Aight, last chapter was an unrelated mess, as I said, you can consider it canon or not, it won't have much if any relevance to the rest of the story, it was mostly an advertisement/explanation for my hiatus.
I do suggest that you re-read this story though, was I edited chapters to fix some typos and inconsistencies, as well as just to refresh the story for myself.
If you don't want to, basically all you need to know is that Steven never started being nice to Spinel and he never fell in love with her, Morganite doesn't exist yet either, as I'd rather save that for when he actually does love her.
As for why I decided against making him have feelings for her? It was too out of character for the character I had established, and I only made him be so nice to her because I read a story call Quality Time by Cala and...well I REALLY don't suggest you read it if you like Spinel. Usually everything that happened in that story wouldn't bother me at all, but because it was a human, little girl (like a actual child) Spinel...I couldn't. I just couldn't do that shit. Anyways, I needed to write some nice Stevinel and I just physically couldn't have her be mean to her, so...yeah.
Anyways, back to your regularly scheduled cannon chapters.
-=Paragon/Spinel=-
-=The Temple Beach=-
The Diamond rides the mindless lion through its portal onto the beach in front of the temple, his ship standing right on the shore, his two Lazuli's standing there as well, restraining the rebel Lapis with water shackles, the blue Gem on her knees. "S-Steven?!" She calls out to him as he gets off of the feline, Spinel hopping down next.
The teenage monarch approaches her with his pink Gem following closely behind. "So, Lazuli...why have you turned yourself in?" He asks with a glare as he stops in front of her.
"Because, I don't want to fight you! The others plan on fighting you and imprisoning you, and I couldn't agree to that...even Peridot was with them on the decision..." She says, clenching her fists at the thought of the Gem she felt to be her friend, agreeing to do something like that.
"So you, a rebel, have come to me, a Diamond? What do you expect to happen?" He questions the restrained Gem.
"I-...Homeworld has advanced incredibly since I was there last...so much change...it doesn't feel right...but everything is changing now, and I would like to stay by your side through all this change- I would've liked Peridot to join you as well, but no, I don't know if I could trust her anymore." The water Gem explains.
"You say all this as if I'm supposed to trust you, now what have you done to gain said trust? You've been on their side until I started this invasion, as far as I'm concerned, you're just a rebel spy." The hybrid accuses as he summons his arm blade.
"Steven, please! I really mean it, you know how I feel about imprisonment! You saved me from that mirror, gave me a place to call home, why would I ever be ok with that?!" She begins to panic, hoping he would see her sincerity before Curls grabs her by her hair and made her look up at her, Lapis wincing at the action. "You will keep your voice at a respectful volume when addressing Paragon."
"At ease, Curls." Steven orders, the blue Gem letting her go and going back to standing by Freckles. "Right, sorry, my Diamond."
"As for you, rebel...me and you are going to fight." He informs her, dissipating his arm blade. "You two release her."
Once her water bindings were gone, she stood on her two feet once again. "Fight? Steven, I already said I don't want to fight you, I'm trying to show you that I'm on your side." She insisted.
"I've been longing for a fight with you," He informs her, his pink eyes showing his excitement. "so you're going to fight me, and if you lose, you become a slave, or really whatever I want you to...and if you win, you may join my court as one of my special Gems like these three." The Diamond gives the prizes for winning as he motions to his Gems. "It doesn't matter if you agree or not, as I'm going to attack either way."
Spinel kept her head down, going to the two Lazulis, standing by their side, still under orders not to even try to interfere, her unusual silence somewhat worrying the two, but they saved their questions for when they got into the ship.
"I don't even want to know what his plans for me will be if I lose, but I don't want to hurt him..., though it seems to be the only way I'm getting through to him, so...I'll just have to be careful..." She summons her water wings and floats a few feet off the ground. "Then...let's just call this a spar."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night." He rolls his eyes as he floats up as well. "Curls, Freckles, Spinel, the three of you go wait in the ship with Nephrite, don't interfere with the fight, even if it looks like I'm going to lose." He orders, his attention going to them for a moment.
"As you wish." Curls gave a nod, walking over to the large pink legs, Freckles following after, giving him with a "Yes my Diamond." And Spinel giving a wave. "Be careful, ok?"
Once they were all inside, he looked back to Lapis as his eyes glowed. "Well, let's get on with it then." Before she could mentally prepare herself for the fight that was to come, he rushed her, flying at her and slamming his fist into her stomach and sending her further down the beach and chasing after her.
