Steven hated horror movies.
The overabundance of gore. The pointless jump-scares. The plot that seemed to be ripped out of a story created thousands of years ago. The monsters that were just weirder and grosser versions of the monster in the movie before that one.
Of course, it could just be because he was easily scared and didn't want to watch anything like that, but until then, that was the explanation he always gave when he declined his old man's invitation to watch old horror movies with him. He then went home, made himself some hot chocolate (it was always hot chocolate, regardless of the season), and watched some Crying Breakfast Friends reruns.
And how is all this relevant? Well, because a horror movie is what Steven felt he was in right now, and he absolutely hated it.
It had all started with the noises around him. The footsteps. The whispers. The gushes of wind like someone was moving extremely fast. Then the shadows appeared, made only slightly visible by the faint light given off by the cubes. He could make out the shape of something small in one cube, and something tall in another. And then they were gone, slinking back into the darkness, out of view. And it was then that Steven realized just how perfect this location was for a horror movie. Large. Dark. Overall, very creepy. And now he was stuck in there, with no idea where the exit was, trapped with...whatever was stalking him.
And if they weren't Gems, then he didn't even want to know.
"Show yourself!" He shouted, waving his shield around in a threatening fashion. His pink glow had faded the second he had heard the footsteps, like the pure terror he achieved from them caused it to disappear. It only came in moments of anger after all. And Steven wasn't sure if he even could be angry right now. "If someone's out there, show yourself and stop running around in the dark!"
The response to this was a high-pitched giggle from all directions, like the archives had been invaded by a group of clowns. Steven gulped and backed away, eventually hitting the cold shelf, the cubes glowing up in response.
"S-show yourself!" He demanded again. "If you're trying to scare me, it's not going to-"
This was as far as Steven for before he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. It was like Pearls, with long, thin fingers that wouldn't be possible for a human. The grip was soft and non-threatening, as if meant to comfort him. And of course, it had the opposite effect of this. Steven screeched like a child on a roller coaster and jumped backward, waving his shield like a madman as he hoped to fend off whatever grabbed him. He caught a glimpse of the person pulling their arm back through the shelf they had slipped it through.
They were smiling.
And that smile was one of pure amusement.
"You little…" Steven started, as he stopped swinging his arms around and witnessed the figure vanish. "Fine. Very scary. Just go and grab me like that. Now stop wasting time! If you want to tell or show me something, just do-AH!" He screeched, as a cube went flying past his face, missing his nose by inches. It flew past him and disappeared into the darkness, and a moment later Steven could hear a giant shattering sound, indicating that it had landed.
"Really?" He shouted. "That better not have been an important one!"
After this, Steven decided that he needed to get out of here. If they started throwing more cubes at him that he couldn't see until it was too late, or god forbid, start toppling the shelves, then he wouldn't stand a chance when they came out of the dark to attack him for real. With a deep breath, Steven bent his knees and then flew into the air, the wind blowing past him and tilting his air and he ascended. Once he had made it past the top of the shelves, Steven stopped, panting and looking around.
Although it was nearly impossible. Below him was a sea of luminescence, tiny dots of light everywhere he looked. The room dredged for farther than he could see, and for a moment he really hoped that that was just a trick of the darkness. But more importantly, he couldn't make out any of his attackers. The footsteps and whispers had stopped, and he couldn't see any more shadows moving around. It was like they had teleported away, and he was alone aga-
Without warning, a blue chain shot out from the darkness and wrapped itself tightly around Steven's left leg, the coldness of it able to be felt even through his jeans. He looked down in panic, and that was the only thing he had time to do before whoever was holding it yanked it downwards, and Steven followed. He screamed as he fell back towards the ground at a rapidly rising speed, and he knew that he only had a second to react before he broke his legs or worse. Using his shield, Steven slammed the edge of it against the chain and snapped it in half, one part of it vanishing into flickers of light while the other retreated back to whence it had come. Steven then stuck both his arms out and came to a sudden halt two feet off the ground, saving himself in the nick of time.
He floated there for a moment, trembling over his maybe near-death experience, wondering if he should try to fly back up again. Realizing that things might not go so well if he tried it twice, Steven deactivated his floating powers and let himself fall two feet, hitting the ground with a loud slap as his sandals impacted the floor.
