Chapter 2: From Bad to Worse

"RUN!" Garnet shouted at the group as Steven reared his arm back into presumably an attack position.

It became clear to Garnet that the two humans in their group wouldn't be nearly fast enough to evade the coming blow, and there was no way that she could block an attack from Steven in her current state. With that in mind she looked over to her two fellow Crystal Gems, who were both already looking at her with stern expressions indicating that they had the same idea.

Garnet placed her hands on her two fellow gems shoulders, and without speaking a word their bodies were enveloped in a bright light as Steven launched his claw shaped fist at the beach house. Connie and Greg both let out terrified screams and braced for a devastating attack that they were sure would kill them all.

Their screams fell silent when they found that multiple seconds had passed with no attack hitting them whatsoever. They slowly opened their eyes to the stunning sight of the newly formed Alexandrite using all her strength to hold Stevens assault back. She gritted her teeth and grunted roughly against his insane amount of force behind a single arm. Slowly, she was being pushed back towards the end of the cave at the back of the beach house. It was an obvious losing battle.

Connie and Greg were absolutely lost on what to do. Connie didn't have her sword, and Greg was never much of a fighter anyways. All they could do was watch on helplessly as Alexandrite was slowly being pushed into a corner, literally.

Alexandrite looked down at the two humans and felt a bit of frustration mount from within her.

"What did I tell you… I SAID RUN!" The four-gem fusion exclaimed at the two with demanding authority behind her voice.

The two flinched at the sudden order, but almost immediately started booking it out of the destroyed house. The staircase that was originally attached to the front of the house was completely gone, and Steven now stood where it once was. Unfortunately, that meant that Connie and Greg had to run right underneath the monster and make a leap for the beach. Luckily however Steven's attention was entirely on Alexandrite who he was trying to crush with all his might.

Connie managed to do a somersault gracefully whereas Greg literally just fell painfully on his ass. He grunted in pain while he struggled to get to his feet. Connie cringed while watching and rushed over to help him stand.

"Oh my gosh Greg, are you okay?" Connie questioned fearing that he may have hurt something.

"Yeah… yeah I'm okay…" Greg answered sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head. "Nothing could be worse than the time Lapis threw me and my van and broke my arm!" he added trying to add a little humor to their dire situation. Connie let out a slight smile at his attempt but stayed focus on the task at hand.

"Come on Greg, we have to put some distance between ourselves and Steven!" Connie stated as she began to sprint away from the battle. Greg frowned at the ending of her words, but ultimately followed in her lead and started running as well. Unseen by Greg, tears started to form in the corners of Connie's eyes as they continued to run. She couldn't believe that she had to run away from her best friend, instead of staying to help him. The feeling of helplessness was overwhelming and was tearing her apart internally. "We'll save you Steven… I promise"

Seeing the two humans finally make their escape, Alexandrite prepared to make her counterattack. It was painfully obvious that she was completely outmatched by Steven, as he was easily overpowering her with just one arm. They were pushed all the way back to the warp-pad at this point, and unbeknownst to them it was beginning to crack under the pressure of their battle. She was running out of time, and space to act.

Thinking quickly, Alexandrite squatted halfway down and built up as much power as she possibly could for one last push. Suddenly, she pushed her legs back up and forced all her power into pushing Stevens claw back to give her an opening. It worked. Stevens arm was pushed back just a few feet, which effectively caused him to pause for just a moment. Alexandrite acted immediately and rolled out of the pathway of his arm which almost instantly went straight into the back of the temple, collapsing the cave. She wasted no time and leaped out of what was left of the Crystal Gems home. She landed on the beach just barely behind Steven.

Seeing that his pray had escaped his grasp, Steven let out a primal roar the once again shook the earth. He turned around to face his opponent, narrowing his pink glowing eyes until they were practically just dots. Violent intent and anger radiated off the monster, sending fear and intimidation through anyone near him.

Alexandrite gritted her teeth tightly and watched Steven carefully for whatever move he made next. She was filled nothing but uncertainty however, as she struggled to come up with a way to approach the fragile situation, they were in. None of the four gems that made up the fusion wanted to attack Steven in any way, but they were having an internal conflict of acknowledging the fact that they most likely would have to. That internal conflict was throwing off the stability of their fusion and was slowly starting to break them apart.

"Keep it… together…" Alexandrite muttered to herself as she continued to struggle for stability. She didn't have time to continue battling with herself, because Steven decided to continue their fight. He lifted one of his feet and attempted to stomp the fusion. Alexandrite managed to avoid the attack with a quick sidestep, then made a giant leap backwards to put some more distance between them.

