CHAPTER 14 - Fullmetal Jasper
Light-Diamond had never felt upset before, but the half-squadron stationed before his throne made him think that maybe, just maybe, whatever was growing inside his chest was frustration. He got off the chair and floated down, walking around the few remaining warriors.
"Squad leader, report to me." He said, scanning the six Jaspers with his eyes. They all looked confused and worried. They also looked incredibly afraid of him. "What is the meaning of this?"
"S-Sir, My Diamond, I am Jasper K—"
"I don't care."
"Yes, of course, My Diamond." The Jasper had a Gem on her eye and seemed unable to look directly at her master. "I… don't know."
"The Jasper Corps are operating at a mere 30% capacity. The others should have been back by now. I demand an explanation."
"I don't know, sir, they were with you." She said, stuttering. "I can't begin to—"
Jasper never finished her sentence. Light-Diamond pierce her armor with his hand, poofing the Gem instantly. The others stumbled and recoiled, grunting in anger and fear.
"You are incompetent." The apparition said, floating slightly above the air. At least one Jasper thought that his face was an impeccable mask, mimicking their kind perfectly. "You have failed me again and again. You failed your old master. It was a mistake relying on you. You will be retired and repurposed through Gem Editing."
"What?! Screw it." A Jasper yelled, materializing a gladius on her hand. "I'm not gonna take this without a fight."
"Don't!" The one by her side grabbed her arm. "Don't you remember how this went last time…?"
"What are we supposed to do, just take it?!" The sword-wielder freed herself, staring at the floating clone. "I'd rather be shattered than have to take another order from this thing!"
"Very well." Light-Diamond said, suddenly flying directly, and then through the warrior. Her Gemstone fell to the ground with a loud clink, and the sound of several weapons being summoned filled the halls.
"Corps! Mountain!" One of the Jaspers yelled, ordering the rest to position. Light-Diamond did not react.
He was going to continue his purge, but something caught his attention. The clone turned around towards the main door, unsure of what he was hearing.
"Is that sound… rubber?" He asked out loud, as if expecting the warriors to answer him.
As if to say yes, the door opened to a giant pink, rubbery fist breaking the entrance, hitting Light-Diamond in full. He flew across the hall into the wall behind the Throne, crushing a hole where he landed. He stared at the attackers, and, maybe for the first time, felt genuine confusion.
There were the rest of the Jasper Corps, fully equipped and ready to attack. Mixed in with them, there were several, objectively weaker Gems from multiple eras. And in front, an overcooked Amethyst, and a strange-looking Spinel. He knew all of them, but almost refused to acknowledge their names.
"FULLMETAL JASPERS!" Amethyst yelled, pointing at their target. "ROLL OUT!"
With a war cry, all the Jaspers rushed forward, some of them rolling, some of them launching projectiles to cover the advancement of ground units. While most of the squadron was busy attacking, Tee and Four attended to the others who had no idea what was going on.
Roxxie approached Amethyst, smiling.
"You really gonna push that name now?"
"Hey, we might all die in five minutes, let me have my fun." Amethyst replied, summoning two whips. "Just like the plan, right?"
"Yeah. Topazes!" Roxxie yelled, watching Light-Diamond regain his composure as he effortlessly dodged attacks and blocked projectiles with his shields. "Step one, go!"
Two Topazes nodded silently and jumped into the fray. Light-Diamond dodged one of them but fell into the other's route. The first one seemed to be expecting that turn of events, because while the second one held Light-Diamond with a strong grip, the partners fused.
The clone did not integrate with the fusion. Instead, it was like he was sticking out of a larger body, like a tumor growing out of the Topaz fusion. He was as nonchalant as ever.
"This will not stop me." He said, making a shield. Topaz felt her entire body start to inflate, but she held on. This was expected.
"Aquamarine!" Roxxie yelled as Aquamarine flew past her head, grinning from ear to ear.
"Gosh, I'm going to enjoy this." With her wand, Aquamarine pointed at the enemy, and a beam of light hit Light-Diamond's head.
Light-Diamond's shield expansion seemed to stop. He didn't seem able to move.