-=In The Leg Ship=-
-=Curls/Freckles/Spinel=-
"So, Spinel, you're being uncharacteristically quiet, what's the problem?" Freckles asked, Curls coming to her side. "Yeah, I really thought you would have more trouble with letting him go and fight that lazuli; he wasn't kidding when he said she was strong, it was obvious that she could've broken free from our shackles if she really wanted to."
"He gave me a order not to interfere, plus, even if I could help...the rebel fusion broke my scythe..." She says, obviously still upset by this. "But that's ok, I know our Diamond can handle some rebel."
"In any other setting I would agree, but this is like a Snowflake Obsidian fighting a Jet in a volcano..." Nephrite comments, glancing over to the ocean. "No...not even that is a fair comparison, this Gem has allegedly used all of this at once while cracked...there is no logical way he could win if this rebel genuinely tries."
"If she attempts to shatter him, we will have to defy his orders and interfere with this fight...I will take whatever punishment that he gives." Spinel says, her Diamond's life worth more than anything; no matter what he punished her with, it would be worth it.
"C'mon Spinel, we are the only ones who could really stop her and even that's iffy; there's no need to put yourself on the line like that when we're going to see to it that things don't get too bad anyways." Curls says, setting a hand on the pink Gem's head.
"Let's just hope it doesn't come to that..." Freckles says hesitantly, watching the fight from their position within the ship.
-=Steven/Lapis Lazuli=-
-=The Beach=-
Lapis recovered from his first attack only to look up and be met with a foot to her face, the Diamond having done an axe kick onto her head, sending her crashing down into the sand below.
Steven was somewhat disappointed that she wasn't fighting back, or was too slowly to keep up, be he wasn't going to show mercy, the hybrid summoning his gauntlet and a diamond-shaped shield behind him, using it to propel himself at her with with his fist aimed to slam into her.
This time, she was luckily able to move out of the way, launching herself up into the air with her wings right before the monarch slammed into the beach, sending the sand flying everywhere.
For a moment, Lapis thought he had hurt himself, but before the sand could even settle, he came flying out of the debris with his gauntlet still ready, the force for the speed that he was using to fly at her being enough to clear what was stopping her from seeing the large creator where she once laid, formed by Steven, though she didn't dwell on it for too long, being quick to move out of the way and make her way over the ocean water.
Steven gave an annoyed growl at all the running away while he charged her again, this time with his arm blade, but Lapis was quick to create a water fist that caught him, an air bubble around his head but the rest of his body restricted after the fist dragged him under the surface of the water.
"Steven, please give up, I don't want to hurt you!" She warned, only for the Diamond to summon a bubble around himself, making it pop with enough force to clear the water around him, giving him the opening to charge her with a sword.
Once he got too close, she sent a fist at him, only for the hybrid to slice through it, dropping down on a shield just above the water and launching back at her with a gauntlet out again, this time going faster at her than her water could go to catch him, resulting in him sending her flying even higher into the air, though he didn't stop there, chasing her up in the air eventually ending up passing her, so that way when she stopped flying up and was about to start falling again, he was able to punch her back towards the ground at full force, the blue Gem hitting the ground and creating a second crater on the beach.
Lapis realized she would have to stop being so easy on him if she wanted to win this, so she created a wall of water to stop his next strike, though said strike hit hard enough to destroy the wall.
Once Steven could see through the other side of the previous water wall, he was met with a strike to his whole body, a water fist punching him to the ocean, the Diamond able to stop himself from being submerged in the salty waters with his floating powers, though next he was met with yet another water fist, this time coming from within the ocean and sending him flying up into the sky.
By the time he had summoned a shield and launched himself back down towards her, she had created at least fifty water spears, the hybrid having to summon his bubble to not get hit when she fired them all at him, it cracking due to the many strikes, but he didn't back down, instead opting to summon his gauntlet and punch the inside of the bubble, making it grow spikes as the force of the punch not only cracked the bubble heavily and made his ear drums burst, but it sent the spiked wrecking ball towards her.
In turn for this move, she summoned a water hand to catch him, only for him to destroy the hand by popping the bubble, timing it perfectly so that he wouldn't lose the momentum that he gained from the bubble, the young monarch tackling her by slamming his shoulders into her stomach, resulting in them crashing into the beach once more.
Lapis was feeling pretty beat up, sort of regretting how much she held back at this point as he grabbed her by the collar of her top and punched her in the face with his bare hand. Again. Again. Again. Again. And- Steven was slapped off of her by a gauntlet that Lapis made around her hand, formed by the water from her wings, sending the hybrid slamming into the stone that made up the hill that his old house and the temple were against.
