Stevonnie swooped down, steady on the shield, and grabbed Ronaldo by the shirt.
The human screamed as soon as they made contact, letting out a startled yell as his grip on the lighthouse loosened completely. Admittedly, the fusion dipped a little on the shield when he suddenly became ten times heavier in their grip, but it didn't take them long to haul him up onto the ship with them, letting out a quiet huff and looping around the building to head back to the ship. Ronaldo practically clung to them then, wide-eyed, starry-eyed, really (and they thought it was quite a strange reaction to almost falling to his death in a fire, but they wouldn't say that), as the fusion tilted the shield up, raising a little higher, only to skid to a sharp stop. The Sun Incinerator was moving, and for good reason; Melanite's ship was shooting at it, one blast of bright, white energy right after the next. Stevonnie stared for a second, eyes flickering rapidly back and forth, and narrowed their eyes. They needed to get to safety, and they couldn't risk stopping for even a second to let Stevonnie and Ronaldo inside yet, but it was clear that the ship wasn't going to go far as long as they weren't inside. They needed to get Ronaldo away.
They scowled, tightening their grip on the human and their sword, and turned on the shield to dive downward to the beach. Ronaldo shrieked and yelped a little, pressing closer to them, and the fusion offered him a light, reassuring squeeze in response as they lowered the shield and skidded to a stop just inches from the sand. They came to an easier halt than Steven usually did - and the fusion smirked a little in their victory - but they were quick to usher Ronaldo off the shield, much to the human's dismay. "Wait, what are you doing?" He demanded, looking up at them, and then snapping his gaze up to the ships above them. Stevonnie followed his gaze.
"Don't worry," they replied without looking, watching the Sun Incinerator dodge another blast from Melanite's ship, and this time they retaliated with a blast of their own, forcing Melanite's ship to soar even higher into the sky. Stevonnie sighed, looking away. "Just get somewhere-"
They stopped, watching Ronaldo raise his phone toward the sky, very clearly recording. "Are you kidding me? This is amazing!" The human gushed, wide-eyed. Stevonnie stared at him, watching his glasses, hanging crooked on his face, reflect another blast from one of the ships above, and watching his face shift with mixtures of awe and excitement in response to it. "I mean, who else do you think managed to get this close to an alien spaceship war? Nobody!"
Alien spaceship war. Stevonnie shook their head, baffled. "What the fuck did you just say?" Ronaldo froze for a second at that, looking at them in surprise, and the fusion clenched their free hand tight into a fist as they glared down at him. "Are you kidding me right now? Ronaldo, this isn't some kind of show for your entertainment, or something for your blog-! This is dangerous, and you're lucky to be alive right now." They threw a hand back, gesturing back to the lighthouse, then tore their gaze back to the sky when Melanite's ship suddenly crashed sideways into it, knocking off another good chunk of what was left. "... ugh. Look, whatever- stay down here and try and stay out of sight." Ronaldo just blinked at them, mouth half-open, as the fusion tilted the shield back and flew them back up into the sky, soaring upwards with a scowl.
They spun, facing the ships, and tightened their grip on the sword.
"Alright, Melanite," they muttered, forcing the corners of their lips upwards into a cold smile and soaring forward toward the ship. They dove under and circled around it, avoiding another blast - this time directed at them - and raising themself up completely to jump off of the shield, landing on top of the ship. They wavered a little as the ship moved again, and watched the Sun Incinerator immediately stall to a halt in front of them. Melanite's ship stilled underneath them as well, for a second, and the fusion smirked briefly as they made their way across the ship slowly. They sauntered, really, as they walked to the front of the ship, to the very end where it sharpened to a point, not unlike a drill. They steadied themself, looking down, and smirked.
The ship plummeted forward and Stevonnie grinned to themself, just for a second, then schooled their expression into a serious one. The ship dove toward the ground, and they stayed still, holding themself completely steady on the edge, until the last second. Only then did they push themself up, floating high into the air and looking down as the front of the ship slammed straight into the sand, burying itself into the ground and sending up a mushroom-shaped cloud.