"Jasper Corps!" Roxxie said, at which point, Amethyst coughed. "Fine. Fullmetal Jaspers! Attack!"
Shots were fired once more, aimed specifically at Light-Diamond's exposed limbs and head. He could do nothing but take the projectiles, and the impact kept rocking Topaz back and forth. The fusion held, but this was clearly taking its toll on her.
"Hey, Roxxie." Aquamarine said, holding her wand with two hands. "Just letting you know this is getting rather difficult, it's like he's… ugh, that's not good."
Roxxie's gaze went back to the enemy, who was clearly vibrating inside his two prisons. He was forcing his way out of the tractor beam. But this, too, was expected.
"Alright, everyone get ready for Step 2." Roxxie said, at which point Spinel screamed in righteous fury.
Amethyst spawned her whips and Spinel's arms stretched onto the floor. When Roxxie gave the signal, the Topaz fusion was undone, which left Light-Diamond under Aquamarine's influence alone. That did not last.
As he exploded out of her tractor beam, knocking her off the air, Amethyst enveloped the enemy with her weapons. The creature clearly grew frustrated, and, although completely covered in black, spiky whips, Light-Diamond flew around the room, taking Amethyst along.
Spinel seemed ready for it. She immediately grabbed Amethyst by her feet, spinning around like they were a merry-go-round.
"Squad, get ready!" Roxxie yelled, and five Jaspers showed up by her side, weapons in hand. "Spinel, ground him!"
Spinel grunted with effort, stretching and making Diamond into an improvised morning star. Amethyst managed to leave the move and land safely, and the enemy was thrown right in front of the awaiting Jaspers, opening yet another hole in the ground. Light-Diamond tried getting up, but was interrupted by several Jaspers attacking him, and landing multiple hits.
"This is working!" Amethyst called, excited. "We're beating his butt!"
At that point, as if to disprove her, all Jaspers were thrown away, as Light-Diamond flew off their range, attacking Roxxie directly. Amethyst screamed, but at least he didn't manage to poof the squad leader.
"This is futile." Light-Diamond said. "Your struggle is a waste of our time. You will all be Edit—"
"STEP THREE!" Roxxie yelled, at which point, Light-Diamond's vision was encumbered. His head had been covered with a pink bubble.
Then his arms, then his legs, then his torso. Different pink bubbles that greatly reduced his movement. The last one released Roxxie from his grip.
He turned around, looking for the source of the attack, and then he found them. An entire battalion of Rose Quartzes, seemingly out of nowhere, all pointing their hands at him.
"Come on, girls!" One of them spoke, in an annoying, maternal tone. "Everyone gets a shield! You know what you're doing!"
Light-Diamond was soon covered by a shield the size of his entire body. And then another one, as an added layer. And another one. With each, he felt more and more constrained. How were they doing this? How did they coordinate so well?
No matter.
"Stop." He said, but the shields kept forming. He felt the bubbles growing so as to lock him into position. "Stop."
No response. No one was listening to him. These weaklings were actually getting the best of him.
"I COMMAND YOU TO STOP."
And with an outburst, he popped their bubbles. A greatsword appeared on his hand, and with one movement one of the shields broke. A Rose Quartz screamed in reaction. There were not enough shields in the world that could stop him.
"Ridiculous." Light-Diamond said. He slashed away another shield. "You will all be recycled into productive members of this world."
Another one.
"I will not take any more of this insubordination."
And another. So few constructs remained between him and the rebelling army.
"Stop this at once."
"Uh, we on schedule?" Asked Amethyst, clearly terrified. Spinel gulped audibly on her side.
"I think so, we just need them to follow through." Roxxie said, still sore from the surprise attack. "Roses! Hang on! We all depend on you right now!" She turned around to the rest of the squad. At this point, the ones that had been poofed in battle were coming back. "Corps! All together! Landscaping!"
Dozens of Jaspers moved closer, first row pointing melee weapons, second and third rows pointing projectiles, and back rows ready to take over when the others needed to retire or reload.
The shields were getting more power dedicated to them, but Diamond was nearing freedom. The more he fought, the more Amethyst was sure this thing was a monster. It wore Steven's face, but there was no way it had anything to do with her best friend. Even more reason to be doing all this.
