Art of the Deal

Steven had to say, even if it was spring, it was the coldest it'd ever been.

The frost bit literally every open bit of skin it could. And the only thing protecting him was two layers of jackets, a pair of (regrettable) jeans, boots that didn't help much from the snow crunching up to his knees, and a pair of earmuffs that he didn't even have on, only letting them hang around his neck. Even with all that on, not even mentioning the thick pair of mittens on his hands, he only wanted to stop and rest. Fatigue from walking so long was hitting him hard like a truck.

Which led to him nearly falling face-first into the snow if a hand hadn't grabbed the back of his neck and lifted him up in someone's arms. Looking up at them slowly, trying to keep his head straight from the sweet sensation of warmth, was Pink. "Steven, are you alright? This snow is starting to get heavy."

"Yes, well, he can at least make it one more mile." Pearl replied while crossing her arms. A scarf was wrapped around her neck, even though she currently wanted to rip the thing off her neck and leave it forever in the snow. Pink deadpanned as Steven turned his head and nodded.

"I… think I c-can make it-t two miles-"

"Steven, you're shivering. Here, stay in my arms." Pink said as she held him closer to her, despite the boy's protests.

"N-no, I c-c-can w-walk now!" He said before putting his head against her, betraying his own words. Pink just gave a short grin as Amethyst glanced back and frowned. Pearl stopped and looked around through the dense, snowy fog around them. They doubted her raising a hand over her eyes helped at all…

"I see it, just up ahead."

Never mind, apparently it did. She pointed to the right a bit, not far off from the direction they were walking in. "The entrance looks cleared, we should be able to just walk right in."

"Then let's," Amethyst started, before rolling into a ball and shooting forward, throwing up snow in her wake. Most of it landed on Pearl and covered her in a white layer of powder. The purple gem stopped and landed on her feet, "Roll on over there."

Pearl dusted the snow off and deadpanned, "Was that really necessary?"

Before Amethyst could say something in return, most likely in a mimicking voice, Garnet stepped forward while brushing off snow and said, "We have to keep moving. Steven won't last any longer in this cold."

"Yes… let's please." Pearl said as she stuck her nose up in the air and trudged towards their destination. The others followed behind, and none of them were aware of the lone figure watching from the tree line above.

Once Steven had grown warm enough to actually want to move, he turned his head to the right and saw a looming mountain ahead of them. It's dark figure stuck out through the fog, peaking above the clouds. A… tunnel entrance of some kind sat right in front of them, the blanketed snow not reaching the bowels of the dark tunnel. They stepped inside, kicking snow up beneath their feet before crystals lining the ceiling lit up. The entire tunnel was revealed to them, the walls depicting large murals of gems and events.

Pink placed Steven down once the tunnel heated up enough for him to safely move, and he waddled to the wall on the left and studied it. By "studied", it meant he stared at it for a few seconds before turning around and smiling, "Woah… this place is coool ."

The others were already moving on, though, walking down the hall. He jogged as fast as he could in his winter clothes and kept a quick pace behind them, all the while taking his earmuffs off so he could hear. The tunnel continued on for a while, keeping a dark aura over them. Steven went back to studying the murals to occupy himself. A few didn't seem too interesting until a pink haired lady began appearing on them, fighting gems and slowly growing some kind of army.

And he realized that, once he saw a familiar gem with a diamond symbol on their stomach next to her, that it was his mom .

He felt stupid for not catching on sooner, so he awkwardly turned his attention away from it and focused on getting through the tunnel with the gems. It was surprisingly untouched, something he noticed quickly. While most of the other ruins they went to had vines, moss, and cracks everywhere, this one was relatively… probably the same as it was when it was built.

A light slowly grew in the distance, signalling the end of the tunnel. Steven walked past them as his legs sped up. A twinge of worry strummed his stomach, fearing that the heat would go away. But it didn't, instead resting against his body as he walked out into the open.

The tunnel led out into a large open square, buildings lined up on the left and right while a long road led to the tallest spire Steven's ever seen. It reached high above the gem structures around it, and looked similar to the Communication Hub. Smaller spires sat on its edges, creating a dim glow at their peaks.

Something told him it wasn't supposed to be there.

"The Stardust Monolith… it's beginning to activate." Pearl said, looking to the top of the tower as her eyes narrowed.

"That means Peridot is here. We need to be diligent." Pink said as she looked back at them with a hard line set across her brow. Garnet gave a sharp nod while Amethyst and Pearl said, "Right."

"Let's go get us a Peridot." Steven said as he smiled cockily and punched his hand into his palm. Amethyst grinned at him while Pearl raised her brow and didn't respond. They were walking off not even a second afterwards, heading towards the Stardust Monolith. But Steven couldn't help but notice how creepy everything was. The snow had long been gone, but the fog had stayed and hung over the buildings and street.