"Steven! you've got to calm down!" Alexandrite shouted out desperately to reach the corrupted boy. They weren't making any progress internally on actually fighting him. Pearl couldn't bare the thought of bringing harm to her sweet little Steven. Amethyst couldn't even fathom the fact that everything had gotten to this point. And Garnet had the same stance as Pearl, but she knew that they had to keep him from getting to Beach City or Little Homeworld.

Meanwhile Steven didn't seem to have even acknowledged that they had spoken him at all. His eyes stayed narrowed and cruel as he slowly approached the fusion like an animal stalking its prey. His breathing was slow and harsh, and tremors continued to rock the earth with each step he took.

Connie and Greg started running towards Alexandrite as they weren't far from her.

"Alexandrite, what should we do?!" Connie questioned the fusion, with a bit of panic laced in her voice. Alexandrite scrunched her face in frustration as beads of sweat started forming along her face, which worried Connie even further. "What's wrong?!" Connie shouted.

"We have to… no…" Alexandrite muttered to herself, barely loud enough for Connie and Greg to hear. The two humans looked at each other worriedly while the fusions internal battle quickly escalated. Four battling voices filled her head.

"We… we have… we… I can't!" Alexandrite shouted in what sounded like multiple voices shouting at each other. The fusions body quickly turned into a blinding light, that suddenly ejected three bodies that went falling into the sand. Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet slowly rose to their feet as they all groaned in pain from the sudden ending to their fusion.

"How are we supposed to help him?!" Pearl cried out to her fellow two gems.

"Well he obviously doesn't want to listen to us! His attempt to stomp us into the sand really told us that" Amethyst responded in an irritated tone while pointing to the somewhat big crater in the ground caused by one of Stevens attacks.

"We have to keep trying!" Pearl retorted in anger. The two gems continued to argue over what the best course of action to take was, while Garnet attempted to use her future vision to find a path to solve all of this. Nothing good was coming to her as every single future involved having to fight Steven in some way. Her expression slowly turned grim due to the impossible task that was being forced upon them.

Connie's eyes widened in horror as she watched Steven suddenly go in for an attack against the three distracted gems.

"Watch out!" Connie cried out desperately to warn the gems as Steven swung his giant horned tail at them. Garnet saw this coming with her future vision and managed to jump back just barely far enough to evade getting hit. Pearl and Amethyst weren't so lucky however, as they took the full blunt of the attack and were sent flying into the hill that connected to the beach.

Their impact with the hill was so extreme that they left two literal full body imprints on the rock before falling painfully into the sand. It was a miracle that they hadn't poofed from the attack, but they were temporarily incapacitated. Garnet cringed at the sight but was ultimately glad that they seemed mostly okay.

"Connie, Greg" Garnet called.

"Uhm… yes, Garnet?" the two humans nervously answered the fusion jointly.

"I need you two to evacuate Beach City, and Little Homeworld" Garnet ordered the two. Her expression was stoic, and her words radiated with authority. No one dared to question her when she got this serious. She could however sense the uneasiness in the two humans and could tell that they were unsure about her orders. "Greg you will go to Beach city, as I believe you have a greater connection with the towns residents and could guide them away more efficiently." Garnet added on. "And Connie, I need you to find Lion to teleport to Little Homeworld. From there you must find Bismuth, Lapis, and Peridot. You four will be able to quickly get the other gems to safety. Do you understand?"

Connie and Greg were hesitant, but they knew that they didn't have time to question the fusion any further as Steven was now turning his attention to them. Garnet summoned both of her gauntlets and got into a battle-ready position.

"We're… we're on it!" Connie shouted halfheartedly, as she and Greg began to slowly move towards their missions. She did however have one last question plaguing her heart that she had to ask before leaving. "What… will you do?" Garnets heart sunk upon hearing the girl's question. Luckily her back was turned to the two humans, helping to hide the pain in her face as her lip began to quiver from all the emotions flooding through her.

"…we fight…"

Those were the last words exchanged between the three of them before they all split to accomplish their separate tasks.

Steven squatted down like a wolf about to pounce on its target. His glowing pink pupils focused purely on Garnet as no other opponent seemed to be present. He let out an inhuman growl filled with nothing but violent intent. He seemed to be growing angry that the fusion was still standing before him. She appeared as nothing more than an insect to him, an insect that needed to be crushed.