Stevonnie landed in the sand a few feet away, and turned, surveying the length of the beach while they waited for something else to happen. The familiar glint of a gem caught their eye quickly; carefully, the fusion spun around and headed over without looking back, feeling a rush of relief upon seeing Tiger's Eye's gem half-way buried into the sand. She hadn't reformed yet.
They reached down, bubbling the gem without touching it, and sent it to their gem silently. They would take care of that later; it was safer in their gem for the time being, and Stevonnie didn't want to risk them reforming right then if they healed it now. Taking a deep breath, the fusion turned, rolling their shoulders back, and held their sword up slightly as the ship finally managed to pull itself out of the ground. Rather than lifting back into the air, however, it stayed low, close to the sand; Stevonnie paced forward a few steps, inclining their head forward, and waited.
A pleasant smile appeared on their face as the ship opened, but their eyes narrowed as Melanite walked out, with her scythe hefted over her shoulder. She came down the ramp alone; they understood, she didn't exactly have many gems to spare in a fight, and while Stevonnie wasn't stupid enough to take all of them on by themself, they definitely would be able to wait until the rest of the Crystal Gems caught up with them. They smirked for a moment - Melanite was being careful. She was being cautious. Which meant she knew they were a threat, which meant that, on some level, they were scaring her. Good. The fusion brushed their hair out of their face, taking a breath to steady themself, and made their way forward to meet Melanite.
"Good evening," they greeted sweetly, and Melanite smiled sharply at them, her eyes cold.
"Well, aren't you quite a sight? Absolutely stunning, if I must say," the black gem purred, taking a few more steps forward. Stevonnie paused, making sure to keep some distance between them, while Melanite cocked her head and bared her teeth at the fusion in a grin. "Goodness, I wish you'd shown yourself sooner! It's such a shame I've already decided to grind you to gem dust."
Stevonnie tugged their lips into a lazy smile in response, pushing the sword into the ground and leaning against it with a hum. "Yeah, damn, that's definitely a shame. But, alas, if you've already made your decision! Why don't I… just rip it out myself and give it to you on a silver platter?"
Melanite raised her eyebrows and grinned, tilting her head. "Well, you certainly could do that, darling, you'd make my life much easier. Though you might not like what happens if you do."
"Oh." Stevonnie glanced at her gem, pursing their lips. "Maybe I'll just rip yours out instead."
"I would love," Melanite replied softly, "to see you try."
Stevonnie smiled coldly in response, roaming their eyes across her body carelessly before letting their gaze come to a stop on the scythe. They watched for a moment, just thinking, but found themself looking past her again when the ship rumbled to life. She didn't turn around, not seeming surprised at all as the ramp lifted and the door shut, and the ship shot straight up into the air; they did, out of the corner of their eye, see her smile widen the slightest bit when their eyebrows furrowed, but they didn't say a word. The Sun Incinerator was much quicker to move, then, dodging a blast from the other ship and soaring up into the sky again, though it continued to pause every now and again. Stevonnie understood, they didn't want to leave - but they had it.
The fusion watched for a moment, breathing in through their teeth, and turned their dark gaze back to Melanite, allowing the smile on their face to wither into a neutral expression. "Well, I guess that concludes our pleasant little chat. Back to our regularly scheduled program, huh?" They winked, and Melanite's eyebrows lifted even higher, a grin splitting across her face.
"Ooh, it's such a shame," she groaned, lifting her scythe from her shoulder. "I like you." She stepped back, shifting one foot behind her and finally sparing a glance up toward the ships. Stevonnie smiled to themself, almost opening their mouth to respond - ("I wish the feeling was mutual") - but they were quick to snap it shut when Melanite lunged at them. They summoned a shield quickly, though they knew it wouldn't do much against the scythe; they sprung backwards, half-jumping and half-using their floating powers to propel themself back and away from her, and Melanite pushed herself forward in response and slashed her scythe sideways.
"You know," Stevonnie began, blocking with their shield. The scythe went straight through, nicking their arm as it did, but they managed to jump and float backwards again before any real harm could be done. "Before what you did to Mandarin, Steven already wanted to take the rebels down. Then, he found out his friend was dead." They narrowed their eyes slightly, a pang of grief stirring in their chest. It caught them off guard just enough that Melanite's next swing almost landed; they summoned their shield in time to block it, letting it take most of the impact.
