little bit of satisfaction, but it quickly morphed into uneasiness when she remembered that she wasn't typically the type to admit a mistake nor take an insult.
"…What is she planning?" she thought before adding, "Besides, maybe it stayed open all this time or Peridot activated it and examined what was inside before being ambushed."
"Hmmm…I suppose that is a possibility" Pitch agreed and in the back of Jasper's mind she thought, "Thank the stars she fell for that!"
"Have you been down there?" she asked.
"Yes."
"And what did you see?"
"Nothing. The place was a wreck"
"What do you mean?"
"I meant what I said. Perhaps it'd be better if you see it with your own eyes" Jasper suggested.
"…Very well" Pitch replied. "After you"
"After me" she thought as the two of them slid down the slippery slope, with Jasper once again taking the lead. Dusty air billowed through their cloak and long locks respectively.
"Feels just like home, doesn't it? …Very natural" Pitch commented as she looked upon the conduit veins. Jasper looked around the catacomb cavern and merely hummed in agreement, not exactly sure where she was going with that. But it didn't matter. She just wanted to make sure that her real home was safe.
When they reached the bottom of slope, Pitch's eyes narrowed at the scene in front of her. "What in home world happened here?" she asked.
Rubble was strewn all across the floor, the main power source was smashed to smithereens and there were massive dents all along the metal enclosure.
"Told you it was a wreck" Jasper reiterated.
"Which begs the question…how?" Pitch asked as she examined the area. "Well…it's obvious that a battle took place. And it looks like a large number of those experiments emerged out of the ground as well" she said as she gazed up at the ceiling – seeing nothing but empty holes.
"I wonder if those clusters fought against one another or if those rogue gems destroyed them. Well either way, it's no shards off my gem. Based on what I fought so far…Yellow Diamond wasted her time. The main one better be stronger than all these little runts. Then again…they typically are" Pitch commented as she shot Jasper a taunting side-ways glance.
Jasper ground her fangs together, crossed her arms and looked at some random debris on the ground.
"Hey reject! Stop standing there and look around for a couple of decent cluster samples to bring back. The bigger the better" she ordered.
"Okay that's it!" she thought before retorting "Why bother?! There's nothing here! Let's just get out of here already!"
Her outburst stunned Pitch for a brief moment, but her cool demeanor soon returned. "A little on edge aren't we? Don't tell me that you're actually scared" she said as she walked towards her.
"Heh…a Jasper, one of the mightiest and deadliest of home world warriors, is scared of a couple of defective gems. Wait…my mistake. Of course you'd be scared because you're not a real Jasper. You were made wrong and as such you're fundamentally wrong no matter how you try and dress it up. And your non-uniform stripes will forever mark you as second-tier, even if you're technically a part of the warrior class. Such a shame really…the hole you came out of was absolutely flawless too. Not to mention this planet is so abundant with nutrients. I'm starting to wonder how it went wrong" she belittled as her distasteful comments rang throughout the room.
But Jasper's indifferent shell finally broke as she pointed her finger right at her face and boomed, "I'm not scared! And of course I'm on edge! I've been stranded on this planet for diamond knows how long with that hybrid threat out there! And now someone from home world finally shows up and it turns out to be the gem executioner?! Seriously!? And I don't care what you say about my stripes, they're cool! "
"AH! So that's it…"
"Wh-What's it?" Jasper asked as she lowered her finger.
"You're not scared of the hybrid. You're scared of me" she stated.
"W-Well no duh! You're-"
"I know who I am and what emotions I can draw out" she interrupted as she pushed her arm away. She started walking around her like a shark circling its prey.
"I knew something was off when you were speaking to me. Your mannerisms…your tone…none of it came across as being frustrated, angry or scared of the situation you were in. If you were really afraid of this thing, you would've been hiding in your hole or scurrying from place to place. Not to mention, don't you think it's a bit odd that you'd stay in the same vicinity as this creature, regardless of the mission? Like I said before, if my well-being was threatened I'd focus on keeping my gem intact and plead for mercy once I returned to Yellow Diamond (not like I have to worry about that). If this monster is as dangerous as you claim, you'd be clinging to me to protect you from it regardless of my intimidating reputation. This hybrid you keep running your mouth about…it sounds to me like you were just dressing it up to be this unstoppable predator in order to frighten me. Now I wonder why?" she asked as she narrowed her eyes.
"Th-That's not-"
"Oh just shut up! Your little charade is started to get on my nerves!" she shouted and Jasper immediately closed her mouth.
"I don't really care if this so-called hybrid is real or not, although I'm hoping it is. I'd love an actual challenge. But…why do you want me to leave so badly? Is it because of the fact you screwed up such a simple mission? Are you afraid that I'll…punish you?" she asked before reaching behind her back.
"RAH!" Instinctively Jasper threw a straight right arm-powered punch with no real weight behind it; she just wanted to get her away from her body. Pitch quickly backed away, dodging the attack. Her eyes narrowed at the panting gem.
"…Attacking a commanding officer? And a defenseless one at that?" she asked.
"You were about to summon your weapon!" Jasper retorted
"Wrong. I was just about to scratch my back. Now you know what this means. That's grounds for destabilization and decommission. However…as I'm sure you know…that's not how I operate" she smiled as she drew her weapons and threw them towards her at high speeds.
Jasper's eyes widened at the deadly barrage. She managed to jump in time to avoid being skewered, but the ordeal was only beginning.
**CLANIINK** "WHA-AAAH!"
Due to only focusing on the blades, she failed to notice that there were chains were attached to them as well! Pitch managed to raise her arm in way that caused a loop in the chain line and wrapped it around Jasper's ankle. Using her impressive strength, she threw her against the wall with the shattered power source, caving it in even more.
"GAAAAH!" Gradually her limp body fell out of the depression and onto the hard, steel floor.
"Auuuuuuhhhhh" Jasper moaned but it was quickly replaced by a strangled "GRAUH!"
Pitch's long, thin fingers wrapped around her neck – squeezing her until y-shaped veins revealed themselves through her striped skin. "Y'know…you were right to be afraid of me, aside from the obvious. Like I said, I have a mission to complete and I'm on a tight schedule."
Pitch drew out a single blade and pressed it up against Jasper's gem. She brought her close so her squinted eyes could gaze upon her soul-less, cold eyes. "I have a parting gift for you from Yellow Diamond. "I warned you not to make me regret it" she whispered.
"NO!" Jasper thought as a reel of unfinished things passed through her mind in the blink of an eye. But the end mark always ended with Steven. "I…I can't die! Not like this!" Jasper closed her eyes and angrily ground her fangs while a trickle of tears flowed down her soiled face. But just before she could slice her gem in half, a bright, orange light erupted out of her gemstone, blinding the executioner.