"Steady!" Roxxie yelled, hand up.
"STEADY!" Last shield. Cracks. The last Rose Quartz was on her knees.
"NOW!"
Roxxie's hand formed a fist, and the projectile rows opened fire just as Light-Diamond broke through the final line of defense. The lasers connected, but he was ready for it. His greatsword was in front of his body and acted like a lightning rod, taking all the hits like they were harmless energy to him. It was clearly hard to maintain steady flight being pushed like that, however.
Whoever had spears on the first and four rows threw them as hard as they could, in a way that there were at least three points where Light-Diamond was always being attacked. Shield fragments kept coming up all around him, but the spears and lasers kept breaking through them, and his struggle with his sword was starting to weigh on him.
He grunted, becoming decidedly less stoic.
"I will not be defeated by second-class warriors, caretakers and clowns!"
Light-Diamond deflected the major beams with a movement of his sword. With perfect timing, he launched himself in the opposite direction.
He hit the ground with a lot of force but managed to land on his feet. The Jaspers in the first row who had melee weapons followed him, attacking almost immediately, but he pushed them through with another shield. This one, however, broke much more easily than the others. Noticing this, he floated backwards, moving closer to the exit.
"How?" He asked out loud, his mind racing. "How could you possibly be this organized?"
"My Diamond!" Said a desperate voice from behind him.
He turned around for a familiar voice. When he saw why Tourmaline had been so distraught, it all made sense.
Tourmaline and her entourage were captured, surrendered by a large group of Amethysts. In front of them, a Ruby, a Sapphire, and a grotesque dark Gem with a deformed Gemstone sticking out her head. The Sapphire held a large spherical device that Light-Diamond recognized all too well.
This had all been a distraction.
"No." He said, turning his back on the Jaspers. "You will return the Gem Editing technology back to the lab, right now."
"Gem Editing is no more." Right Sapphire said, calm. "This is the last device that exists. Within it, the last crystal sphere that you collected off-world."
"My Diamond! It's not my fault!" Tourmaline shrieked, trying to rid herself of a much larger, much stronger Amethyst. "This stupid Sapphire planned it all! She fooled us all! I couldn't know!"
Light-Diamond did not respond. Even if all scientists survived this rebellion, Sapphire was implying that the laboratory had been destroyed. Without that device, all their progress would have been for nothing. They would have to start from scratch.
"STEP FOUR!" Roxxie yelled, bringing him back to battle. He was swarmed by Amethysts on one side, and Jaspers on the other. The three smaller Gems stayed together outside.
He made a shield around himself, but it was quickly broken. Another one, this time a much smaller, concise bubble, and he watched as both groups attacked it relentlessly. This was almost the worst-case scenario.
"Sapphire? What now?" Ruby asked, excited. "Is this all going well?"
"Not yet." She said. "Everything has worked as I've foreseen it. We are in a good timeline. But it can still go horribly wrong."
On her left, Corundite started shaking. Ruby immediately switched sides and held her hand. The former Sapphire calmed down, albeit still scared.
Light-Diamond had a choice to make.
"My mission is to rule Homeworld in Diamond's absence." He said, more to himself than to his enemies. "You are in the way of that mission."
He stopped, staring directly at the future-seer. In a strange gesture, he closed his eyes. Time stopped within his mind, a million calculations being made, every step taken being evaluated, until finally his eyes opened away.
And in that moment, Sapphire knew.
"My mission is not to innovate. You will be destroyed for the sake of Homeworld."
Light-Diamond exploded his bubble, throwing the closest attackers away. He flew, sword in hand, in Sapphire's direction.
She never stopped smiling.
"Thank goodness," the future-seer said, as Diamond pierced her exposed Gemstone.
In that one second, time stopped moving for Eyeball. The sound of Sapphire's form poofing, the loud, violent crack of her Gemstone breaking apart in millions of pieces, disintegrating due to the force. She'd seen so much before, but this—
Diamond soared, coming back down and picking up the Editor.
"Your main source of intelligence is gone. Surrender. This is the end." He said, but then he realized Corundite was still there. "Ah, yes. The Edited Sapphire."