"It was nothing personal," Melanite assured, readying herself to swing again.
"I'm sure," Stevonnie replied indifferently. "But it doesn't matter. You killed an innocent gem." They summoned another shield to block the next swing at the last second, and jumped back.
Melanite growled, a frustrated look flickering across her face. She stepped back this time, eyes flicking wildly across the fusion's body as she took in their stance, and she seemed even more infuriated to realize that they stood mostly casually for the most part. Stance wide, body lowered, tense and ready to block her next attack - but they weren't making any effort to fight. Allowing their lips to tug upwards for a second, they recognized immediately that that must be a huge insult to someone like Melanite. Oh, imagine the hit her ego must be taking right now.
"You killed an innocent gem," they continued simply. "You didn't care who she was, who she used to be, did you? You shattered her because you wanted to. Because you could. And I can't tell you how much Steven hates you for that - actually, I could, but I don't think I need to." They brought the sword up this time to block another attack, slamming the blade into the handle of the scythe and throwing themself forward to kick Melanite back, slamming their foot into her gut and knocking her backwards. "Point is, he hates you. He hated you before he even knew you, before he knew your name, who you were. He hated you before you were anything more to him - or, for that matter, anything more to anyone than the gem that shattered one of his friends."
Melanite stumbled, looking positively livid now as she regained her balance again and stepped away from them, fury flashing through her eyes as she glared up at the fusion and bared her teeth. Stevonnie raised their eyebrows mockingly in response, inclining their head, and smirked.
"But now that he knows you," they continued, raising the sword again with a grin. "Now that he's met you in all your glory, I can tell you with absolute certainty that he hates you even more." After a pause, in which the fusion pretended to think, Stevonnie allowed another smirk to flit across their face as they leveled their gaze with the furious gem's, raising their eyebrows slightly. "And, I can definitely say with certainty that I do. You're an obnoxious little coprolite."
Melanite froze for a second, pupils shrinking, and Stevonnie took more satisfaction than fear in the anger that darkened her features. "You're a lot more talkative than Rosie is," she commented, oddly quiet now, as she shifted her grip on the scythe and hefted it up again. Stevonnie shrugged while the gem went on, "which is fine with me. Actually, I've got a question for you - goodness, it's been bugging me for a little while. Why on Earth - excuse the pun, dear - would you subject your ever so precious friends and 'family' to this?" She lifted a gloved hand and gestured toward the beach house, the temple, but Stevonnie didn't dare move their gaze.
"I don't know what you're talking about," the fusion replied, and finally lunged. They lashed out, aiming to stab through the stomach, and they almost met their mark. But Melanite turned at the last second, and while the sword did strike her, slashing across her stomach and tearing a part of her uniform, it didn't quite have the desired effect. They spun around before she could use that to her advantage, and blocked another blow from the scythe with a shield. "Elaborate?"
"Happily," Melanite growled, slashing again. Stevonnie kicked themself backwards, holding their breath as the scythe came inches away from their face. "I gave you - pardon me, I gave Rose - the option to leave willingly on the terms that I'd spare this miserable planet, and he refused."
"Steven," Stevonnie emphasized simply, "made the choice to stay and fight-"
"And thus subject everyone else to do the same?" Melanite countered, offering a grin in their direction, sharp like shattered glass, and the fusion narrowed their eyes. "You've condemned them all to watch this planet suffer. And make no mistake, I will absolutely destroy this place bit by bit, piece by piece, building by building until there's nothing left." She lashed out and Stevonnie blocked with a shield yet again, swinging their sword at the same time. Melanite managed to detangle herself just in time to avoid getting slashed across the throat. "I'm sorry, but it just seems a bit counterproductive if you ask me. You want to stay and fight for your planet, for your home, yet you're just going to stand here and let me destroy it regardless? It didn't have to be like this, Steven. You could have come with me, and left them here, safe."
"I'm not the only one that wants to fight," Stevonnie retorted, lashing out again, and Melanite blocked the attack with the handle of her scythe. "And it's not Steven's decision to make."