"What the?!" she thought when she felt the immense surge of energy throughout her body. She immediately opened her eyes when she heard Pitch's surprised yelp.
"GAH!" she grunted as she briefly held her free arm over her eyes to shield them from the harsh glow.
But that was all Jasper needed.
An array of diamond fractals surrounded her face as she summoned her helmet. "Hrrrgh!" she grunted as she focused her energy into reconstructing her body by stretching out her neck as if it were made out of rubber. And just like a rubber band snapping back into place, she brought neck back to normal size – effectively dishing out a high speed, critical head butt hit square onto Pitch's face.
"GRAUUUUH!" she yelled and immediately released Jasper from her choke hold, dropping her to the floor; surprisingly she didn't fall to the ground but the impact did push her back a bit.
"GRRRRR! Why you defective piece of shee-GUUUUH!" Pitch didn't even get to finish her demeaning curse before Jasper rammed into her full speed. Before she was crushed against a wall, Pitch rapidly summoned another pair of chain swords and threw them towards the opposite wall, lodging them deep within the bed rock to allow her body serve as a kind of catch net.
But it still didn't stop the damage being inflicted onto her body due to the vicious spin dash attack. "HRRRGH!" she grunted as she bent backwards and did the ultimate limbo move – sliding underneath the whirling gem.
Jasper's trajectory was brief when she realized that she wasn't hitting anything anymore and she unfurled herself right on top of the plug robanoid elevator. She turned around and got in her fighting stance, ready to continue her beat down. But the disheveled sight of the black gem paralyzed her in her place.
Pitch's already tattered cloak was ripped to shreds and laid in a heap on the floor, revealing what no one has seen in many millennia. She was wearing a form-fitting, long-sleeved unitard that had subtle shades of black armor patches along her deltoids, biceps and calves. The unitard also stretched around her feet. She had a tattered dark purple poncho-like garment with a blank-colored diamond on top of her body suit.
But it wasn't the appearance modifiers that shocked Jasper, it was her actual misshapen body form. Her broad shoulders, large chest and biceps were about half the size of Jasper's muscles, but the way the muscularity gradually lessened once the it reached the forearms was unsettling. It was as if someone took a vacuum cleaner, attached the hose part of the machine to her arm and sucked the muscle out – leaving a skinny forearm with equally bony fingers. The same muscle deformity occurred in her lower body as well. Her swelled thighs shrank down to runner's calves, although it looked bone-thin in Jasper's sight.
Her face was still covered with the remaining shawl, but for how long was anyone's guess. Jasper could even make out a long braided pony tail that fluttered from behind her back. Surprisingly…it was slightly auburn in color.
"Wh…what the heck are you?" Jasper couldn't stop herself from asking, and she really she wished she had. She gulped when she saw Pitch's pupils narrow into little slits, which was unnatural considering they're in such a dark environment.
"I'm the one that's going to make sure that your painful screams reach home world. Yellow Diamond will be sure to enjoy that sound" she coldly answered before rushing towards Jasper. The striped warrior barely had any time to react before she was bombarded with a powerful barrage of close-combat punches and kicks.
"GUUUH!" she let out as a nasty roundhouse kick to her abdomen sent her flying back into the cavern, and unfortunately her body landed face first on all the leftover debris.
"Got anything else you want to say?" she asked as she approached her downed opponent. Jasper shakily used her arms to lift her body up and spit out a rock that had entered her mouth.
"Yea, I got something to say. My little cub punches harder than you! I can't believe I was ever scared of you!" she chuckled while showing her cocky grin. But her gloating was instantly stopped once Pitch grabbed her by her hair, nearly tearing some of it off by its roots, and threw her into the ceiling.
"GRAAAACKH!"
Before she fell to the ground, Pitch summoned four more chain blades. She wrapped one of them around her wrist and lodging the blade deep within one of the holes on the ceiling, letting her hang like a fresh piece of meat. She strung her other limbs until she was fully suspended midair. Jasper cracked one eye open and saw the deformed gem below her, sharpening two of her blades together.
"Should've kept your mouth shut Jasper. Well…it doesn't matter now. While I did vow that your scream would ring throughout the cosmos, I believe silence is golden as the saying goes" she stated as she brought the blade close to her face so she could examine its sharpness, nodding in satisfaction.
"…Heh. Yea…w-wouldn't your dirty little secret to get out" Jasper coughed out. Pitch lowered the swords and glared at her target. "Who knew that the great and powerful Pitch Black was such a-GAH!" Jasper screamed when the chain on her left arm pulled tighter, painfully stretching out her construct.
"Remember what I said about preserving your gem? Every word you speak brings you closer to your inevitable demise. I'm trying to do you a favor and prolong your worthless life til I can deliver the perfect, final blow. Got a reputation to maintain" she spoke as she lowered her wrist.
"W-Wow…th-thanks" she sarcastically spat out before the chain around her right arm yanked on her frame a little tighter.
"Strike two" she pointed out as she twirled her sword in her finger. "Heh…y'know, you really are something else. You lost your status, your diamond, even your home. I mean look at the position you're in! And yet you still keep spouting off this nonsense. No wonder you're a reject. Worthless. Well…stupid is as stupid does."
"…Th-then that saying applies to you more than it does to me. I haven't lost anything! In fact, you could say I got an upgrade. I'm back home and it's a lot better than before and I'm a tiger teacher to a king! And you know us Jaspers…we keep going until we get what we want. Mine just came in an unexpected way. Good thing that part of my gem make up wasn't left out of me!" she declared before another agonizing grunt came out of her throat.
"A king you say? Now that's rich. Must be a lousy ruler if it has you as its teacher. And where is your king now? I thought a ruler was supposed to protect its subjects" she sneered as she un-flexed her hand again.
"In that case…my little cub is nobler than all the diamonds combined" Jasper stated.
"…And that" Pitch said as she clenched her fist, causing the final chain line to pull on her right leg, eliciting another painful moan. "Was your final strike. It's sickening to even fathom that your loyalty was swayed to join a so-called king of a doomed planet. You know that the cluster will emerge soon so it's only a matter of time before its empire is obliterated. And I can't wait to see it from Yellow Diamond's surveillance hub. Hopefully we still have coverage in this system. But at least I can get a head start in eliminating one of its "prized" advisors. It'll be pleasure to shut your blasphemous mouth for good. At least you can have the honor of lasting this long in a fight against me" she stated as she crossed her blades in front of her chest, ready to complete the move she started earlier.
"W-wrong…I-I won't have anything stick to me. You're the one who's going to have this humiliation stuck in your head for all eternity!" Jasper shouted.
Pitch glared at her with pupil-less, murky water eyes and let out a loud growl. "GrrrrrAAAAH!"
Just before she lunged at Jasper, she was caught by the ankle and hastily hoisted into the air.