Before Steven could recuperate, Lapis had flown over the ocean and submerged herself in it. He was confused for a moment, assuming she was running away, but he realized he was wrong when a whirlpool formed near where she went under the water.
The Diamond got ready for whatever he was about to have to deal with when a titanic version of Lapis rose from the whirlpool. "I really didn't want to do this Steven!" Her voice echoed as a good hundred spears summoned behind her. "But you leave me no choice."
Steven closed his eyes so he could focus on her energy with more ease, the hybrid summoning a couple shields that he used to block whatever he couldn't dodge, though he did end up with a hole in his shoulder and his abdomen, though he refused to let a little intense pain stop him from winning.
The Lapis Titan went to punch him, but he summoned a shield under his foot and jumped up, realizing that the water was hard, hard enough for him to walk on, which he did, the Diamond summoning his sword and charging up her arm, his eyes still closed so he could see where the power was building up, resulting in tentacles coming from the surface of the water titan, none hitting him as he sliced through any he couldn't avoid.
Once he got to the head, he propelled himself off the back of it's neck, throwing his sword into where Lapis' gem would be, it being mere inches from hitting Lapis herself, but before she could even turn the titan around, he summoned a shield and launched himself at the sword with a gauntlet equipped, punching the bottom of the weapon's handle and forcing it to go deeper, penetrating the real Lapis' form just under her gemstone, the water witch poofing after a second, resulting in the titan form falling apart.
Once he was sure he had won, he let himself fall towards the ocean hardly having the energy to summon a bubble to float on the water in, his Gem energy pointed towards healing his heavy wounds from the fight.
It didn't take long for a water hand to come and grab his bubble, pulling it to the shore. Once the hybrid was sure he was on dry land, he stood up and dissipated his bubble, only to see all four of his Gems around him, so of course he would act strong and fine, as if his body wasn't aching worse than that time that he overworked it with working out. "Thank you. Now, I'd like to request that you find the rebel Lazuli's gemstone...I'll be in the ship while you search."
"Wait, Steven, are...are you ok? She really did a number on you..." Spinel says, obviously worried.
"What do you mean "am I ok"? Of course I am, honestly, she was far more pathetic than I had thought she would be...that rebel trash was obviously holding back. Then what becomes of her is on her own head." The Diamond said as he walked past her, not sure how much longer until he would collapse.
They all watched on, slightly worried for him, but they had a job to do: find the stone of the rebel Lapis.
"Hey, Spinel." Freckles set a hand on her head. "Why don't you go back inside with Nephrite, me and Curls can handle the search mission."
"Yeah, not much you can really do that we can't, it's water after all." Curls added. "Just tell Steven that we said we had this handled if he says anything."
"Hmm...if you say so." Spinel said with a smile, deciding she would rather be with her Diamond to see if he was really ok, the pink slinky giving them a wave before walking off towards his ship.
-=Steven=-
-=Private Quarters In The Leg Ship=-
Once Steven was sure he was alone, he let out a quiet groan as he dropped down into a chair. His gem powers seemed to have fixed up his major damages: broken bones, ruptured organs, the holes in his body, his ear drums, and all that, but it left the pain that came along with it, as well as being exhausted from all he has done today.
"Damnit...I really should get those nutrient supplements finished up; I can't always rely on my Gem energy I guess..." The monarch sat there, glad to be relaxing, but legit feeling like he was hit by a bus and doubted he had the energy to do so much as walk.
Unfortunately for him, his privacy was interrupted by Spinel entering the room. "Steven? Are you in here?" She questioned, peeking in and seeing him.
He winces slightly as he straightens up. "What are you doing? I thought I had instructed you and the Lazulis to go look for the rebel." He speaks with a glare.
"Sorry my Diamond, they said they had it covered since she's in the water, that I couldn't really do much that would be of any use." She informed him holding her hands together. "I'm just kinda worried about you, you took a good amount of damage back there; you aren't cracked or anything, are you?"
"Of course not, I am perfectly fine; what kind of Diamond would I be to fall to a Lazuli? I am in perfect working condition." He says as he goes to stand up, only to realize he overestimated his current physical condition, the Diamond giving a quiet shout in pain as he dropped to his hands and knees.
"Steven!" Spinel rushes to his side, getting next to him on her knees, holding her hands close to him but not wanting to touch him in fear of making it worse. "You are hurt..."