"...Okay, then." He said. "You don't like me trying to escape. I get it. You want me here. Where you can toy with me, and torture, and probably capture and kill me just like every other Gem I've come across in my life. Come on then! I'm ready! I've been ready for-AHH!" He exclaimed once again, as the same chain from earlier whizzed past the back of his head and sliced off a portion of his hair. Steven heard the soft thud as the clump of hair impacted against the ground, and instinctively he jumped forward before throwing his shield as hard as he could in the direction the chain came from. It vanished from sight and made a loud clanging noise as it impacted against something, followed by what sounded like glass shattering. Steven gritted his teeth and summoned another shield as he realized that the first one likely only hit the shelf and broke even more cubes, possibly the ones that he had been looking for.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it." He cursed, as he turned around and began side-running away, not wanting to be surprised attacked again. "Yellow, if you can hear me, now would be a real good time to...wait! My powers! I can just use my mental powers to-"
As if the universe was sending him a sign, a knife flew out of the darkness directly at his head. Long, thin, and painted black, it whizzed towards him with a low whistle accompanying it. Steven's eyes widened and he just barely dodged it by moving his head back, causing the knife to leave a long slash across his forehead instead of his brain. Steven cried out in pain as blood flowed freely from the wound and into his eyes, partially blinding him. He tilted his head over so that it dripped onto the floor instead, fully aware that he had to act quickly.
"Come on, come on…" He groaned, and ignoring the intense stinging sensation coming from the wound, he picked his free hand and slathered his saliva all over it, causing it to seal up and for most of the blood to disappear. He blinked a few times and wiped his eyes with his shirt, trying to clean the rest of it. After this was done, he stood up straight again and summoned a bubble, mentally kicking himself for not doing this sooner. But even now encased in a nigh-indestructible pink sphere, the area where his injury was once still throbbed like the worst migraine of his life, and Steven was forced to one knee afterward.
"Damn it…" He repeated, rubbing his spit on the area again and again, hoping to get rid of the pain. "That was way too close. I guess that means any intentions from these guys of capturing me, at least alive, is pretty much nonexistent."
Right on cue, several more knives struck the bubble before rebounded and flying away, hitting cubes and shattering them on impact. Steven noted the placement of the small marks in his bubble before they faded away, and that if it wasn't there, the knives would have gone right into his eyes and heart.
"...Definitely nonexistent." He mumbled, before getting back up. He pushed against the side of his bubble and it began to roll down the aisle, while more knives futilely struck it, causing almost no damage. "Yeah, what are you gonna do now? Didn't plan it all the way through. Didn't think out all the variables. I have the power of a Diamond, you-"
Once again, Steven's boasting was cut off by an expertly timed return of the chain, which appeared in his and wrapped itself around his bubble multiple times. It was whipped a few times, like its owner was testing its strength, and Steven immediately knew what was about to happen.
"Oh, you son of a-"
With a jerk that he felt across his entire body, the chain was thrown into the air and the bubble came with it, making Steven slam into the side of it and chipping one of his teeth as gravity took over and started flinging him every which way.
"This actually isn't what I was expecting!" He yelled, as the bubble was then smashed into the ground, creating a giant crater and nearly breaking one of Steven's legs. The nearby shelves shook and the cubes on them fell like rain, and soon enough a shower composed entirely of what looked and felt like glass began tumbling down in clumps. Steven was still "protected" inside his bubble, but it eventually reached the point where the entire floor was almost covered in the stuff, and soon a thick carpet of razor-sharp shards was scattered across the ground. He groaned and touched one of his teeth, one that felt odd, and flinched away in shock when he felt a small piece missing. He went to lick it with his tongue, but before he could a huge shadow appeared above him, looking like an elephant had been dropped from the sky.
"AH! MOVEMOVEMOVEMOVE!" He told himself, as he scrambled to his feet and tried to run, but before he could the object landed and began pushing the bubble down, causing it to strain under the weight. Steven ignored trying to run away and instead pushed at the shadow, not even sure what he was trying to fend off yet. But a second later, a face pressed against the surface, once that he immediately recognized as a Topaz. It was frowning at him so deeply that Steven wouldn't be surprised if it was impossible for this Gem to smile, and if looks could kill, then Steven would be six feet under.
"Who are you?!" He shouted at the Gem, who didn't respond. "I know you can talk! The last Topaz I met pretended not to, so don't bother trying to pretend that you're mute!"
Once again, the Topaz didn't respond, but instead looked to the right, and Steven followed suit. There he saw a tall, thin, purple Gem emerge from the darkness, clicking her tongue in disgust and holding a chain, the chain, in her hands as she twirled it around. Around her waist was a makeshift belt, with several throwing knives attached to it. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this had been the person attacking Steven, and if the weapons didn't give it away, then the look she gave him when they locked eyes certainly did.
"My, my, my…" She cooed, her heels clicking against the ground. "What do we have here? A rogue and false Diamond on the loose? Well, well, well...we can't have that."