"What the?!" both of them concurrently asked as the tangling mass continued to ensnare the black gem in its tightening grip.
"GAAAA!" she screamed as she felt little barbs poke her skin. "WHAT IS THIS?!" Somehow the squirming mass heard her demand and the one end of the line that was wrapped around her waist hissed at the dangerous foe.
Jasper's eyes widened when the realization of what that thing was dawned on her. "…No way. It can't be! Then that means" but her train of thought was interrupted by another frustrated yell.
"HRRGH! I-I don't w-what stunt you're trying to pull but it's not going to work!" she snarled as she bit through part of the trap that was around her shoulder with her newly morphed canines, gradually gnawing away until her left arm was free.
"DIE!" she yelled as she raised her surging energy blade – ready to slash through everything in her sight.
But she didn't get to follow through with threat.
"GUH!"
A low hum reverberated along the cavern walls, bringing an abrupt yet satisfying ending to the frenzied requiem Pitch tried to orchestrate.
She slowly looked down as her construct began to glitch and dissipate. Jasper couldn't believe her eyes either.
Right through her abdomen was a slender, pink blade – specifically intended for knock-out precision. With the last little bit of energy that she had, Pitch glanced behind her and what she saw actually made her shudder. It was a massive pink fur-covered being with glowing white eyes and a snarling countenance.
"T…he…hy…b…rid…th…e…ki…ng…wa…s…re…al!" she uttered before her body exploded into a black cloud. The light from the blade disappeared as it retracted back into the orb on his hand.
Levon stood tall and unwavering as the smoke disappeared from his imposing form. **pheeeewwww** He inhaled and exhaled as he closed his eyes, allowing his tense muscles to finally relax from the harrowing ordeal; his fur followed suit as it went from near cactus bristles back to its signature soft and downy coat.
He was so into his calming trance that he didn't the notice the severity of his attack. But the sound of her demise reverberated within the head holes of the captive gem.
**CLIIINK CLINK**
"S-She's…gone" Jasper whispered to herself as she watched the two halves of Pitch's inert gem fall to the floor - mingling with the rest of rubble. With her defeat, the chains that were holding her disappeared as well. She was about to fall onto the floor again but Levon caught her in time.
"L-Levon!?" Jasper asked in disbelief.
"Jasper, are you okay?! Do you need me to lick you anywhere?!" the hybrid frantically asked as he gently set her down and looked her over.
But her mind was still trying to comprehend everything that just happened within that split second. She stared at her worried cub and the even bigger Rudy as it seamlessly wrapped himself around his waist.
"…Levon" she repeated again since that was the only thing her mind could conjure up at the moment.
"I'm so sorry I wasn't here sooner but I got attacked by a bunch of those cluster experiments and when I finally got here I heard the talking and she was moving so fast and Rudy"
"Levon!" Jasper said a little more forcefully, stopping the rambling fusion.
Soon a grin crossed her lips before transforming into tiny chuckles and finally erupting into full on boisterous laughter. She couldn't stop herself nor did she want to.
But Levon tilted his head to left in confusion and his eyes widened when he saw tears stream down her face.
"Jasper! What's wrong?!" he asked.
"I don't even know!" she laughed as she wiped her eyes.
"H-Huh?"
"I'll admit it right now, I was scared out of my construct. I mean I was this close to being shattered! This close! Not just into little shards either; there's no coming back from an attack from Pitch Black! Then you and your giant-sized armor come in and take down the deadliest assassin in all of home world! Do you know what that means?" she asked.
"N-No?"
"You're an IDIOT!" she yelled.
"Huh?! Wh-What?!"
"You and Rudy could've been killed! I was trying to protect you! All of you guys! I didn't want any of you to deal with her. You guys are my purpose for fighting…for living. But that plan fell through the cracks. I don't even remember what my plan was anymore! Anyway why would you risk your life like that!?" she demanded.
"Why wouldn't I?" he asked back, startling Jasper. "I basically did the same thing you were trying to do so…wouldn't that make you an idiot too?"
"What?! No! This is different! I'm a quartz! I'm was made to fight!"
"And I'm a diamond…kinda. So what?"
"What do you mean so what?! You're too important! You shouldn't be anywhere near a fight!" she retorted.
"Then what's the point of doing all that training?" he asked.
"That's for extreme circumstances!" she replied.
"Like this one?" he gestured to the dented cavern.
"I…Well…GAH! Look, the point is my life is meaningless without you in it! If something were to happen to you-"
"Jasper" Levon said as placed his hand on her shoulder. "Don't sell yourself short, that's them voodoo pins talking. Everyone's life has a purpose and I'm only a little part of yours. The past is your bun and it's holding you, the hot dog. I'm only the hot sauce on it, since I know you like spicy foods. There are still many things for you to add to make it your one of a kind delicacy. So please…don't be like how Pearl was with my mom" he pleaded when he recalled how blindly dedicated Pearl could be to his mom – so much so that she would jump in front of her during battle even though it wasn't necessary.
That rocked Jasper to her core. She looked at his hand, then up to his big kitty eyes before shaking her head side to side.
"…You don't make any sense. Even…even after everything I did why would you-"
"Love is patient. Love is kind. Love never fails. Jasper…just because we're not like this right now" he explained by interlocking his ring finger and thumb circles together. "Doesn't mean we won't be like that in the future. And I know it'll be sooner rather than later the way things are going. So there was no way I was going to let someone get in the way of that! Once Lapis and Peridot told us about Pitch Black, I knew I had to do something. That's just-"
"What a family do" Jasper finished with a smile as she wiped the remaining tears out of her eyes.
Levon smiled and nodded. "C'mon, get in here" he said as he held his arms open. "I'm big enough to actually hold you now. Although…I guess I could've just shape-shifted earlier. Man! Why didn't I think of that before?!"
Jasper shook her head and chuckled, "You really are something" before lunging at him. Luckily he was able to subdue his pained grimace when she squeezed him in a tiger hug; he still had to sit down though.
It still didn't go unnoticed by Jasper and she said, "Sorry! I didn't mean to squeeze so hard! Hey…wait a sec." She finally got a good look at his scarred up body and asked, "What the heck happened to you!?"
"Maybe I should be a professional story teller" Levon thought before he recounted the events of duel.
"…Whoa. Well, I'm not surprised that you were able to beat her. You are quite the warrior. Excuse me, the strongest warrior" she praised.
"I was trained well" he credited and Jasper showed a small grin but it disappeared when she noticed his frown.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm just worried about Amethyst. I know she's…um…"
"Yea…I know. But you shouldn't worry. You don't want the worst outcome to happen do you?" she asked and Levon vehemently shook his head no. "That's what I thought. Besides, you're in her corner. We all are. Heh…never thought I say that. But then again…this isn't home world."
"Um…"
"What is it Levon?"