He swung his sword up, aiming for the large Gemstone on her head. Eyeball screamed, tackling Corundite away.
As they touched, light emanated from both Gems, and their shapeless forms fell away from Light-Diamond's attack. All watched as a fusion took place, leaving the palace to go towards the front.
A hulking, dark woman emerged from the light.
She was as tall as Diamond. The fusion had four arms and short, curly hair. Her muscles ripped through the fabric of her clothes, but in an unnatural way. Almost as if her clothes were too small for her body. And then she turned around.
"Oh, stars." Spinel let escape, taken aback.
Her face was far too small for two Gemstones. Corundite's deformed sapphire took the place of a large left eye, peeking out of the side of her head like a tumor. Eyeball's ruby was right above it, but both had a sick, coppery color scheme, almost as if unpolished. Where a right eye would probably fit, a sharp coppery spike stuck out, which made Amethyst cringe just from how easy it would be to damage it.
Light-Diamond, recovered from the distraction, moved to attack once more, but the fusion didn't let him. She roared.
Something deep within Amethyst knew that whatever sound came out of that fusion's mouth was the rawest, most animalistic sound any Gem in that place could possibly make. Everything about it made no sense. Every Gem was created for a reason, everyone there had a skill they could perform forever without ever getting bored of it.
But that… that was something different. It wasn't even like Alexandrite, who was all fury. It was like a new lifeform had just realized that it wasn't meant to be, that it had come out wrong, and it hated it. A Gem stuck between a side that could obey, and a side that had been broken and put back together, like a toy to be used.
While she screamed, the fusion's Gemstones shined, and she used two of her hands to reach inside. She pulled two of Eyeball's knives, but they were soon covered by more of the coppery, brown substance that her Gemstone seemed to be made of. By the time she was done, she held two unshapely, rough rock clubs.
And with one violent movement, she pummeled Light-Diamond's side, much faster than any Sapphire.
The clone flew parallel to the ground, finally stopping his momentum by floating. He held his sword with two hands and tried to set a trajectory towards the enemy, but the broken fusion quickly caught up to him, hitting him in full like a meteor.
"I… what am I looking at?" Four asked, disturbed. "What kind of Gem is that, even?"
"We can ask her afterward." Roxxie said, not realizing how she'd referred to the fusion. "Alright ladies, on me!"
The Corps came back together, listening to their field leader's instructions.
"Titan!" Roxxie roared, and several of the Jaspers smiled. Some of them flinched.
"Ooh, ooh, can I?" Amethyst asked, suddenly excited. "Come on, you kept telling me about it!"
Roxxie had to ignore Amethyst. This was delicate work. She walked towards her sisters, and a light hum started. So many Gemstones synchronizing, you could hear it emanating from them.
Amethyst didn't mind, really. The experience of watching it would be worth the wait.
An explosion nearby took her focus away, but all Jaspers kept at their ritual, unabashed by external stimuli. A building nearby had just fallen due to the fight. Screaming and panic spread across the streets now that the fight was public.
The fusion and Light-Diamond didn't seem to much care about collateral damage, with public property being damaged by both of their attacks. It didn't seem like the fusion could fly, but she was so fast and so strong that it barely mattered.
"Yo Famethyst!" Amethyst said, catching the group's attention. "There's people down there who have no idea what's going on and might get hurt! Get at it!"
"Aye!" One of the largest Amethysts said, starting to deliver orders. "Half of you, with me! You, you and you, stay with the nerds! The rest go look for survivors on the ground level, help who you can!"
The battalion obeyed immediately, and it was always weird seeing a lot of Amethysts obeying orders. They left quickly, but that interested Amethyst much less than the fact that the fight seemed to be coming back around in their direction.
"Oh no." She said.
A couple Rose Quartzes came from the back, setting up a shield in front of the now-glowing mass of Jaspers and their surrounding allies. Spinel hugged Amethyst, wrapping around her many times.
"Hang on!" The pink Gem said, and Amethyst braced for impact.
The two combatants crashed right through the shield, which diverted their fall somewhat. Light-Diamond fell closer to the entrance of the One Throne, while their supposed ally fell face first on the ground, opening a massive hole by Amethyst and Spinel.