"Who are you?" Steven repeated, glaring at the Gem with unbridled rage. "Why are you trying to kill me?!"
"My, my...such anger." The Gem said. "And I thought that the great Steven Universe was all about peace and love and caring for your fellow Gem." She sighed softly. "I suppose everyone has a breaking point. Even you. But you can call me Charoite. And I have been planning this moment for a very long time…"
"Is that so?" Steven growled. "Let me guess. You're one of those Gems that have been throwing protests on Homeworld. The ones who don't like how I changed things. The ones who have scampered away anytime the Diamonds show up to put a stop to your nonsense!"
"Demeaning me doesn't mean anything," Charoite said. "I had enough of that in my time. Do you know what a Chaorite's job was, Universe? Do you know what we did before? Before you reformed and dismantled the Empire?"
"Is it relevant to any of this? Because if not, then I don't really care." Steven said, having no patience for the Gem that nearly took his life no more than a few minutes ago.
"It is," Charoite growled, before composing herself. "Our job was to clean things. That's it. Clean. Clean. Clean. Day after day. Night after night. Our entire lives were spent with a rag in our hands, or a brush, or anything else like that. Even when Gemkind created machines that could do our jobs for us, the elite class decided that it was more fun to have us keep doing it. More fun to watch."
"Wouldn't cleaning things be a job for a Pearl back then?" Steven asked, his eyes darting around, checking to see if Charoite had any more cronies besides the Topaz. "If I remember correctly, they were the servants…"
"Oh, Pearl's were more for following the direct orders. Holding things. Getting you things. Standing by and looking pretty. Well, we Charoites weren't made to do that. Just cleaning. Because the elite found out that we were one of the fastest types of Gems alive. Our speed was unmatched by almost anything. And what did they have us do? Did they make us unstoppable soldier assassins, capable of wiping out an entire battalion of Quartzes with a single flick out of our swords? NO!" She shouted. "They had us clean things! Clean it faster, they said! You're a Charoite, aren't you? You're fast! You were made for it! Clean it faster or you get five years in a bubble! And that's how it was for thousands of years!"
While normally Steven was fine with hearing the Gem equivalent of sob stories and giving her advice and comforting them afterward, he really wasn't in the mood to continue listening to any of this. He sighed again and frowned, before looking upwards and grimacing at the Topaz, still staring at him with a blank expression.
"Is there a point to all of this?" He asked again. "If you hated your old job so much, then why are you so annoyed with the fact that you don't have to do it anymore?"
"Because you just made life worse for me!" Charoite said. "When I was cleaning, I knew what to do. I was given commands. I knew how to follow them. I hated that job, yes, but at least it was familiar. But now...I don't know what to do! You said that Gems could do whatever we wished! Whatever we wanted! But when I tried to do something else, it didn't feel right! I tried a gardening class, and was kicked out for spraying the plants with cleaning fluid! I tried an art class, and got odd looks when I painted the same dirty rag fifty times in a row! I took a class on how organic species work, and was asked to leave when I almost drowned the animal they brought in! I've been having so much trouble adjusting!"
Steven paused and once again looked up at the Topaz, who made a "just go with it" as she shrugged. Steven groaned and facepalmed, still confused as to why she wanted to kill him.
"This sounds more like an obsession with your cleaning job." He stated. "You did it for thousands of years, and now you can't get it out of your head. I don't think you truly hate cleaning. You actually miss doing it, and that's why you tried to shove it in with all the classes you took. Because otherwise, they wouldn't feel familiar. And…" He shifted nervously and fidgeted in place. "...There's a class on Earth, you know. That helps deal with this sort of thing. Being unable to let go of the past. I think that class could help you."
"Lies!" Charoite said. "No class can help me. Don't you think I've already tried that? Don't you think I've tried everything? I can't let go of it! No matter what! So now the only thing left to do is kill you for bringing this pain, this obsession as you call, into my life!"
'Oh my god, she's seriously trying to kill me because of her cleaning problems.' Steven said. 'I wasn't expecting that much from the protesters, but this is just asinine. Why couldn't she just have used the, "I just hate you want to kill you" excuse like everyone else? At least this would have gone by quicker.'
"Okay," Steven said. "I'm all up for helping Gems. Like I said, if you had come to Earth and asked for my help with this, I probably would have given it to you."
"You never said that," Charoite growled.
"Well, my message to the universe should have implied it!" Steven replied. "I literally said, "if anyone has problems with the new system and don't know where they belong, hit up Earth, we have a place called Little Homeworld which will teach you to be the best Gem you can be"! I told everyone that! Why didn't you come to Earth? If you had simply done that, then none of this would have happened!"