"It could be," Melanite sneered. "Instead he forces them to fight-"
"He's not forcing anyone to do anything," Stevonnie growled. "I can guarantee you that every gem back there wants to see you in a bubble for one reason or another, whether we've got to reduce you to shards to do so or not." They jerked back, ducking to avoid a swing from the scythe again, and abruptly pressed themself forward. Melanite retreated at once, stumbling back to get away from them, and brought her scythe up as the fusion lashed out again. They huffed a little as she managed to deflect the attack, and jerked back to block another slash with a shield as they continued, "this is war. This is what war does. And the last time I checked, you were the one at risk of losing. That's why your petty ass decided to start wrecking stuff. That's why you faced me by yourself, because you know that little army you have is too weak to fight." With a smirk, they lifted their sword and added, "not that you're faring any better on your own."
"This isn't exactly a fair fight," Melanite snarled and lunged at them, and Stevonnie slammed their feet into the ground and rocked backwards with a laugh, lashing the sword up and blocking another blow from the scythe as they landed back on their feet and took another step forward.
"Again, this is war." They smiled coldly as they went on, "nothing and everything is fair."
Melanite narrowed her eyes at them for a moment, silent. Then, all too abruptly, she stilled; Stevonnie furrowed their eyebrows as they watched the black gem's face suddenly break into a cold grin, a dangerously sadistic smile, threatening enough to send warning bells off in their head for a second. They straightened up and stepped back, bringing their sword up silently as they prepared for the next blow - but Melanite stepped away from them, the grin unwavering, and hefted her scythe over her shoulder, seemingly with no other intentions of fighting them, and turned her gaze toward the sky. "Nothing and everything, huh?" Her gaze landed on the ships, and Stevonnie dared to look, themself, narrowing their eyes suspiciously in response. "Alright, darling, you've managed to piss me off. And you won't like me when I'm angry."
"You know, that's actually really funny," Stevonnie commented, trying in vain to stifle the dread pooling steadily in their gut. The ships were still going at it, blast after blast, both of them just barely managing to evade the other. It was getting pretty intense up there, actually. The fusion ran their tongue over their lips and frowned, looking down again. "'Cause like, I really don't like you anyway. But I'm pretty excited to see how my already intense hatred for you can get worse."
"Be careful what you wish for," Melanite laughed as she turned back to them, raising an eyebrow. "You don't want another one of your precious friends to end up dead, do you now?"
Stevonnie narrowed their eyes at the threat, inclining their head slightly and searching the other gem's gaze silently for a moment before they replied, "I'd be careful what you say, Melanite. Steven's still on the fence about shattering, but I promise you that if you swing at my friends and family, you better be real careful that you don't miss." They glanced at the scythe for a moment, then rooted their gaze back to Melanite, eyebrows furrowing again as they took a few steps closer. Melanite watched them silently; there was no apprehension in her gaze, not a flicker of fear, but her eyes did narrow slightly at their approach, and she shifted her foot back an inch even as they came to a stop a few feet away from her again. "Because I will gladly destroy you."
"You know, that's the problem with you Crystal Gems," Melanite mocked. "You're only willing to do the right thing - if! It comes down to it. You're all bark and no bite until the stakes are high enough; you're fine with standing back and doing nothing until something forces you to take action, gives you a reason to react. But, you know what? Maybe that's something I can use to my advantage. You want stakes? You want a reason to react? I'll give you a reason to react." She sneered at them, and the fusion jerked their chin up sharply. "This? This is for you, baby."
"Melanite," Stevonnie warned quietly, "you really shouldn't."
"But I really want to." She smiled again, stepping back. "You're right; I am petty."
Stevonnie lunged at them, and Melanite startled for a second; they almost had her, they could have had her. One quick swing, that was all it would take. And they took it. Raising the sword, they brought it down hard with every intention of poofing her, of ending this once and for all.
Melanite slashed at the same time, and the blade of her scythe connected with the sword's.