"Well…when I found you guys here, I waited for a bit for the right opening and so Rudy could get enough energy out of my gem-"
"So that's how he got so big" Jasper realized. "Are you okay?"
"Yea, I'm fine. But anyway…I heard her call you all these names and that you were made-"
"On Earth? Yea, that's true" she acknowledged. "Wish you didn't have to find out that way…or at all." she muttered.
"Why not? That's just another tasty ingredient on your hot dog! Maybe sriracha? So…would that make us brother and sister? Or distant cousins?" he asked.
Jasper blinked a couple of times, then chuckled and said, "Only you Levon. Only you. Let's stick with tiger and cub, alright?"
"Okay" he smiled.
"Heh…I wish I could see the look on Yellow Diamond's face if or when she finds out that you shattered her "ultimate" fighter" Jasper proudly stated, but Levon froze in place.
"S-Shattered? What do you mean?" he asked.
"I mean what I mean. Look" Jasper walked around the cavern and sifted through the rubble until she spotted the two halves of the deadly assassin. "Here she is" she said as she placed the two pieces in his trembling hand. "Now that's some pin point precision. Then again you are fused with a natural hunter so this must've easy for you locate her gem."
"…No" he muttered.
"No? No to what?"
"Nonononono! I didn't mean to shatter her! I just wanted her to stop hurting you but I killed her! It was an accident" he panicked.
"Levon" Jasper boomed and he gave her his full attention. "First, this isn't any different than when you fought that corrupted gem back on Lion's hunting grounds. You saved me just like you saved him. Isn't that the most important thing?"
"Well yea but-"
"Hold on I'm not done" she cut him off. "Second, we are…or at least we're going to be at war with home world. There will be casualties but you can't let that distract you from the main objective: protecting Earth, our home and those we care about. How else do you think your mother drove off the invading gems? By winning battles and a lot of them. Remember, I was there on the front lines surrounded by all those shards, all fighting for their respective sides and causes."
Levon absorbed her argument and let out a resigning sigh. "…You're right" he conceded.
"Hey now…cheer up. It's not like she's dead dead. You can fix her back up with your healing spit, but not now" she quickly added and Levon nodded his head. He brought the two halves up to his face so he could get a better look at them.
"It's…kinda scary huh? How fragile we are."
"I guess, but you sure don't show any fear" Jasper observed.
"Yea…I guess just thinking about you guys and your safety gets rid of it" he explained.
"Well…now it's the same thing with me. So plant me in the ground and call me an idiot" Jasper joked and Levon smiled at that. But his toothy grin disappeared when he noticed something on Pitch's gem.
"What is it Levon?" she asked.
"Look at this! There's something inside" he said as he gave her the shards. Jasper took the shards and made a light with her gem so she could see what he saw. And what she found made her eyes go wide-eyed with shock.
"…No way" she uttered.
"What? What is it?"
"We have to go back. Peridot needs to scan this. Not to mention you have to give them the epic play by play" she praised, causing a blush to appear on his cheeks.
He smiled and replied, "Yea!" But then he went back to serious mode and added, "And we have to tell them about the cluster or whatever Pitch was talking about. Sounds like the Earth is in danger!"
"O-Oh…right…that too" Jasper agreed.
Levon picked her up, summoned a lily pink arm slasher, tore open another portal and left the dank cavern to be enveloped by silence once again.
Back at the temple…
The tense and anxious atmosphere replayed itself inside the house like a tubetube video on infinite repeat. The only constant beat was the fleet footsteps of Pearl's pacing back and forth across the living room floor. She nervously wrung the end of her sash in her hands as the color continued to drain out of her skin with each lap she completed. Her unnecessary breathing was becoming shallower and more erratic as more disturbing videos of detestable scenarios kept playing in her constricted pupils.
Garnet sat in one of the bar stools with her shaking hands clasped together in front of her face. She leaned her forehead on top of her trembling digits to try and settle her jittery nerves, praying for any sign of their well-being.
Perdiot was sitting on the couch with both holo-pads engaged – one trying to lock onto their energy signature while the other was trying to come up with possible strategies in the event that they would have to face Pitch Black. However, the anxiety ridden electrical pulses flowing through her body made the concurrent tasks almost impossible to focus on.
Lapis laid on top of Steven's bed, playing with the fuzzy mane of his stuffed pink lion. She sighed before turning over to face the loft window. The sun was slowly setting below the ocean line creating an array of oranges and pinks that meshed beautifully with the light blue back drop. "…Levon…Jasper" she whispered to herself as she clutched the toy lion closer to her bosom and curled up into the fetal position.
Soon the overwhelming pressure became too much for the ghost-colored gem as she shrilled from the top of her lungs, "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!"
That caused everyone to pop up real quick.
"I'M NOT GOING TO WAIT FOR THEM TO COME BACK IN PIECES!" she yelled as she bolted for the warp pad.
"Pearl! Wai-" But Garnet didn't even have a chance to finish her warning before a pink, jagged shaped portal appeared in front of planetary pad with the titanic duo emerging out of it.
Unfortunately…they didn't have any traction to stop their momentum.
"What the?!" "Whooooa!" **CRASH** **PSSSAHHH** **CLANNNNK**
"Jasper! Pearl! Levon!" they all shouted as the rest of them gems approached the sprawled out trio, trying not to end up on the floor as well as they avoided the toppled furniture.
"Uhhhh…." Jasper moaned as she used her arms to get up, but she stopped midway when she heard a small peep, or something close to that. "Huh? What the?" she thought as she opened her eyes and saw Pearl right under her and that she had her hand pressed on her stomach.
"Aw shoot!" Jasper exclaimed as she scrambled off of the stunned gem. "I-I'm sorry Pearl I just" but her apology was cut off when she grabbed her in a tight hug, which surprised even Jasper. She never thought a Pearl could have this much strength.
"JASPER! YOU'RE OKAY!" she cried as she soaked her chest with her tears.
"A-Alright. That's enough!" she stuttered out as that strange feeling returned in her gut.
Pearl immediately let go and smiled at the flustered gem before realizing, "Levon! Where's Levon?!"
"Mrrrrooooowwww" Pearl quickly turned around as Lapis, Garnet and Peridot gave her fused protégé room to sit up.
Not like it mattered.
"Ughhhh…s-sorry for the-" He didn't even have a chance to finish his apology for whatever he was about to apologize for before all of them, except Jasper, piled on top of him – pinning him back down onto the floor and smothering him with hugs and tears.
"LEVON!" they all cried but Jasper yelled "HEY! Get off of him! He's still hurt remember?!" That snapped them out of their frantic yet relieved state of mind as a collective gasp passed through all of them. They scrambled off of the battered warrior and profusely apologized to him.