"More lies," Charoite said. "You wouldn't have helped me. Anything I did I would have screwed up. That's the plain truth. And now...for ruining my life-"
"You ruined your own life!" Steven shouted, before feeling a pang of guilt. He was getting pretty harsh with his comebacks, but he was definitely not in the mood for this. This Gem had just tried to kill him, while he was on a timeslot, trying to get information to help his friends and Connie. He was going to get her the information she needed, and he didn't care what he had to do to this Gem to accomplish this. The hybrid began to feel his skin tingle as it started glowing pink, which shined through the bubble and cast rays everywhere. "You should have come to Earth, but you didn't! You could have gone to the Diamonds, but you didn't! That's your fault! It doesn't matter if you thought they couldn't help you, you should have tried it anyway! That's what all of it was about in the first place! To convince Gems to try new things!"
"Yeah? Well, look how well that turned out." Charoite scoffed. "But it doesn't matter. You should be dead already. I told you that story as a courtesy. Out of minor respect for my enemy. But now...I'm going to purge you once and for all! Like the Diamonds should have done all those years ago!"
And with a flash of movement, Charoite whipped out a knife and shot towards Steven's bubble. He couldn't help but flinch at her speed. She wasn't lying: One second she was a few feet away, the next she was right in front of the bubble, like she had teleported. And with a dagger held in her hand, she thrust it forward and attempted to pop the pink barrier, only for her blade to break on impact, the broken shard flattering to the floor.
"Nice try," Steven said. "But if those throwing knives from earlier didn't work, then why would that? You're never going to get me out of this bubble. And if you do manage to get it to the point where it could pop…" His mind flashed back to Pink Steven, created the facet-like shield that effortlessly blocked White's eye beams. "...I'll just make a stronger one."
"Is that so?" Charoite asked. "Well, I'm sure that even that thing has its limit. Topaz, get off the bubble and start rolling him towards the exit pad. We're warping this imposter towards the worst, most violent planet in the universe and seeing just how much this stronger bubble of his can take."
"It took the full force of White Diamond's powers." Steven pointed out. "I'm sure that it can take whatever you have planned."
"We'll see about that. Topaz." Charoite said, and the bulky Gem rolled herself off the bubble and got to her feet. Once there, she walked around the sphere until she got to the other side and started pushing it away, making Steven nearly fall flat on his face as he was rolled up the side of it and started to fall. Eventually, he was forced to run along with the movement like a hamster in a wheel, and Charoite followed close behind them, eyeing Steven with an almost intrigued look.
"So what were you planning to find in here?" She asked. "You're going to die soon, but I'd still like to know a few things. Just out of pure curiosity. Wasn't that smart after all. Coming down here alone...with no backup, no escape plan, nothing like that."
"I didn't think anyone else could get down here." Steven seethed. "I thought it was only open to the Diamonds."
"Is that what you think?" Charoite asked. "Mmm. I suppose you're right about that. The main entrance is only open to the Diamonds. However, that is not the only way to get in. There are...other methods. One of which is the one we're taking you to right now."
"Fascinating," Steven said. "I guess you broke in then? Carved a hole in the wall?"
"Oh, no no no…" Charoite said. "More like…actually,
I'm not going to tell you. After all, if you miraculously escape from us somehow, then you'd know all our secrets about how we got in here! And we wouldn't want that."
"I don't know, sounds pretty good to me." Steven quipped.
"Humor yourself all you want, but it will not save you in the long run," Charoite said. "We have been waiting a long time for this moment. Me and Topaz. We both hold a grudge. And before you ask her why she hates you, don't bother. She won't tell…"
"And I suppose you're not going to tell me why she won't talk either?" Steven guessed.
"You got it," Charoite said. "Although...I guess I am slightly glad that things turned out this way. I was supposed to just kill you here, with no one but me and her watching. Boring yes, and the others of my group wouldn't get to see it happen, but we all agreed that you were too dangerous to try and capture. You had to be taken down where you stood. But now…" She smirked and pressed her face against the bubble. "...You captured yourself for us! I never would have expected it! And don't even think about trying to escape. The second it pops, I'll have slit your throat before it even finishes fully deforming."
"Is that so?" Steven said, his pink glow intensifying. "Just how fast are you?"
"Fast enough that human eyes can't even keep up with me. And most Gem eyes as well." Charoite said.
"Well, if there's one thing we can agree on, it's that a Gem as fast as that deserved a better role than a cleaning position," Steven said. "The system was made to be as effective as possible back then. If Charoites were truly that fast, then why didn't they put you in a job where you could use that speed? And how useful would super-speed even be for cleaning? Unless you had a good handle on it, all you would do is spray water and dirt all over the place every time you picked up a mop!"