The fusion stumbled and stopped, screeching to a halt and reeling back in shock as they stared down at the sword, held tightly with both hands now. The scythe had severed a large portion of the sword's blade; it was a perfect, clean cut almost as if it had simply been snapped in half. Even more perfect, they realized numbly as they stared at it. It was broken. The sword was broken. Rose's sword - no, Connie's sword, Connie's sword was broken, she'd broken it. Of all the crimes she'd committed, this one was rather tame, and yet it still served to ignite a rush of burning, boiling fury in the fusion's gut all the same. They clenched their teeth, drawing back sharply, and snapped a cold glare up to the gem in question - who now looked rather smug.
"Oops," was all she said before she turned and took off, and Stevonnie froze in shock for a second, stunned, before they managed to summon their shield under them to follow after her.
A deafening roar and a flash of pink halted them both; the fusion skidded to a stop, nearly throwing themself off of the shield completely, when Lion jumped out in front of Melanite, forcing the black gem to skid to a stop as the pink beast turned and roared at her hard enough to send her flying back toward Stevonnie. She didn't come close enough to grab, though; she managed to skid to a stop just a few feet away while the fusion jumped off their shield and discarded the broken sword in the sand briefly to summon Steven's scythe from their gem with a scowl.
Lion stopped and lowered his head, teeth bared in a snarl, and from their back, a smaller figure hopped off. Stevonnie didn't recognize them, not at first, but he recognized the gem on their chest, and the gem on the back of their left hand. A Peridot and a Ruby. Their eyes widened slightly, stunned into silence for a moment as the fusion jumped off of Lion and stood in front of him, eyes unmoving from the black gem in front of them. They were green for the most part, somewhat of a darker green than a Peridot usually was, but still rather pale. Their hair was much paler, though, with darker red streaks running through it. They had a dark green shirt, with a light red top over it, and grey pants with red streaks wrapped around them all the way down to the ankles. They also had a visor like Berry; they had one pair of eyes, the right one with a dark green star around it, like some sort of tattoo - kind of like Bismuth, actually - three arms - two on their left side, one on their right. They weren't too tall - maybe a few inches taller than Peridot.
"Leaving so soon?" They questioned, tilting their head. They lifted a hand, the gloved one, and waved at Stevonnie briefly before turning their attention back to Melanite, who looked equal measures intrigued and frustrated as she glanced between them. "And I just got here, too."
Stevonnie shrugged. "Bad manners, if you ask me. Bailing on your own party."
"Bailing? Not quite," Melanite chimed, glancing back at them. "More like moving the party."
The other fusion wasn't amused. They moved forward a little, Lion at their side, and finally glanced at Stevonnie through their visor, eyes narrowed slightly. "Where's the human?"
"Uh…" Stevonnie blinked, stomach twisting sharply at the realization that, yeah, they had no idea where Ronaldo was right then. The fusion frowned and turned their head, sweeping their gaze over the beach, and sighed through their teeth. It didn't take long for them to see the human in question closer to the beach house now, on what was left of the porch - seemingly only out of the necessity of getting a better shot of the fighting, because he had his phone out and aimed right at them right then, excitement and awe sparkling through his eyes. The fusion rolled their eyes and turned away again, fixing their gaze on Melanite briefly before looking away. "He's safe."
"Is he?" Melanite asked sweetly, following the fusion's gaze briefly with a smug smile, the other fusion raised a hand silently, summoning Lemon Lime's bow from their gem without a word.
They looked at Stevonnie, smiling reassuringly. "Go take him to the ship."
"You got it." Stevonnie winked and summoned their shield again, sticking their tongue out at Melanite briefly. "Don't have too much fun without me." They waited long enough to see the fusion draw the string of the bow back, summoning an arrow, which burst into flames at once just before they shot it at Melanite, forcing the black gem to jump back and veer sharply to the side to avoid it. Stevonnie smirked, satisfied, and spun around on the shield to make their way back over to Ronaldo, albeit somewhat reluctantly. They'd much rather stay and fight Melanite, and Ronaldo didn't seem to be in any danger at the moment - but, then again, Stevonnie knew how quickly that could change, and they knew it was a better idea to try and get him somewhere safer. "Alright, Ronaldo, let's go," they called as they approached, swooping around him on the shield and lowering it down enough for him to step up. "We've gotta get you outta here now."