He laughed and said, "It's okay. Y'know me, I'm never one to turn down a hug!" Everyone chuckled at that and wiped the happy tears out of their eyes.
"I-I guess I should've known by now that you'd be alright" Lapis choked out.
"No kidding! You two beat Pitch?! Ha! Take that you Yellow CLOD!" Peridot screamed to the air with her fist clenched.
"We didn't beat Pitch. He did" Jasper proudly corrected.
"Well done Levon! I'm so proud of you" Garnet congratulated as she ruffled his mane, causing him to purr. "You really never cease to amaze me"
"How on Earth did you defeat that assassin?!" Pearl asked.
"Yes! Describe every single detail of your deadly encounter!" Peridot added as she brought her holo-pad up to take notes.
"A-Alright, but I only have a little bit of the play by play. Jasper's the one who really got into it with her" explained Levon.
"Then I'll start and you can finish it with the final blow" she extenuated by punching her right fist into her left hand.
Levon let out a nervous chuckle and replied, "Y-Yea" before looking at the ground. "But wait…where's Amethyst? Is she okay!? And where's Connie!?"
"Lapis took Connie home shortly after you left to fight Pitch. She was having one of those panic attacks due to the uncertainty of your well-being so we decided to let her be in a more familiar surrounding without our…**ahem** worrying countenances. Make sure you call her and let her know you're okay" Pearl instructed and he nodded his head. "And as for Amethyst, she's fine…but" she started but got tongue tied trying to think of the right way to explain the situation.
Garnet followed up and finished, "She reformed about two hours ago and she ran straight to her room. She's been in there ever since…she just needs time to process everything."
"…Oh. Is…is it alright if I check on her later?" Levon asked.
"I'd think she'd appreciate that" Garnet smiled and Levon gave a small smile back. "Guess it's story time now. Jasper, the floor is yours"
Like a war veteran relieving the scene, she repainted the graphic images – stunning the audience into silence. But a couple of key points stood out.
"You're an Earth gem!?" Pearl asked.
"Yep…born in the beta kindergarten of facet nine. Nothing to brag about" she brushed off.
"Unfortunately she's right. That kindergarten was made of red sandstone. I'd be shocked if it actually still exists. It was basically a test site to see how the planet would react to the injectors. Needless to say it was success and then production on the prime kindergarten of facet five began" Peridot explained.
"…If you want to call it a success. It wasn't for some of us" Jasper lamented and Peridot quickly said, "I'm sorry! I-I didn't mean-"
"No, it's me" she said cutting her off. "Some of those voodoo pins are still in my gem, but at least I know when to catch myself and pull them out" she said looking at Levon.
"Yea! And now she's my cousin/sister/tiger teacher since we were both made on Earth! How cool is that?!" he exclaimed with starry eyes.
"Very cool!" Garnet agreed and everyone smiled at that.
"What I want to know is what in the world were you thinking?!" Pearl asked.
"Honestly I don't even know anymore. But it doesn't matter. I'm here, he's here and we're all okay" she replied.
"No kidding! I've never heard of a Jet looking like that before. No wonder she kept her body covered. Not that it mattered, since she could beat anyone to dust" Peridot added.
"So how did you beat her?" Lapis asked.
"Alright Levon, your turn" Jasper said and Levon nodded his head.
"When I heard Jasper scream out, I followed the sound to where I first found Peridot, y'know after she blasted everything to bits? Then I picked up Pitch's scent and tracked them down. But I ran into a bunch of clusters along the way and they were kinda trying to climb on top of me…no. That's not it…what's the word?" he pondered.
"Smothering" Garnet said.
"Yea, that's it! Like how you guys were hugging me right now! They just appeared out of nowhere and kept clawing and grabbing me, even after I put up my bubble shield" he explained.
Pearl nearly fainted when she visualized a swarm of those mutant gems on top of him.
"It took me a while before I poofed them all…I wonder why they just showed up like that?"
"Hmm…maybe they were responding to your aura. It might still be working even though you're not singing" Lapis suggested.
"I'm…a cluster magnet?" he simplified.
"In a way…yes" she agreed.
"This is great!" he exclaimed.
"What?! Why?!" Pearl asked.
"I'll get to that in a second, I want to finish the story. So I picked up Pitch's scent again and followed it to the underground cavern. When I got there Jasper was already fighting her…and losing. I wanted to jump in and help but she was moving around so fast that I could barely keep up! It was really frustrating to watch because I knew I had to wait for an opening, but she just kept hitting her non-stop until she finally tied her up with her chain swords. That was the opening I was waiting for, but I knew I had to stop her in her tracks if I wanted to win. That's when I came up with the idea to have Rudy trap her, just like she had you trapped in her chains.
But he wasn't big enough.
He tried eating some of the kindergarten dirt to get some growing energy, but he spit it out. I don't blame him, I wouldn't eat that dirt either – it looked gross. That's when I remembered that he took some of mom's energy in order to survive. So I figured that if he absorbed my energy he could grow" he explained.
"WHAT!?" Pearl shrilled.
"Yea…Rudy didn't like the idea either, but it was the only way to save Jasper. So he put his mouth on my gem and started eating it – more or less. He actually started to glow with a pink light" he said.
"Fascinating" Perdiot chimed in.
"Are you okay?" Lapis asked.
"Yea, I mean I was a little tired at first but I got my energy back real quick. Maybe it was because of all the adrenaline or whatever Connie calls it flowing through me. Anyway, so Rudy went all stealth mode, slithered up behind her and grabbed her by her ankle, hoisting her up into the air. You should've seen him, he was huge! Probably taller than our house. But then Pitch started chewing him up into little pieces; he kept on growing and tangling her up, but she got one arm free and shouted "DIE". That's when I…I…" he trailed off.
"You what? What did you do!?" Peridot asked with wide-expectant eyes; the rest of the captivated audience waited with baited breath to hear the conclusion of the saga.
"…I shattered her."
"WHAT!?" exclaimed Peridot. "You shattered Pitch Black!?"
Levon ears drooped a bit and he slowly nodded his head.
"Levon, what's wrong?" Lapis asked.
"I-I'm sorry I shattered her" he quietly apologized as he looked at Pearl and Garnet.
"Why are you sorry? You stopped that crazy gem from getting us and hurting the planet!" Peridot countered.
"B-But it's still a life! I know she was made that way and it's not her fault and I didn't want Jasper to die either and-"
"Levon" Garnet interrupted as she put her hand on his shoulder. She looked at him with her unshaded eyes and spoke, "I understand. All this time we preached how your mother believed that every life was precious and worth protecting, but in some instances…she had to go against her own doctrine. It might not have been what was right for her, but she always did what was right for Earth. And that's exactly what you did. You were in a harrowing situation and you made the right call that made sure you came out on top. Because in the end your safety comes first, then ours. Don't ever forget that."