"Because they were afraid," Charoite said. "They were afraid of what we could do. What we could become. A group of about ten Charoites could likely take over an entire sector of Homeworld before they'd be stopped by an orbital bombardment. That's how powerful we are. They always say, "strength and durability are everything in a fight. Without those, you can't win". But they're wrong. It's speed. No one can use that strength if they can never hit you. And that speed can also be fast enough to make you able to cut through the most durable of materials. The Diamonds were scared of what we were capable of. So we were sent to meaningless jobs, one that you said, Pearls could likely take care of, and not a single Charoite was ever allowed to come in contact with another."
"If they were so scared of you, then why weren't all the Charoites just bubbled like the Rose Quartz's?" Steven asked. "Seems more efficient than having this vast complex system based around a single Gem type."
"Because if a full-on galactic civil war ever broke out, the Diamonds wanted us on their side," Charoite explained. "If they had bubbled us, we'd have never joined them when freed. But since we weren't, if there was a war, most Charoites would gladly strap on a helmet, get in a ship, and walk right into the battlefield. I personally would, and I'd likely try to attack them with cleaning fluid."
"..."
"..."
"...That was a nice bit of exposition," Steven said. "So what do you plan to do after I'm dead, huh? Killing me won't cure your cleaning obsession. If anything, it'll only make it worse. I might be the only person who can help you with this, you know. I'm sure I could get rid of it."
Charoite paused and then stopped in place, causing Topaz to do the same. Steven realized this too late and ran right into the front of the bubble, smacking his nose and making him fall over.
"Really?" She asked, turning around to glare at him. "You already mentioned your little program at this "Little Homeworld", you know. And I told you that I'm not interested. You can't help me. Killing you will-"
"I'm not talking about that," Steven said, in a perfect customer service voice. "You see, one of my powers is the ability to affect people's minds. I can do all sorts of weird things with them. Emotional problems, memories, a whole plethora of powers when it comes to that."
"...Really?" Charoite asked, now looking intrigued. "And how does this relate to what we're talking about?"
"Because I have an idea. Once that might work out for both of us." Steven said. "I can enter your mind and find the source of your cleaning problems. The same ones that caused you to hate me in the first place. I can find these problems and destroy them. Make it so that that obsession of yours never bothers you again. You'll be free to do whatever you want without screwing it up with cleaning."
"...Is that true?" Charoite asked. "Are you telling me the truth? Can you really free me of this obsession? Make it so that I never have to think about cleaning again?"
"Of course!" Steven said, trying to finite the sweat that was rolling down the back of his neck. "All you have to do is sit still and have me your permission. It's...easier that way." He finished, narrowly avoiding saying, "Better that way, since I'm not that skilled". Because Steven wasn't sure if he could enter her mind or not if she didn't want him in there. He had a feeling that he could, but he didn't want to risk it. If she felt him trying to sneak in, she might get angry and throw the bubble around a few more times with her chain. It would be much easier to shut her down from the inside if she simply allowed him. "So how about it? Sounds pretty good, eh?"
"I suppose…" Charoite said. "But you mentioned that we both win this way? What do you get out of this scenario?"
"Here's the thing. I'm not going to do this for free." Steven said. "If you want me to cure you, then I want you to promise something. Once I finish, you'll let me go and leave this place. You can come back and kill me later if you like, but not right now. That is my part of the deal."
"Hmm...kill you later on...in exchange for healing my problem?" Charoite said. "...Okay. But there is one more thing I want you to do."
"What's that?"
"You have to be outside your bubble," Charoite said. "This could all be a trick, after all. You could be trying to mind-control me or something. So if anything goes wrong, I want you to be in the open, so Topaz can grab your head and crush it if you try to do anything stupid."
"Sounds good to me," Steven mumbled, now frantically rethinking his plans. 'Dang it!' He thought. 'This is my only way out now. But if those are her terms...then how can I escape the Topaz? Even if she doesn't notice anything is wrong with Charoite until the very end, she may still be fast enough to grab me and-' He paused mid-thought and looked down at his body, still glowing a bright pink. '...Oh. Right. This form was strong and fast enough to take Jasper. And while I'm not sure if I should pace it with Charoite's supposed super-speed...I'm sure it's enough for one Topaz.'