"Hey! Eyeball and company! You guys okay?" Spinel asked, stretching her head closer to the epicenter.
The fusion stood up with a sudden movement, which startled Spinel's head away.
"GROSSULAR." The fusion yelled, and that was just apparently how they talked.
"Uh, okay, yeah obviously." Spinel tried to save face, failing miserably. "Y-you go girl! Grossular! Grossular them up, girl."
"GROSSULAR!" Grossular yelled again, leaving the hole she was in.
She summoned two more clubs, quad-wielding her weapons while she looked for her opponent. He was nowhere to be seen.
The fusion finally looked up, and Light-Diamond had risen and was coming down, sword in hand. She threw a club up and dodged at the last minute, losing one of her weapons to his swing. Light-Diamond was hurt, but still very capable. He stared down at Grossular as if he were inspecting prey.
And at that point, a second light show began. The mass of Jaspers started to fuse.
"Absolutely not." Light-Diamond said, turning around and flying towards the group.
Amethyst and Spinel intercepted his advance, with Amethyst using two whips to make a net, and Spinel punching down from above once he was stopped. Grossular came in by jumping with her clubs pointing down, which Diamond took with multiple shield layers and his sword. Most layers broke immediately, but in the end, Grossular was standing on top of his last shield, beating her rock clubs on its surface.
Above her, he could see Spinel winding up for another large punch. On the side, he could see Amethyst cracking her whips to help. Grossular screamed louder and louder, as if every attack made her angrier.
In the middle of a clubbing, her body began to phase and glitch, as if she couldn't maintain her form. She dropped her weapons and held her head, touching the large Gemstone like it hurt. She rolled over the shield, and Amethyst dropped her own weapons to try to help her ally out.
This was the chance Light-Diamond needed. Shield down, he quickly flew up and attacked Spinel directly. Her fist still went down, but the sudden upset caught off-guard, and she felt her momentum working against her.
He collided with the pink Gem in full, who, before being cut, managed to stretch her limbs to pull herself away, towards the palace. Light-Diamond was about to follow, but his strategy was interrupted by a loud noise of something incredibly large moving.
A yellow giant rose from the ground, fully armored from head to toe. The armor was clearly made of the same hardened material that Master Jasper's helmet used to be made from. There were no visible Gemstones, all protected by the armor. It was like a statue given life, holding a shield in one hand and a gladius on the other. From Amethyst's perspective, it was like the titan stood almost as tall as the palace itself.
"YEEEAH!" She yelled, still hanging on to Grossular. "FULLMETAL JASPER! IT'S SO MUCH BETTER THAN I— AAAH!"
Amethyst's incredibly loud fangirling was interrupted by Light-Diamond being swatted away like a fly towards her direction, which she had to dodge. Grossular roared more, but with the startle, she came undone. Eyeball and Corundite lay confused on the ground, with Amethyst still holding the former Sapphire.
"Wha… what happened?" Eyeball asked, dazed. "G-Grossular… Corundite? We were… so angry…" She tried getting up, but her knees failed her. Corundite was similarly exhausted.
"You girls okay?" Amethyst asked, while Light-Diamond got up. He completely ignored them.
"Jaspers cannot hope to challenge a Diamond, no matter how many." Light-Diamond said, holding his sword with both hands. "When this is over, no Jasper will ever be hatched from a useless planet ever again."
Fullmetal Jasper roared, and dozens of different voices yelled out at once, while just as many spears appeared behind her, floating in midair.
Light-Diamond lunged forward, sword in hand, but he was easily deflected by their massive shield. Fullmetal Jasper's flying spears each took point at the enemy, hurling themselves from mid-air like they were being thrown by invisible giants.
The clone dodged two of the spears before deciding to fight back. He held open his arms to create a massive shield that held a third spear by its tip, and flew around it to grab the giant weapon by its larger portion.
The giant's sword came down at him, but he threw the great spear with incredible speed. Fullmetal Jasper took the blow to her chest, being dragged back as the spear disintegrated after impact.
Light-Diamond didn't flinch. He flew high, higher than the giant, higher than the castle, and held his sword with both hands. The dictator started to descend as fast as he could, using the sword as a spearpoint. No matter how armored she was, she couldn't defeat a meteor.