"Yea Levon. Like I said, you're my main reason to fight now" Jasper reminded and everyone nodded at that notion.
Levon smiled and said, "Thanks guys."
"So is her gem still in the kindergarten?" Peridot asked.
"No, I have it. Actually, Jasper said you need to take a look at it. There's something inside it" he said.
"Inside it? What do you mean?" she asked.
"Just take a look and see for yourself" Jasper replied.
Levon reached inside his mane and pulled out a rose-colored bubble containing the defeated assassin.
"EEEP!" Peridot squeaked and covered her face with her arms when he popped it.
"…Peridot?" Levon called out.
The green gem slowly lowered her arms and saw everyone staring at her like she had a second head. "…What?! I'm nervous alright?! This is Pitch Black's gem we're talking about! What if she regenerates?!" she asked in a panic.
"Then we'll keep on breaking her until she's down for good" Jasper simply replied.
"Jasper!" Lapis hissed.
"Wha…oh" she realized when she saw Levon staring intently at the two pieces in his hands. "And obviously we'll put her back together later" she quickly added and Levon half-heartedly hummed in agreement.
He sighed and apologized, "Sorry guys. It's just…I mean it's still pretty jarring y'know. I know I've been training and all that…but this isn't as easy I thought it would be."
"Don't be sorry. No is ever ready for war…I know I wasn't" Lapis silently added.
"Lapis is right. Like your dad said, there is no such thing as a good war. But if an ideal is worth fighting for, then you can best believe that there will be those who will be willing to fight for it" stated Garnet.
"Even if it's believing in a system like home world's?" Levon asked and she nodded her head.
"Like you said about Pitch and big Amethyst, that's all they've ever known. And sometimes it'll take a really big slap to the face to help them see that there is something greater out there" she grinned while looking at Jasper and she showed a small smile back.
"But…wouldn't that make us like home world? Forcing our ideals onto them just because we won?" he asked.
"Levon" Pearl spoke and he gave her his attention. "Think of it like this…if we didn't force you to eat your fruits and vegetables when you were younger, your body would be missing out on important vitamins and nutrients, leading it to become unhealthy and sick constantly. If a system, whether on Earth or home world, like that exists…then I'd willing to be shattered if it meant that everyone can finally get the nutrients they need and no longer be sick."
"Oooooh!" Levon understood as little stars appeared in his eyes.
"Heh…a food analogy from someone who doesn't like to eat" Jasper chuckled causing Pearl to blush. Before she could explain her reasoning, she ruffled her hair and followed up with, "But it works either way." Pearl blinked a couple of times before looking at the ground as a deeper blush enveloped her face.
"But ultimately…it's their call whether or not to accept it. That's why your mother didn't want to shatter any gems; she wanted to give them a chance without any outside pressures. Just to let them experience it with new eyes so to speak" Garnet chimed in.
Levon nodded and looked back down at the two halves in his hands. "I hope you'll like the experience" he thought before handing them to Peridot.
She took the two halves and stuck them together like a puzzle. "Hmmm…this is very peculiar. I've never seen a seven-sided gem before let alone a gem with an odd number of sides." She broke it apart and carefully looked inside.
"Do you see it Peridot?" Levon asked.
"I-I do…but that's impossible. Then that would mean…no! We can't assume anything! Just give a few minutes to give it a thorough analysis" she replied. She quickly set up the toppled living room table, set the shards down, engaged her digits to surround them and began scanning them.
After a couple of tense minutes Peridot retracted her finger back into place. "…Unbelievable" she quietly uttered.
"What is it?" Garnet asked.
"Pitch is a cluster" she revealed.
"WHAT?!" everyone shouted.
"Although not in the sense as what we've dealing with so far. I doubt she even knew that she was a cluster" she clarified.
"What are you talking about Peridot?" Pearl asked.
"See for yourself" she gestured to the table.
Pearl and Garnet looked at one half while Lapis looked at the other one.
"Do you see those little orange lines?" Everyone nodded and she continued, "It's faint but I definitely picked up traces of Carnelian. At first I thought the lines were different markings, which isn't uncommon on gemstones."
"She's right. We had an ally named Ocean that had pink and green spots on her gem" Garnet added.
"Right. And if you hadn't of told me about the abnormality with her appearance, I would've assumed it was just another trait to her rarity. But Jets have always been solid black and they typically have a small hexagon gem to correspond with their thin frame. Hence the speed. But her gem is nearly four-times the size of a normal Jet" she explained.
"That's why she looked like that! She really was part quartz" Jasper realized.
"Indeed, but here's the difference. The clusters we've seen have been made up different shards. The Carnelian parts in her gem are blended so seamlessly together that there's no way it could've been a forced fusion" she pointed out.
"So that means that this is all one gem" Lapis said and Peridot nodded at her deduction.
"The only way for this to happen was if the material for a Carnelian bled into her gem during incubation. Whether or not this was deliberate or an accident I don't know."
"No wonder she was so volatile when she emerged. Having two different natures conflicting against one another inside of your head will drive anyone crazy. What in the world did Yellow do to her to make her more or less sane?" Jasper wondered.
"I can only imagine" Peridot shuddered as Garnet bubbled the shards and sent them inside the temple.
"That's probably why the clusters were made. She's trying to combine different parts of gems in order to create another Pitch Black. And if she could subdue her, there's no telling what would happen if the diamonds had a whole armada of those things!" Lapis deduced.
"Then we have to stop them!" Levon said.
"We've been doing that already" Peridot pointed out.
"No, I mean we have to stop them now! While Pitch had Jasper tied up, she said that the cluster will emerge soon and that it's only a matter of time before Earth is destroyed! I think the clusters are like little termites or ants that keep burrowing underground as they're trying to get out. They must be messing around with the Earth's nerves or something and if they're not stopped they could cause the planet to erupt on itself! …And they don't even know what they're doing because they're scared and confused. So that's why I said it's great that I'm kinda like a cluster magnet. I can stand in the kindergarten, they all come to me, you guys can poof them and we can start separating the shards faster!" he beamed with starry pupils.
"No, no, no. I'm afraid you're mistaken in your theory" Peridot shook her finger.
"Huh?" he asked while everyone else stared at her with wide-eyed incredulous gazes.
"Well first off, Pitch said cluster. There wasn't an added suffix to make it plural. At least I think that's how your human English language works. Anyway, that means it's a single-HMMP!" Peridot's running mouth was covered up by Jasper's hand.
"You idiot! Shut your mouth!" she harshly whispered.
"HMMMMP! WHLAMP…OmmmmAH!" her surprised grunt made it known to the rest of the gems about the severity of what she was about to reveal.
"What? A single what?!" Levon asked.
"Nothing! It's nothing. You we're right! Yep!" Peridot assured with a smile but Levon merely frowned at her.