'Oh, you stupid hybrid imposter.' Charoite thought. 'Let you into my mind? Allow you to fix my problems? Don't make me laugh. I saw an opportunity. I took it. The second you leave that bubble, you're as good as dead. I've seen an organic die before. Quick stab to the center of the chest or head...and that's all she wrote. This is your end, Universe. I will succeed where the Diamonds failed, and finally end your miserable reign. Then things will get back to how they were, and I will get back to cleaning, and I will be mad again but not as mad as I am now!'
'But then again…' Steven continued. 'I have a feeling that Charoite isn't going to fully go along with this. The look in her eyes...the way she's looking at me with that smile...yeah. I'm sure she's not going to let me into my mind at all. Probably just going to off me the second I step out of the bubble. So how...ah!' He smiled as another plan came to mind. 'That time at Funland. When Amethyst and I were fused. Somehow, when we were pink, I activated an ability that allowed me to move at superhuman speed. Like, super-super human speed. Faster than any other Gem there. If I can somehow activate that here...then hopefully it will be enough to take down Charoite. I just have to concentrate, right? That's how I managed to take control of all my powers before now. This is just like that, only with a stronger one. I'm already pink. All I have to do is think it…' He surmised. '...And it should be done.'
"So then," Charoite said. "I guess we have a deal."
"Yeah," Steven said, readying himself to attack in case Charoite was lying about the whole thing. (Which he was pretty sure she was). 'Ready yourself, Steven. Think about what you felt in that moment. Moving faster than any human, any Gem...even her. Careful.'
"I guess we do." He continued. "So then, how are we going to do this? Should I just exit this thing and then we're all okay? You can sit, kneel, or stand if you like, doesn't matter to me. As long as I get your permission."
"I'll stand," Charoite said. "Not get on with it. I don't have all day."
"If you say so…" Steven mumbled, before thinking two things at the same time. One, to pop his bubble. Two, to activate his pink super-speed. Somehow, both managed to be acquired simultaneously, and he felt himself enter a new stage of movement as the bubble faded away in what appeared to be slow motion. He could actually see the cracks forming on it before it blew itself apart.
And once it did, nobody moved.
'...Did it work?' He thought. 'Charoite isn't moving. That Topaz isn't moving. I think…' He moved his arm, and almost like an afterimage, several pink layers of light followed after it, like a temporary stain on reality where it had once been. '...It worked. Just like that. Huh. Maybe one day I can get a handle on this pink form.' He turned back to Charoite and switched tactics almost immediately. 'Now, time to run and-HOLY-'
Was as far as Steven got before he moved his head to the side, just narrowly avoiding Charoite's knife by inches. He stumbled backward and checked again that he was still in his super-fast mode, and after a quick confirmation that yes, he was, he looked back at Charoite in disbelief. Her face slowly twisted into one of surprise, then anger, then determination...and then she shot at him, moving at a speed equal to his. Steven gasped and leaped to the right, barely dodging her attack again. It was like everything but her and him had been made to move in slow motion, even though Steven knew that this was nonsense, and the real explanation was that she was somehow keeping up with him.
"What the hell?' He thought. 'Didn't I enter my super-speed mode or whatever? How is she moving that fast? I knew she wasn't telling the truth about being quick...but this is just ridiculous! With speed like that, how did Charoite's not take over the entire Empire millennia before I was even born?!"
His question would have to wait for later, however, as Charoite turned and leaped at him again, knife aiming directly for his eye. He gulped and ducked to miss it, before losing his balance and falling over. Charoite's knife struck a cube instead, shattering it into what looked like millions of tiny pieces. The shards continued to move slowly like everything else, confirming yet again that Steven just wasn't fast enough for this enemy.
So he scrambled away instead, trying to put as much distance between him and Charoite as possible.
'Alright. Think about it.' He thought. 'Although it's only happened three times, she doesn't seem to be in a constant state of super-speed like I am. More short bursts that are equal to what I am now. This means that as long as I'm a decent distance away from her, I should be able to dodge anything she throws at me. From here I can make my way to the pad that leads out of this place, find Yellow, and she'll personally come down here and flush those two out. And then…' He sighed internally and prepared to move again. '...I guess I can get those cubes on the Lab. No point in abandoning that plan now because of this setback.'
With a glare and a blur of movement, Charoite charged again, forcing Steven to dive the other way as her knife struck the floor and became lodged in it. She let go out of and pulled out a new one, which had a much different and ornate design.
'But should I try to attack her back?' He wondered, summoning his shield. 'If I get too close and she charges I might not be able to dodge in time, but at this point, it might be worth the risk. It would be easier to just take care of her now instead of having to dodge her all the way, and then I can go back and poof the Topaz...wow. I am just switching from one plan to another here, aren't I?" He asked himself, as Charoite drew her some back and threw her dagger at him.