While their master balanced herself, three of her summoned spears pointed up, starting to spin. Light-Diamond didn't have time to think about what he was seeing. Spheres of energy were accumulating on their tips. And once they became large enough, they fired.
The lasers combined halfway through, which didn't help him. His momentum was completely thrown off because of the attack, not to mention the damage he received. Eventually, Light-Diamond had enough focus to summon a protection that took the last legs of the bolt. The energy cleared to show him Fullmetal Jasper, fully recovered and aiming a spear right at him.
She threw the spear as hard as she could, which was far more than his already-weary shield could take. The construct broke in a dozen pieces, sending him flying away.
"Impossible." He said to himself, resuming flight just before hitting the floor.
Light-Diamond almost fell close to Amethyst and the others. Luckily for them, he was far too focused on battle to pay attention.
"This is crazy." Amethyst said. Even if she was excited, this was terrifying. "That freak doesn't want to quit."
"Uh-oh." Spinel pointed at Fullmetal Jasper, who was starting to glitch. "I don't think they got a lot longer in them, Amethyst. What do we do?"
"What do you mean, what do we do? Either they beat him or we're dead!"
She recoiled when Light-Diamond managed to clash swords with them, despite his size difference. This was somehow a fight that could go either way, but he didn't have a time limit.
Fullmetal Jasper pushed him away from their clash, summoning multiple spears behind her body. Light-Diamond prepared another set of shields, but the attack never came. She just kept summoning more spears.
All of them were spinning, and charging, yet not firing. He stared at her confused.
"Have you finally lost your mind?" He yelled, stretching his multiple barriers out. Multiple pink layers stood between them. "You're almost done. You can't go against your Diamond."
They spun around the giant, charging lasers of their own, until they all came together as a gigantic canon right above her head, pointed directly at Light-Diamond. He caught himself doing the math in his head for how much power each of those spears could output. It would be incredibly close, but by focusing all his energy on shielding, he should be fine.
And then Jasper pointed her shield at him, whose entire face started to glow with the same energy.
He didn't feel so sure about those shields anymore.
"Amethyst!" Spinel yelled, stretching one limb to pick up her three stunned allies, jumping, and then stretching the other to get the hell out of the blast radius of that thing.
And as the cannon charged fully, the titan screamed:
"YOU ARE NOT OUR DIAMOND."
And the strongest blast of energy in that Era was unleashed directly on Light-Diamond.
The first few layers tried to hold up, but that only meant a few extra seconds. Broken pieces of pink constructs started to give way as the massive energy blast destroyed all defenses Light-Diamond's put up. Before the last one was destroyed, he flew away.
The spears separated, each becoming a separate laser, still firing. The clone tried dodging the now-multiple lasers, but the cannons were deceptively fast. They anticipated his every move, almost as if some of those Jaspers were dedicating their perception solely to predicting his movements.
As he was hit with more and more attacks, from multiple angles, the clone put up as many barriers as he could. He created shield after shield, bubble after bubble, and refused to stop moving. The blast effortlessly broke through every defense he put up. And as fast as he could be, he wasn't faster than pure energy.
Ultimately, the blasts hit him in full. Light-Diamond felt his body pushed with violence by the attacks, and then it overtook him, enveloping him completely in its power. He hadn't been made for this much fighting. He harnessed all his power into trying to protect his form, but he knew it wasn't enough. This overwhelming energy was beyond anything he thought he would ever face.
"No." He told himself, through his own demise. "NO!"
The spears gave out, one by one, only leaving the larger shield laser in the end. Light-Diamond held on to his sword and made a shield around its blade. He put the blade between himself and the attack, and with all the strength he had left, he cut.
The laser cut open like a bullet, giving him just enough time to throw himself off, completely exhausted. His sword was broken at the hilt, a bladeless weapon that had served him as much as it could. The despot fell to the ground, barely hanging on to consciousness. He could feel his form glitching out of existence.
A large shadow covered his vision, and Fullmetal Jasper landed right on his side, gold and yellow and making a lot of noise. Her form was almost done with, but she held on, seemingly through sheer force of will. He struggled to get up, not caring to note that she was now carrying Amethyst and Spinel on her hand.