He looked over at a building they were passing and saw a flickering hologram of... Pearl, with a different hairstyle and clothes. Their light blue eyes stared into Steven's soul, making the boy shiver and look away with a grimace.

He did not like this place.

Peridot did not like this place.

The gem technology was thousands of years old, so almost every attempt to rewire it was a failure. So far, her repair of the communication tower was a pile of failures stacked on top of each other, and somehow vaguely working. Yet things kept breaking so suddenly that she was having a hard time keeping track of all the fixes she was making.

"This is my last chance to get off this lousy planet… don't waste it." She muttered to herself as her floating fingers slowly worked away at a broken panel. Luckily, she didn't have to worry about the sparks coming off and hitting her "hand" as she repaired a broken hole in the panel. It was jutting out and sliced a bit of wires, so her fingers slowly bent it back and welded it together. A low sigh left her as she turned around and headed towards a door to the left. Her feet clanged against the white, cracked floor as she pulled up a screen with her fingers.

"Log date… four-zero-six-three, I am still making repairs on the communication systems in the monolith. So far, I have made over thirty , and it doesn't appear that it wants to stop. I still haven't gotten a response from Yellow Diamond or my escort, but I'm... I'm so close!" She shouted as she turned left and went up a staircase. "Despite the setbacks, I've already activated the support towers! Soon, I'll have it up and running, and I can finally leave thi-"

A loud tearing noise ripped through the air behind her, and she saw a spark fly past her head. Turning on a dime, she saw a broken piece of large tubing suddenly fall on the ground and begin sparking, almost hitting her again.

The reality that she would have to make another repair sat in her mind.

And then she screamed.

As they stepped up to the tower, an echo of a scream resonated from the entrance. Everyone stopped and looked around, before Steven said, "I guess we know where she is."

"If she's really in there, we need to be careful. She could have laid traps for us." Pearl said as she summoned her spear and rested the spear-butt on the ground.

"Yeah, I don't wanna almost get turned into a pancake again." Amethyst said as her lip lifted a bit and almost grimaced at the memory.

"I'll make sure that doesn't happen again." Garnet said with a cross of her arms. Admittedly, she wasn't too keen on letting a deadly trap like that get under her vision.

"Then let's move." Pink said curtly, not wasting anymore time by heading inside with a determined pace. While the others took off with her, Steven was taken aback by how sudden it was.

"Wait, guys!" He called as he ran as fast as he could in layers of heavy clothing, which wasn't very fast at all. But he tried, his sword's scabbard hitting his back as he waddled after them. They stopped in a massive open room, with statues dotting support pillars all the way to the end of the room. Garnet pointed to the left and they took off again, leaving Steven to chase after them again. Once they stopped after... A grueling set of fifty steps, Steven threw off his earmuffs and scabbard, before clawing the first jacket off himself. He let it drop to the floor as he gasped for breath.

"Guys… please… slow down." He moaned while holding his hands on his knees, his breathing on the verge of being considered panting. They actually stopped and turned their heads to him, seeing his sweaty, pale form and giving bashful looks to each other.

"Sorry, Steven." Pink was the first to apologize, as usual. Steven didn't pay attention to the next apologies as he took off the last jacket and wrapped it around his head. The cool, euphoric wind that splashed against him was amazing.

"It's okay… just… there!" He wrapped the other around his waist and he wiped the little opening of his forehead underneath his jacket. Slinging his scabbard over himself, he gave a smile and a quick thumbs up. To add to it, he stuck out his tongue to show he was still feeling fine. In fact, he was feeling so fine that his arms ached and his head heated up even more!

Yes, he was indeed, fine.

"Here, Steven, do you want me to carry you the rest of the way?" Pink asked as she turned her head to him, shifting past Pearl with a worried look. It was clear she saw the pale look on his face, and he made an attempt to smile.

"I'm good, really! I can keep going. We gotta," He readjusted the scabbard once it was stabbing his chest(it wasn't, he needed an excuse to stop talking). "Go after Peridot, right?" His eyes danced between them, and while Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet gave understanding words and nods, Pink twitched.

And deep in the back of her subconscious, just a single, brief tug, she felt an impending dread.

And she kept her thoughts to herself, mouth setting in a line, before she said, "Right, but don't be afraid to tell us if something is wrong."

Steven gave a nod and another, weaker thumbs up. And then they were off again.

He fared better now that his jackets weren't squeezing him and giving him first-degree burns. But the staircases were really giving him a hassle… still . And the jacket on his head whipping the sides of his body wasn't a very pleasant experience. In fact, it was very, very, very annoying.