Steven was about to duck to avoid it, until he realized that the knife wasn't flying through the air nearly as fast and Charoite's thrusts. He moved his head to the side and waited until it was right next to him, then reached out and grabbed the handle. Then using every bit of strength in him that he could muster, Steven threw the blade right back at Charoite, taking special care not to aim for her forehead, which her Gem was located. Unfortunately, the purple Gem must have predicted that he would do this, as she twisted her entire body sideways like her spine had been snapped in half, the knife whizzing past her hair and cutting a few strands of it off. The knife kept going until it hit the Topaz they had left behind in the arm, who still hadn't moved more than an inch in the meanwhile.
'Dang it.' Steven thought. 'What now? Should I just keep going until she runs out of knives? If she continues to throw them at me, then I can keep grabbing them and throwing them away until she runs out. I haven't seen her pull any out of her head, and if they had been hers, it would have dissipated the second I grabbed it, so...they're just normal knives. And even if she has some sort of hammerspace thing going on, she has to have a limited supply. Getting close may be too risky, and running might be the same. But keeping my distance and playing the long game...that might just work.'
With a scowl that seemed to cover her entire face, Charoite pulled her chain out from underneath her cloak, spinning it around in her hands and making it extremely fast even in slow-motion. A few more seconds of this occurred, and then she launched the weapon at the hybrid, who groaned and prepared to change his tactics.
'Oh right.' He thought. 'Forgot she has that thing. Guess I'll just have to-MOVE!' He screeched internally, as Steven waited one second too late to try and dodge the chain, resulting in the spiked end of it slashing him across the cheek. He cried out in pain, even as the wound healed instantly afterward, and nearly toppled backwards into a shelf as the few droplets of blood that managed to get out slid down his face, moving as if they were in zero gravity.
'AH! That hurt, you...wait, what?' He said, feeling his cheek and noticing that the injury had vanished altogether. 'It's...gone? That's...that's never happened before! Normally I just hurt myself and then heal it with my spit. Is this some kind of pink power? Does any wound I receive heal instantly? And…' He gasped again. 'Is this where that blood came from? Back when Stevonnie was fighting Jasper? We were pink...so did Jasper bail us but the wound healed before we even noticed we were bleeding? Just instantaneous regeneration?'
He then felt the blood on his face and wiped it away, grimacing all the while.
'Well...I guess not that instant. But how strong is this? Is there a limit to what I can heal from? If not, then I can get in close and not have to worry about being hit. Sure, it might hurt a lot, but as long as it seals itself up right afterward, I might be able to…oh. Wait. That's not going to work.'
Just as Steven thought this, Charoite pulled the chain back and launched it again, this time aiming for his stomach. He blocked it with his shield and for the first time ever, it didn't deflect but rather went straight through it, wedging itself a few inches deep and narrowly missing his arm. Steven glanced at it in surprise and then let go of the barrier, moving as fast as he could before Charoite had a chance to yank him towards him. And she did just that right afterward, tugging her weapon as hard as she could and sending the shield flying right at her. She only had time to make a shocked expression before it nailed her right in the nose, and Steven couldn't help but grin at that before summoning yet another shield, making sure that this one was thicker than before.
'Jeez. What the heck is that thing made of? The only other thing that's broken my shield was Spinel's rejuvenator...and it sliced in half, it didn't go straight through.' He thought. 'If I did manage to take her down, then I'm taking that chain to Peridot to inspect. If there's anything else like that in the galaxy...I'd rather there not be. But anyways…' He continued, as Charoite prepared to launch a third attack. 'It's not going to work because she's aiming for my vitals. If she hits me in the brain, I'm sure that's game over no matter what. Connie once told me that brain cells don't grow back. They just stay dead. I may have magic healing powers, as well as memory powers, but if I'm too brain-dead to even use those things then they obviously become worthless…...Huh. I wonder what Pink Steven would do? If he came out of my...body, or whatever, could he heal me then?'
"Die!" Charoite yelled, or at least Steven thought that was what she yelled, or some other D word. Nevertheless, she shot the chain forward again, this time aiming for his legs, likely meaning to wrap around them. Steven jumped in the air and the chain struck the ground instead, carving out a piece like a cheese grater. And a flash of motion he retaliated, chucking his shield at her like a frisbee and aiming directly for her neck, hoping to decapitate and poof her. Gruesome, yes, especially by a human outlook, but extremely effective nonetheless.
However, this effectiveness would never be shown, as Charoite ducked and the shield only sliced off the very top of her nose, hit the floor, rebounded, and then struck the Topaz in the chest, who had now moved two inches. Charoite screamed in pain and grasped her nose, the small missing part regenerating in a spark of light a second later. She began screaming something at Steven, which he could scarcely make out in his speed-mode.