"What?" Ronaldo groaned, not lowering the phone, and not daring to look away from it. Stevonnie glanced up, watching Melanite and the other fusion fight, then glanced back up at the ships as another thought occurred to them - how were they supposed to get Ronaldo into the ship when the ship literally couldn't stop moving? "Awh, man, no way! This is great, check it-"
"Shut up." Stevonnie dropped their gaze, thinking, then whistled for Lion. "Lion! Hey, buddy!"
Lion turned to charge over to them at once, and Stevonnie diminished the shield, landing carefully on the porch. They turned to Ronaldo, fully prepared to pick the human up themself and throw him into the portal, but they paused when Melanite suddenly called, "Angel, now!"
The other fusion froze, looking up.
Stevonnie followed their gaze silently.
Melanite's ship froze, stalling in the air for a moment, then shot upwards into the air at an alarming rate. It spun and spiraled a few times, flipping and looping through the air, and the Sun Incinerator seemed damn close to following it for a second before it abruptly stopped again. Stevonnie watched, silent, as a flare shot up into the sky from the ship, one after the other; a steady stream of them, sparkling and crackling. The fusion's pupils shrank slightly, freezing with their hand on Ronaldo's arm, as the human slowly turned the phone's camera toward the sky.
The ship turned, and one of the flares shot out over the hill.
"Incoming," Stevonnie whispered.
(Explosions, quick and deadly, ripping buildings apart, chunks of dirt flying, gems and shards-)
The Sun Incinerator dove downwards toward the beach as one of the flares fell back down toward it. Stevonnie managed to encase themself, Ronaldo and Lion in a bubble just as the explosion went off, tearing off a great chunk of the mountain as it did. Another one followed, and then another; they ripped the beach apart, sand and dust flying until Stevonnie couldn't see ahead of them anymore. Unconsciously - subconsciously - they pressed closer to Lion, digging their fingers into the pink beast's mane and ducking their head with a soft, shaky gasp. It was literally explosion after explosion, one blast after another, a steady stream. Like fireworks, but worse, louder. Every part of the fusion ached to pop the bubble and run to the beach - stars, their friends were there, Berry and Lemon Lime - their fusion - right at the center of all of it.
The explosions got quieter, but didn't stop yet. The clouds of dust and sand took their time settling; Stevonnie covered their ears for a moment, breathing heavily, and just listened.
The explosions didn't stop. They just became more… distant…
"Stevonnie? Stevonnie?!" A familiar voice screamed over the noise, and Stevonnie shuddered, relieved to hear the other fusion's voice, and tore their hands away from their ears in an instant. They dared to look up again, through the bubble. The beach hadn't cleared enough for him to be able to see, but he could see the Sun Incinerator close to the sky; the door was open as it flew, and the fusion was clinging to the side of it, head turned to look out across the beach.
They felt something stir, something split, with the threat of destabilizing completely, but they held themself together. They could unfuse once they were safe; they had bigger priorities right now. The fusion turned, looping an arm around Ronaldo and ignoring the human's protests, and swung him toward Lion without a moment's pause as they finally dropped the bubble. "Lion, go!"
Lion threw himself forward at once, roaring a portal to jump through with Ronaldo on his back.
"We're okay," the fusion yelled up at the ship, summoning their shield. They took a deep breath, heart pounding, gem aching. They wanted nothing more than to sink into the safety of the ship with the others, but they couldn't - stars, this was chaos. The explosions were still going off in the distance. Stevonnie swallowed thickly, past the lump that had formed in their throat, and forced the shield back a little, soaring upwards into the air and flying as high as they could. They stopped, only when they were sure they were high enough, and turned to look toward the noise.
What they saw drew a scream from their lips, forcing a hand over their mouth to muffle the sound. They could have sworn their heart stopped beating, their lungs stopped functioning.
The entire town was in flames.
Buildings demolished, smoke pooling in the air, explosions going off. One right after the other, chunks of buildings flying and crumbling, fires spreading, car alarms going off, craters forming. The entire town was either in flames or surrounded in smoke. Every building that they could see was either on fire or had been destroyed or had been leveled completely to absolutely nothing.
Beach City was destroyed.