But he didn't want to halt the gems again, so he kept silent.

Their journey through the… Monolith thing(what was its name again? Starmoon Monolith?) was going almost too smooth. They had climbed up a… a gulp went down his throat at the sheer amount of staircases they went up. If Steven didn't notice that he was slowly getting slimmer, then he definitely did now. A cry built up inside him, yet it never saw the light of day.

A groan did leave him though, and he got an almost similar sentiment from Amethyst. She was more bored than hurting like him, but he was just glad there was a connection.

"How many more stairs do we gotta climb up?" The purple gem groaned, dragging her feet on each and every step. Her arms hung limp as well, waving a bit each time she stepped up.

"We don't know, Amethyst, Garnet, how many do you see?" Pink asked as she glanced over at the fusion. Garnet shrugged.

And then Steven felt his body go cold.

Honestly, maybe he was exaggerating, or maybe he was actually getting it just right when he said that this was probably the hardest mission he's been on. Granted, he hasn't gone on many but just wow . They hadn't even reached Peridot yet. All they were doing so far was climbing up the behemoth of a tower, going up stair after stair. This was, in a... mild exaggeration, even worse than his gem hunt with Pink, and that was impressive when he recounted that he was losinghisbreathandhecouldntfeelhisswordinhishandandwhycouldn'thebreathe-

And in his breakdown, he found himself tripping on a step and nearly landing face first into a sharp edge. His eyes widened, and inches away from the edge of the step, a hand grabbed him up and set him on someone's shoulder.

"I'll carry him the rest of the way." It was Garnet, and she didn't receive much protest at the decision. Steven was too shell shocked to even speak, his only attempt to talk was when his mouth fell open. And nothing came out. He was glad it did nothing.

Garnet did as she had said, and carried Steven all the way to another large room with murals and statues and…

A large pile of rubble where the staircase used to be.

"It's destroyed?" Pearl said as she walked up, passing by everyone as her hands tightened close to her chest. She stopped a foot away and threw her hands up. "Everything has been at least intact! This… this must've been deliberate."

Garnet hummed while looking up at the hole left by the stair's destruction. Steven didn't move on her shoulder, not trying to do anything that would bring back whatever he had experienced.

While they thought of a way to get up(so far they had just reached jumping up), Pink walked to the edge of the room and reeled up her fist and punched the wall. A diamond-shaped chunk flew out and fell down the side of the tower, all the while the others watched on. Except Pearl, who had a horrified look of terror all over her face.

"We're supposed to be sneaking!"

"Pearl, 'we're supposed to' doesn't mean we actually have to." Pink looked over the edge before hooking her hands on the edge of the hole and leaning out, looking up. "We're almost there already. If I make a construct and fly up, we'll save time."

"But-"

"She's right, Peridot could activate the Monolith at any moment." Garnet said as she turned her head to Pearl. She walked off to the Diamond with Amethyst in tow, all the while Pearl gaped at the foolishness. But… what could she do when no one usually listened to her worries?

So she clamped her mouth shut, teeth clicking together, and followed them to the "window" where Pink had created a slim but long platform in the air. It hovered completely still as Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst stepped onto it, the two smaller gems giving uneasy looks at Pink. They didn't go unnoticed, and the pink gem raised a brow in confusion.

"What? Is something wrong?"

"Yo'... we're kinda high up." Amethyst said as she looked straight down and saw the shadows of buildings beneath them. She scorned whoever built this thing this tall. But Pink and Garnet didn't seem to have a problem, who were the only ones not shifting uncomfortably. It surprised Amethyst that Pearl seemed nervous on the platform too.

"Are you s-sure this is… safe?" The pale gem asked as she turned her head to Pink. She shrugged in return.

"I don't know, but it should be strong enough to hold us." She planted her foot down on the platform a couple of times just to be sure, ignoring the instant protests of Pearl. "Are you scared? We can just cl-"

"No! I'm just… w-worried that this might not be the safest way we can go about this." Pearl said as she crossed her arms with a heated face. "I mean, just look at Steven!"

She did, and the shivering form of the boy as he stared down to his death made her bite her lip and put her hands up, asking Pearl to calm down. "It's alright, these things are pretty strong. It'll hold!"

Understanding the two's hesitance to stand on it any longer, Pink turned her index finger up in the air and sent the platform rising up. The tower flowed down as they rose, the top coming closer and closer. Besides the wind tickling their forms, nothing was getting in their way to the top.

"See? I told you it was fine!" Pink said with a reassuring smile, putting her hands on her sides. Pearl didn't seem so sure.