"You hybrid piece of trash! I am going to slice off all your fingers for that!" She claimed furiously, and without waiting another second she thrust the chain at Steven's right hand, who was still floating in midair like a Macy's balloon. He dropped at just the right moment, resulting in it slicing through his hair and lopping off another curl, which unceremoniously dropped to the floor, ceasing its pink coloring the second it was disconnected from the rest of his head. He landed like a ballerina and outspread his arms, as if goading for Charoite to attack him. She was all too eager, pulling out a flurry of knives and her chain, before throwing them all at Steven, aiming for every vital area she could think of.
'Of course.' He thought, noticing that the knives would arrive first. 'This isn't a challenge. I can just dodge those. Then I can grab that stupid chain of hers and yank her forward, before grabbing her Gem and pulling it right out of her body. I didn't want to have to get too close, but I'm sure she won't be expecting. The element of surprise is all I have, so I'll have to work fast.'
As the knives flew closer and closer, Steven decided that now was the time to act. Like an out-of-control ninja, he ducked, sidestepped, jumped, and basically moved every which way as he avoided being hit by the dozen or so daggers that had been heading his way. Once they had all passed him (with only one or two giving him small nicks, which of course repaired themselves), the chain was the only thing left.
Leaping to the side for what was hopefully the final time, Steven watched as the chain missed his midsection by a centimeter and then grabbed onto it, before yanking it towards him as hard as he could. Charoite was clearly taken aback as she went flying towards him, a look of shock slowly spreading across her face. Once she was close enough, Steven reached out and took her Gem in his hands, chills running up his arm from how cold it felt, almost like ice. Gripping it as tightly as he could, Steven pulled the stone outwards with all his strength, determined to finish the job before Charoite could react.
But it might have been too late for that. Steven saw a flash of movement come from the purple Gem just as he felt her actual Gem loosen, and out of nowhere, the wind was knocked out of him, along with a sharp stabbing pain in his abdomen. But he ignored it. Even though his knees were suddenly buckling and he felt like he was going to pass out, he ignored it. And using the last bit of strength he had, Steven pulled the Gem free with a loud pop, and a millisecond later Charoite's shocked expression exploded into a cloud of smoke.
And then it was over.
Steven was left standing there, the octagonal Gem in his hand, breathing heavily as his pink state suddenly faded and he was brought back into the realm of real-time.
"Got you." He said, before falling to one knee against his will. "Wha…? She gave me that wound when I was pink, why hasn't it-"
This was as far as he got before his voice died in his throat with a choking noise, as at that exact time he looked down to see exactly where she had struck him.
And she saw his Gem.
Cracks spread across it.
With a dagger embedded deep within.
And then in less than a second Steven's entire body felt like it was drowning, gasping for air as he collapsed entirely and fell onto his back. His skin had turned paler than he had ever seen it, save for one memorable time. He felt like his arms and legs were about to pop off like some sort of Frankenstein monstrosity, and then the feeling in everything below his waist went numb.
"...Hurry...hurry…" He told himself, as he reached for the knife. "Have to get it out...have to heal…"
With movement that seemed to take a thousand years to make, Steven finally reached the knife and pulled it out with one swift motion, resulting in a gurgling sound coming deep from his throat that would have been a scream of pain had his body allowed it. With no time to lose, Steven licked his hands and moved it downward again, praying that he wouldn't black out before he made it. Darkness was rapidly spreading on the edge of his vision, and his brain felt like it was shutting down, until…
"Made it." He whispered, smacking his palm on his Gem and slathering his saliva over it as much as he could. He didn't even blink as he moved it away and waited for the tiny sparkles to appear that always came with his healing powers. He imagined the Gem sealing itself up, the cracks ceasing to exist as if they had never been there to begin with, the familiar glow returning, good as new…
Nothing happened.
The cracks were not sealed up. His Gem was not being repaired. Steven's eyes went wide and he licked his hand again in one final desperate ploy, but it was too late. Just before it reached the no-longer glittering surface of the pink stone, his arm dropped and failed to reach it.
And as darkness finally overwhelmed him and he felt a cold, sick feeling envelop his entire body, Steven committed one final act of resistance. Using the single scrap of willpower he had left, he closed his eyes and tried to separate himself from his body, using his astral projection powers. Maybe he could save himself. Maybe he could get to Earth and place himself in a watermelon Steven. Maybe he could do something.
But for now, as he felt his body die, all he could do was cling on to any hope he had left…
...and surrender himself to an endless sleep.