"Steven! I know you're in there somewhere! You can't let this thing control you. Please, fight it!" Garnet shouted out pleadingly to the monster. She wouldn't give up on him. She couldn't. Unfortunately however, her words only seemed to make him even angrier as he let out another monstrous roar and charged her. Garnet readied her feet, knowing that the key to this battle was going to be her speed.

Steven brought his head up, and immediately slammed it down towards the sand with the aim of having one of his horns slice the fusion in half. Garnet jumped straight up into the air soaring right past one of Stevens horns. The monsters head then slammed into the earth sending clouds of sand throughout the beach.

Garnet proceeded to land on top of Stevens head which had ended up getting stuck in the ground. She then proceeded to quickly grab onto one of his horns at the top of his forehead for support.

"Steven, listen to me!" Garnet begged. Hearing her voice made Steven realize that his opponent was now on top of his head. He growled violently and he immediately pulled his head out of the ground and began to shake himself around wildly attempting to throw her off. Garnet struggled but she luckily managed to dig her gauntlet guarded fingers into his horn, cracking it. "Steven, please!"

Realizing that shaking his head wasn't working, Steven stopped and searched for another method to get rid of the insect on top of his head. Garnet finally started to catch her breath and saw this as an opportunity to continue trying to get through to the boy. Her eyes widened in shock however once she realized she was dead wrong, seeing what the monster was planning next.

Steven moved back towards the hill where he had previously launched Pearl and Amethyst into and reared his head back to seemingly slam his head into the rocks, with the goal of crushing Garnet. She swiftly released her grip on his horn and jumped away from the collision course, and back down to the sand.

Stevens head made impact directly with the head of the statue of Obsidian, crushing it into bits. He then retracted his head, and spotted the fusion safe on the beach. His anger grew once again seeing that she managed to survive another one of his attacks. He wouldn't allow for it to happen again. Increasing his speed, Steven ran right to Garnet and swung one his claws right at her.

Garnet brought her gauntlets in front of her body and face in a defensive stance, knowing that there was no way she could possibly avoid Stevens attack this time. Steven made contact and sent the fusion spiraling through the sand from the massive force of the impact. Garnet let out multiple grunts of pain until she finally stopped sliding nearly halfway across the beach. She coughed roughly as pain soared through her. Her body wanted so badly to just lay there, and seethe in the pain. But Garnet couldn't give up, she refused to give up. Not until she got their Steven back.

Garnet punched one of her fists into the ground using it for support as she weakly wobbled to her feat. Her entire body was dirty and covered in a mixture of a small amount of dirt and sand. She looked at Steven, who was coldly staring right at her. He looked somewhat surprised to see her back on her feet so quickly after his attack, but got over it swiftly as he prepared to strike once again. This time he'd be sure to crush her into nothingness.

Steven planted his feet and begun to charge the fusion for what he hoped to be the last time.

"Steven…" Garnet said weakly in between her deep breathes.

It didn't take long for him to make his way to her since his size and speed were so crazy. Garnet knew that she didn't have the speed, nor the energy to avoid him, so she cringed and braced herself for whatever attack was about to come her way.

Suddenly however, an arrow of light soared through the air at insane speed and made contact directly with Steven, causing a massive explosion right in his face. The monster roared in pain as he nearly stumbled over from the surprise attack. Garnet gasped in shock and looked over to identify the source of the arrow. She began to smile in relief upon seeing a newly formed Opal holding her signature bow, standing right where Amethyst and Pearl previously laid incapacitated. She was looking right at Steven with a dead serious expression.

"Garnet, what's the situation?" Opal questioned, still not taking her eyes off the monster who was still dazed.

"Greg is currently evacuating Beach City, and Connie is making her way to Little Homeworld to do the same" Garnet informed the giant women while running up to her. Opal seemed somewhat relieved, but still unsatisfied with her response.

"That's good… but more importantly, what's the situation with Steven? did you manage to make any progress?" Opal grimly questioned. Garnet inwardly cringed at the question and looked at the ground in disappointment.

"No… I've made no progress at all. He's seemed to only get angrier the more I've tried to reach him. It's as if he can hear the sound of my voice, but not the words that I'm speaking to him."

Opal felt a wave of despair wash over her upon hearing Garnets words, but quickly refocused herself as she saw Steven return to his feet. He was currently standing in the shore of beach, and he stared right at his new opponent with murderous intent. His glare felt as though it was burning a whole right through Opal. The intimidation was immense. She didn't have time to let that bother her however, as he began to charge up for another attack. Just like before when he destroyed the beach house all his horns along with his eyes began to glow a bright pink, filling with power for a giant attack.