Deciding he couldn't just brush this off, he let himself lay down, taking soft but deep breaths. "Don't worry about me, I can handle it; I'm only like this because I wasn't taking care of my human needs."
"Please, let me help you out...I'll do so in any way I can." She requested, wanting to make sure that he wasn't in this state at such an important time.
"Nothing." He says, forcing himself to sit up. "You are under strict orders to never say anything about this to anyone, understand?"
"Of course...I'll keep this between us. You just tell me what you need and when and when you need it, I'm here to help." She says, more than happy to help him.
"I don't exactly have a Pearl...well not one I can actually use." He says, thinking back to the Pearl in his dreams he had had every so often since he got to Homeworld, easily able to tell that White did something to her and that her current Pearl was not her own. "I'll have to fix that when I get back I guess."
She decided to ignore his decision to get a Pearl, as she was his warrior, even if that did give her less of a use in day to day life. "Well for now, you have me...anything you need?"
"Just bring me the rebel Gem when they find it, but for now, just..." He gives a sigh. "Well we don't exactly have any warm showers or something that I could take to help the blood flow, and no ice to reduce inflammation, so the best option I have to at all make me body feel useable is a massage."
"Massage? What's that, I'll do it for you." Spinel offered, glad there would be a way to make her Diamond feel better.
"In short, it's just when you rub and knead someone's body, mostly trying to give attention to the muscles, applying heavy or gentle pressure and such, but for this it'll be heavy pressure. Here, I'll show you so you don't mess up and make me worse." He motioned first her to come over.
The pink Gem of course came over to his side as requested, allowing him to turn her around and start showing her what kind of stuff she'd have to do by doing it to her. She enjoyed this for a bit until he figured she understood, stopping the massage and laid down on the floor. "Remove what clothing you must, just get on with it if you want to help so bad."
She gave a nod. "Yes, my Diamond." The Pink Gem smiled and got to work on making him feel better, proving to be a quick learner.
-=With The Rebel Gems=-
-=Pearl/Garnet=-
Garnet and Pearl were standing on a cliff in the woods that gave them a somewhat good view of the fight that took place, both equally feeling hopeless.
"He just beat Lapis..." Pearl said in disbelief. "I don't know what brought that on, but he defeated Lapis, how are we supposed to stand up to that, Garnet?!" She panicked.
"I... I don't know. We can't rely on a face to face fight with him, so we can make a plan from that knowledge...but for now, let's go back to the others and give them the news.
"Right, not much else we can do here." Pearl sighed, leading the way back to the ship, thoughts of if getting Steven back was possible.
Once the two were there, they noticed Connie was awake, though she was just sitting there, staring at her lack of an arm.
Pearl was the first to approach her. "Connie?...Hey, I...I know that what you're going through must be hard right now, and I just want you to know that we are he-" Bismuth spoke up over her. "We've been trying to get her to talk to us or react to anything for an hour now, so good luck with that."
Before Pearl could question the Gem, Connie started talking quietly. "Gone...my dad...my mom...my arm...they're gone...he took them from me." She clenches her remaining fist.
None of them were able to really come up with a defense for him; he was acting independently, he is the one who did it, and she was there for it all...
"Connie, I understand that you may hate him now, but please keep in mind that...Steven isn't in the right headspace right now." Garnet tried to remind her, only for the human to give a few chuckles.
"Right...not in the right headspace...if that's a proper excuse for this, then I'm just in a terrible headspace...I'm going to kill him. I'm going to get better, and I'm going to take his life." She spoke, still starring where her missing arm should be.
All the Gems looked at each other with unease, Pearl stepping up. "Connie, I understand you're upset and all, but we can't just kill him, that's still Steven."
The human shook her head. "No...Steven is already dead...that thing that killed my parents...it's no better than any of the other Diamonds...it's just another tyrant."
"Connie, we ain't gunna let you kill Steven, that much should be obvious, and if you couldn't beat him before, what makes you think you'll stand a chance next time you see him, this time without an arm? Just leave him to us." Amethyst warned.
The human stopped responding to their words, just starring at the empty space where her arm should be as she thought over the final moments of her parents...over...and over...and over again.
-=End of Chapter=-
So...yeah I know that wasn't long and it was basically just a fight scene, no substance, and over all just a bad way to return, but in the end, this marks the day that I come back to writing until college or something.
Anyways, as always-
Good morning, goodnight, or good afternoon, I'll see you all again soon.