"…What's going on?" he asked as he crossed his arms.
"L-Levon, it's nothing really-"
"Yes it is!" he boomed as he surged to his feet and Pearl immediately shrunk back down. "Something's going on with our home and you guys know something, so what is it?"
Everyone looked at each other with nervous glances. Lapis stood up and tried to soothe the increasingly irate fusion.
"Levon please…we're just trying to protect you-"
"Protect me from what?! I can protect myself now! I mean I just took down one of the most dangerous gems on home world! What more do I have to do in order to be on the same level as you guys?!" he exasperated.
"Levon, th-that's not it. We know you're strong" Lapis assured.
"Then what are you guys hiding?!" His patience was wearing thin. The only time where he didn't want to be told about something was if it was a surprise party or an impromptu treat. But it wasn't anywhere near his birthday and there was way too much at stake to be left out of the loop.
Suddenly the green gem had a case of amnesia as she tried to back out of her earlier statement, "Oh…y'know what I completely forgot what I was going to say right now. Sooo…yep. No info in here. Just Poof! Disappeared. And-"
In the midst of her rambling she didn't notice that Levon closed his eyes and was taking deep breaths in order to try and calm himself down…but to no avail.
"Guess doing all that analysis work did a number on my construct soGAH!" Perdiot suddenly grabbed at her gem as she felt a massive headache traverse through her mind.
"PERIDOT!" everyone else shouted as they watched her crumple to the floor while grabbing her head.
"Don't lie to me" he growled as he looked at her with alizarin red eyes and diamond-shaped slit pupils with his finger pointed at her. "You will tell me what's going on. Now" he snarled.
"GAAH!" Peridot screamed as the pressure increased inside of her head; she was furiously running her fingers through her hair.
"Peridot! What's wrong?!" Lapis asked.
"This…this is mind control" Pearl gasped.
Those two words unleashed of plethora of unwelcomed memories inside of Jasper's mind. She was frozen in place as internal movies of her re-education flashed before her eyes; the raw images of Yellow's fiery eyes and unrelenting commands caused her to started hyperventilating.
"Jasper! Peridot!" Pearl cried as she shook them to try and snap them out of it.
"…No. He's not one of them!" Lapis thought as she stood up and faced the intimidating fusion. "Levon! Stop! You're hurting her!" she cried but he was deaf to her pleas.
He was going to get what he wanted…one way or another.
"Levon please! I don't want to fight you!" she threatened but he didn't budge; he was rooted in his stance as if he was a statue. He didn't even flinch when she threw a water ball at him to try and snap him out of it, and that's saying something since Lion hates getting wet.
"Please! You're not like them!" she pleaded.
All of a sudden Peridot finally stood up, but she was still hunched over with a glazed look in her eyes. "My apologies…my diamond" she answered in a monotone voice. "Here is the information you desire. The clu-"
**POW** "RRRAGH!" "Guuuuh"
A ghastly symphony of painful roars and exhausted grunts filled the distressed sanctuary. Levon was laying on the floor with a fist-sized bruise starting to form on his left cheek – the swelling was making the welt bigger by the second.
Peridot collapsed to her knees since the unintentional commanding link was severed.
"Peridot!" Lapis yelled as she helped the green gem get her bearings whereas Pearl was trying to assure Jasper that she was safe.
Both of them looked up to see Garnet standing in front of everyone, almost as if her body was a shield. But this shield was beginning to crack; her Ruby-embedded hand…the one that dealt the damaging blow was shaking violently.
"Mrrrrooo" he moaned as he shook his head to get his bearings. He put his hand to cheek and when he felt how big it was and saw the blood on his fingertips, he shot her an incredulous glance then licked his palm and smeared the healing saliva on his injury. Just as quickly as it was inflicted, the welt began to disappear. "GRRRRRRR" he growled as he sat up.
"Levon…Enough" Garnet somehow commanded with an even voice. At least that got his attention but he still continued to bare his fangs at her. "Leave them out of this. I made the decision not to tell you about the real threat going on underground."
Levon closed his mouth and stared at her with wide eyes, silently asking "why" and "what threat?"
She sighed before answering both questions. "The truth is…we haven't been fighting clusters. We've haven't even been to kindergarten since the incident in the cavern. Those clusters that we saw that day are only prototypes. In actuality, there's planet-sized cluster deep with the Earth. Once it takes its final form…it'll destroy our home. So we've been building a drill to burrow down and use those gem cutting lasers to separate it. I didn't tell you because I didn't want you anywhere near it-"
And that was the last thing he heard come out of her mouth, even though her lips were still moving. Levon just stared at the floor with constricted pupils. "They…didn't want me around. She didn't want me around! I-I thought she believed in me…" were the terrible misinterpretations repeating in his head. His breathing started to shorten, almost as if he was trying to find any clean air within a toxic cloud.
In actuality…he wasn't too far.
Like the rolling seashore fog, a familiar yet unwelcomed guest invaded the inner sanctum of his soul. What did I tell you? No matter what you do…you'll always be inferior to them in their eyes. A weak little hybrid whose only companions are accidental animals…how fitting.
Levon closed his eyes and put his hands over his ears to try and block it out, but his efforts proved to be fruitless.
It's not enough to show them. Even defeating Pitch Black, the deadliest assassin home world's ever produced, wasn't enough. You have to force them…just like what you did to Peridot.
"What? I-I didn't do anything to her" he refuted.
Oh yes you did. Congratulations…you've reawakened your mind control powers, the ones your foolish mother sealed away. Like I said, you'll always turn to rage in your darkest hour.
"N-no…I would never-"
But you did because that is what you are! You're a diamond! Embrace your true heritage! Lord over all life like you're supposed to!
"NO!" he roared.
On the outside, the gems were witnessing the manifestation of the internal battle. Levon was on all fours, grunting, growling and roaring incoherent words. He clawed at the wooden floor boards, leaving deep gashes in them. He had a raised ridge of hair along his spine; his tail and head were shaking violently while the orbs on the back of his hands burned with a blood red light.
"Wh-what's wrong with him?!" Peridot asked as she was held up by Lapis.
"No…not again. Not again!" Pearl repeated as she held her hands to her mouth.
"Don't tell me…he's turning into Dark Levon! I was just joking earlier!" Jasper shouted.
"No! We can't fight him! He's already been through so much!" Lapis cried.
"No. No one is fighting him" Garnet choked out as she somehow stayed upright. Her whole body was shaking and tears streamed out of all three of her eyes, although no one could see it since she had her back to them.
"I'm such a hypocrite" she chastised herself. "He's fighting those negative feelings because he's feels like we betrayed him…again. That we didn't trust him."
"But we do trust him! We just didn't want him to get hurt!" Lapis argued.