"Do you think this victory changes anything?" He coughed, getting on his knees and pulling himself up. "Do you seriously think I am your only problem?"
No one answered. Light-Diamond held his broken sword as if it were a powerful weapon.
"Diamond is several times mightier than I. All you've done is give him the reason he needed to destroy this pathetic civilization. You're the entire reason this began!"
He could barely see. His words sounded distant in his head
"You know what you're meant to do! You know what you're good at! Why can't you just do it?!"
Amethyst jumped down, landing in front of him. He pointed what once was a sword on her direction, and suddenly realizing he could only see from one eye.
"Dude, we can do whatever we want. You too. You don't have to just live to serve Diamond like that." She had no weapons. Would be such an easy kill.
"I'm doing what I want!" Light-Diamond yelled, tired of this. "I want to do what must be done! And you're all in my way! You're all in Diamond's way!"
"Then maybe Diamond's way is stupid!" Amethyst yelled back, frustrated. "Maybe we just want a choice!"
"You don't deserve a choice!" Diamond clutched at his weapon. "You have no need for a choice! Just listen to me!"
"Amethyst." Spinel came down, touching her shoulders. "It's not worth it. He's not gonna listen to you."
"But—"
"Trust me." She said. Light-Diamond couldn't tell anymore, but Spinel was looking directly at his eyes. "This is nothing new. Besides, he's not even the real thing. Just some pimped up hologram following orders."
Light-Diamond didn't get offended, but something about her tone… something about how a stupid, broken Spinel talked to him… it snapped a fuse in his mind. He started to raise his sword, not sure why. Maybe he was just going to throw it at her.
"Don't you dare talk to me like that. I'm Diamond." He screamed; fury fully settled on his face. "I'm Diamond! I'm perfect and YOU WILL—"
Fullmetal Jasper's arm came crashing down on his body, and he was no longer anything.
There was no time for poignant silence. The giant fusion didn't raise her arm back. It glitched, glowed and unfused, with about thirty Jaspers falling to the ground, completely exhausted.
"Stars, I hate Titan formation." Said Tee, spread-out on the ground, barely able to breathe. "You ladies think the craziest things when you're together."
"Hey, come on, get with the times, you dusty old rock." Four said, laying down by her side. "It's Fullmetal Jasper now."
They both chuckled before breaking down into laughter. Two or three Jaspers around them poofed of exhaustion, but no one seemed to bat an eye at that. In fact, the sudden sound of poofing made some of them laugh. It was great feeling at home again.
"Hey, Four." Tee said, exhaustion settling in. They had gotten so close to dying. So many things felt more real now.
"Yeah?" The other said, almost asleep.
"I love you." No nervousness. Just a smile.
"Yeah, yeah. I love you too, you big mushy rock."
A last laugh before both passed out.
Roxxie faltered her way into standing up, huffing as if she'd just ran a marathon.
"Ughh. I'm gonna feel sore for weeks." She said, touching her head. "But it was worth it."
Amethyst didn't answer. She just kept staring at the hole that the fight left. There was nothing left of Light-Diamond. He was just a light construct, after all.
"This isn't over." Spinel said, similarly worried. "Diamond is going to know something's wrong."
"Yeah." Amethyst replied. She turned around to Roxxie. "How long until you girls can do that again?"
"Again?" Roxxie repeated, in shock. "Amethyst, we won't be able to do anything for a while. You've fused before, you know how taxing it can get. Imagine fusing with dozens of other people. Heck, I might poof just to save myself some time. I can barely feel my legs."
"Right." She felt anxiety creeping up her chest, unsure of what to make of their chances. "Well uh, you're needed here in Homeworld. I gotta get back."
"What are you gonna do…?" Spinel asked, raising an eyebrow. "You're not thinking of fighting Diamond on your own, are you? You heard the poser! That thing took an army to defeat, and it wasn't even the genuine article!"
Amethyst grimaced, not happy with being told her odds.
"I know, but I gotta hear it from him." She decided, turned around to look at the Palace, so far away now. "I have to hear him try to justify this."