"Opal! He's about to let out an energy-blast roar just like before. We have to stop him!" Garnet warned her fellow fusion, knowing that she was their only hope at stopping the coming attack.

"Already on it…" Opal responded as she lifted her bow and began to form a giant arrow of light. She closed one of her eyes and took aim for the monster. It became apparent that she would need a little extra power on this attack if it was to stop Steven, so she channeled every fiber of her being into her bow. Suddenly the single arrow that was being charged split into multiple arrows and began to glow even brighter than before. "and...fire!"

Opal released the barrage of arrows, and they went soaring through the air towards their target. Most of the arrows made contact with Stevens face just like before and blew up, whereas the rest of the few remaining arrows hit his feet effectively knocking him off his balance.

Steven roared in pain, which unexpectedly still released a pink wave of energy at the Crystal Gems. Garnet planted her feet in the ground and stood strong through the attack. Opal however, was caught completely by surprise and was impacted enough throw her back and ultimately end the stability to their fusion.

Amethyst and Pearl laid in the sand shocked that Steven still managed to attack them despite their effort as Opal.

"Garnet… how did he…" Pearl questioned with a groan of pain due to being ejected from her fusion with Amethyst.

"That attack was only about half the strength of his previous roar. Opal succeeded in stopping him from fully charging his attack… We would have all been poofed if not for her counterattack" Garnet stated while looking down at her two friends. She then reached down with both of her hands and helped the two fallen gems get back to their feet. They all then looked to Steven who was now even further in the ocean due to the force of Opals attack. He looked as though he was in pain, but he was already back on his feet and slowly approaching the beach.

"We're going to need a new strategy" Amethyst weakly stated in the face of their hopeless situation.

"How are we supposed to get through to him? It's obvious that this isn't just some sort of normal corruption like we've seen before… he's half human after all" Pearl added on as she continued to watch Steven.

"…As long as he believes he's a monster… he'll stay one…" Garnet answered grimly.

"But you said that he couldn't hear your words! How're we supposed to convince him that he's not a monster if we can't even talk to him?" Pearl questioned desperately.

"There has to be a way…" Amethyst muttered.

Garnet interrupted their conversation by walking in between her two fellow gems, and placing her hands on both of their shoulders, bringing their attention fully to what she was looking, which was Steven who had now reached the beach.

"Whatever it is we're going to do; we can't do it alone. There isn't a single future where we succeed without aid from the others. However it is we get through to him we'll need everybody. We'll need a few gems more than others more importantly…" Garnet stated as Steven continued to close in on the group. Amethyst and Pearl were particularly confused by the ending of Garnets statement, but they had no time to press her for what she meant as it was time for the battle to resume.

"We'll just have to hold him here until back-up arrives" Garnet spoke one last time before the three Crystal Gems bodies were all covered in light and fused into one.

Elsewhere

Pieces of buildings collapsed all around Little Homeworld due to the constant tremors that erupted throughout the area. Gems fled the streets in a panic as monstrous roars could be heard all the way from Beach City. The once peaceful home to so many gems had now descended into chaos, and no one even knew what was going on. Well, almost everyone.

There was a blue gem flying through the air with a pair of wings made of water attempting to guide groups of gems to the exit of the city. She moved swiftly and efficiently to get as many groups out as possible, while also occasionally saving a few gems from collapsing pieces of numerous structures. Trying to help the blue gem in her goal of evacuating everyone was a familiar sword wielding girl who was riding a pink lion on the opposite side of the city.

Somewhere else in the chaos there was a larger gem with rainbow hair that was serving as a one gem rescue team; searching multiple collapsed buildings and rescuing any gems trapped in them.

At the center of the city stood a hexagonal shaped beige tower with a whirly-bird like structure on the top of it. Just like other structures across the city, pieces of this building had also fallen off. Making the tower unstable. Standing at the top regardless was a short gem, with lime-green skin and pale chartreuse colored hair which was styled in a somewhat triangular shape. Tears had formed in the corner of her eyes as she watched a heartbreaking battle in the distance between what looked to be Alexandrite, and some sort of huge pink monster.

The green gem knew exactly who the pink monster was however, thanks to a human girl who had not so long-ago informed Peridot and the others of exactly what was going on. She couldn't believe it. None of them could.

Peridot weakly clasped her hand over her mouth as her tears began to freely fall down her cheeks.

"Steven..."