"Not like it mattered! He still ended up beaten, battered and scarred!" she shouted back as she looked at the ground. "I…I was scared. I believed in the worst possible outcome when I made that order and now it's actually happening. I should've realized it by now…he wants to be involved. He always has…even when he was little. Even though we couldn't take him on missions then, it always brightened his day whenever we would tell him stories or how he helped us by giving us get well kisses when we were hurt and exhausted. He said it himself…he feels like he still has to prove himself in our eyes…almost like Amethyst. Only we inflicted the weight of his mother's shadow upon him instead of letting him grow up to be his own person. That kind of inferiority complex doesn't go away overnight…he still fighting through it. I'm sick of him fighting!"
She rushed over and crouched down next to the frenzied predator. "LEVON!" she shouted. "DON'T GIVE UP!"
But those vile voices distorted hers. Give up!
"You're stronger than that thing! You can do it!"
You're weak! You can't do anything without me!
"Please…you have to win. I believe in you" In a bold move, she gently rubbed his tense back with her warm hand…but once again the enemy used that to his advantage.
YOU CAN'T WIN! YOU CAN BELIEVE THAT! Suddenly a black tentacle emerged out of the enveloping darkness, latching onto the frightened fusion's left shoulder.
"RAAAAAARRRRRRH!" he roared as he immediately stood up, causing Garnet to stumble for a brief second before she surged to her feet as well. A collective gasp rang through the house when the gems beheld the primal fusion with glowing, green diamond-slit pupils with every hair on his body standing up like little cactus needles.
"We have to do something!" Peridot screamed.
"No! We're not doing anything to him!" she commanded as they watched him slash at the air with his enhanced red-crystalline claws, before connecting with some of the furniture.
"Get back!" she ordered when one attack got a little too close for comfort and everyone moved near the entrance of them temple. They couldn't believe that they were even witnessing this frantic, uncontrollable destruction yet again.
"What're we going to do!? He's going to destroy the whole house!" Peridot asked.
"…We may have no choice but to fight him" Jasper conceded.
"Oh no you don't! Who knows how long it'll take for him to recover from big Amethyst's attack! I'd rather be shattered than to have him in a coma for a year!" Lapis refuted.
"Then you tell me an idea Lazuli because that scenario ain't too far off from happening!" she shot back as Levon let loose another deafening roar.
Yellow-tinted foam spilled from the couch cushions. The living room table looked like it had been used in a karate chopping competition that allowed knives. Deep gashes now decorated the bar counter complimented by broken bar stools.
"GRRRRRAH!" he yelled as he ran both of his claws diagonally across the wall with the screen door; surprisingly the door wasn't torn off its hinges, even though the protective screen was useless now. But the force of the hit caused something more precious to be knocked off its hook.
"GUH!" Levon grunted when the stunning portrait of Rose Quartz fell on top of his head. Before the picture could slide off of him, he grabbed the injury causing object and roared at it.
"LEVON! DON-" but Pearl's order fizzled out once she saw him slash right across the decorated canvas over and over. In some sort of sick and twisted poetic justice, the shredded remains pooled around his feet. He let out another thundering roar; to the shocked audience it could've been interpreted as a victory declaration if it wasn't for the fact that he was in another deadly situation in a realm they couldn't reach.
But it still didn't stifle the tears from pricking through Pearl's eyes. "N-No…" she choked out as she covered her mouth with her hands.
"Pearl" Garnet spoke and she looked at her. "Only shed tears if we lose them" she pointed at the feral hybrid. "That painting isn't Rose. Whatever is going on in Levon's mind is trying to destroy their precious experience and I'd sooner be a part of a cluster experiment before I let that happen" she gritted out as she walked towards him.
"Garnet?! What're you doing?!" Pearl shrilled.
"…What I should've done in the first place" she thought before shouting "STEVEN! LION!"
Miraculously she managed to get his attention as he staggered to turn around and face her.
"GRRRRRR!" he shallowly growled out.
"This isn't you! You're a warrior! You're a crystal gem!"
This is you now! You're a monster! To be feared and revered! Instilling fear wherever you go, maintaining your rule for all time!
Levon closed his eyes and furiously shook his head. "ROOOOOOOAR!" he howled.
"LEVON!"
His eyes shot open when he heard his name again, but this time his pupils were surrounded by a faint purple haze. Through those obscure lenses, all he saw was a lone black, shapeless figure.
YOU CAN'T DEFEAT ME! I WILL HAVE WHAT I DESIRE!
"GRRRRRRRRRAH!" he roared as he lifted his razor sharp claws into the air, and brought them down onto his "enemy".
But the figure didn't move, despite the concerning yells of her comrades. "GARNET! WHAT ARE DOING!? MOVE!"
She stared down the frenzied fusion and whispered, "…I'm sorry."
Will Garnet fall at Levon's hands? What about Amethyst's mental state? What will home world do when their punctual commander doesn't show up? What is this the true nature of the vile entity that constantly tries to mess with Steven? Tune in for the finale of "One on One".
Wow...lots of stuff going on in this chapter. Pitch is a prototype cluster, Jasper was made on Earth and her code name was R3JT = Reject; F4L = fail, Steven and Lion reawakened their mind control powers just to name a few. Not to mention the food correlated lessons...relatable knowledge is power!
And who knew that "Crack the Whip" basically happened in the last chapter, albeit with completely different gem duel.
I based Pitch's clothing from Sheik from the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time. Wonder why she had a blank diamond on her chest? And her swords are based on a kodachi and Kai's chain blades from Kung Fu Panda 3.
I'm aware that the situation does seem a bit redundant...more or less, but like Garnet like, these things don't disappear overnight. It could take a person years to get over negative feelings about themselves or a traumatic incident. Not to mention, there are some words or actions that'll trigger certain responses. That's what I'm trying to illustrate. For Lapis if she sees bubbles or someone mentions the word "bubbled" she'll shut down. For Jasper, it's flashing lights or certain phrases that'll trigger horrible memories before the fight or flight response kicks in, just as a couple examples. With Steven due to his powers, his triggers are amplified to the 100th power. It's never a pretty sight but once it's conquered for good it's an unbelievable feeling. Trust me, I know.
I'm sorry for the lateness and lack of responses. I'll explain tomorrow...it's a bit much to fit here. In the meantime I hope you enjoyed this chapter or as Ironic Username so eloquently put it "a superior re-imagining of Steven Universe"(thanks for that:) And thank you all for your continued support, it means a lot!
I also want to thank those whom I asked for advice for how to deal with Steven finding out about the Cluster via Peridot, you rock!(no pun intended).
And thanks to Komnenid for the cool idea about having Steven's eyes change into diamonds whenever his anger reaches his breaking point. He had to inherit some traits from his aunts.
I don't own Steven Universe, just my imaginative capabilities and original characters.