"Well, I guess it's acceptable. But! If we are sent into space, then I will not hesitate to-"

"Uh, guys… is the top glowing… or is that just me?" Amethyst interrupted as she looked at the peak with a point of her finger. Indeed, the top of the tower was glowing a pale blue aura around the edge of the top. Just like the smaller spires surrounding it. Pearls brow narrowed in an instant, yet her eyes gained bags under them as they widened.

"She's… we're going to be too late." A hand made its way to her mouth as she stared horrified. Pink squeezed her fists before Garnet stepped forward and bent her knees.

"Follow my lead." Was her parting words before she shot off the platform into the sky. They swore they could hear Steven let out a "wait what?" Before he left with her.

Now? He was screaming.

Typically, he wouldn't. But with how dizzy his head was, and the heavy exhaustion in his arms had him scared he would fall off. The wind pushed against his back as he clung on to Garnet as strong as he could. He bit his lip to try and stop himself from giving another scream. Garnet was holding him down with a hand, he was safe, he was fine.

And then they landed on the top of the tower, sending shivers through Steven's bones from the impact. The view of the edge made Steven's brow furrow, and he lifted his head to the left enough to give him a view of what Garnet was facing.

Straight ahead, similar to the Sea Spire, was a pedestal with a floating screen on it. Small pillars created a trail from the pedestal to a staircase leading down into the tower. Garnet grabbed the back of Steven's shirt and let him step down on the ground. He rubbed his forehead a bit while his body seemed to wobble a bit, but after that he was fine. While Garnet walked towards the pedestal, Steven looked across the flat top for anything, before Pink landed a few feet away, carrying Amethyst and Pearl.

The pale gem did not look pleased.

"Put me down!" She squawked, and the pink gem obeyed. Pearl, after giving Pink a quick angry remark, turned her attention to the pedestal. The other two gems followed her when she jogged over next to Garnet and looked at the light blue screen. And that's when their problems began.

"What is this?" Pearl asked in confusion. And she had a right to. Because the screen looked impossibly complex, far beyond what she had seen from the Rebellion Era. A series of symbols and mysterious… inputs, she wanted to call them. Because, quite frankly, she didn't have a clue what they could do. And she still needed to know who Frank was and how it contributed to him.

"Pearl, do you know how to operate it?" Pink asked as she glanced between the pale gem and the technological confusion.

"If I did, I would've disabled the Monolith already! This is all… confusing. It looks too highly advanced to be from the war, so Peridot must've rewired it with… whatever this is."

"Speakin' of which, shouldn't we be looking out for her?" Amethyst pointed out with a frown, standing between the three of them. Steven walked over and scooted into the conversation.

"Yeah, how about we-"

"You!" Suddenly, all five turned to see the green gem herself standing at the far end of the roof, where the staircase led up to the pillars. Her hair was messy and all over, splitting in some parts and black in others. "How did you- Wait! Don't touch that!"

She threw her hands forward and out, waving them as she looked terrified.

"Peridot!" Pearl growled as she summoned a spear, pointing the tip at the green gem. Garnet, Amethyst, and Pink summoned their own weapons while Steven pulled out his sword and got ready to fight. But Peridot only screamed.

"Please! No!" She begged, before realizing just how bad the situation she was in was and growled. Her entire mood changed as she hid it behind anger. "Do not touch that!"

"Peridot, stand down! Your plans have failed." Pink stated as she held her sword up and pointed it at Peridot. The green gem scowled before her eyes were stuck between a wide look of anger and a narrow look in hatred.

" You. " She hissed, before her fingers slowly turned into a circle formation and began sparking with green-tinted electricity. " You are the reason I'm trapped here. You are the reason that my mission was compromised. YOU are the reason that I'M DOOMED to die just like the rest of everything else on this miserable planet! " She raised her arm as a ball of energy materialized and sparked.

"I DEMAND to know your cut and designation!"

"Pink Diamond."

And Peridot scowled as her teeth pulled back in a snarl. "Do you take me for a clod?! As if I would believe such a thing!" As much as she was trying to hide it, her brow began sweating as she glanced at the large diamond in the pink gem's stomach. And indeed, it was hard to excuse it for anything else besides a Topaz, or a Moissanite. But the cut would be wrong!

Who was this gem?!

"Peridot, I suggest you surrender. You're outmatched." Pink said as she stepped forward, a small construct forming near her forearm in case the green gem decided to shoot at her. But Peridot didn't. She was completely frozen.

Her views and logic were clashing against each other as she stared at the Diamond in front of her.

It was impossible! There were only three Diamonds! White, Yellow, and Blue Diamond! How could there be another leading a band of rebels ?!

"This has to be some trick!"

But she remembered the strange pink shields that the gem had created in their encounters. How could a simple Topaz do something like that? And a Moissanite rarely had any armaments! And never glowed pink with a fiery aura strong enough to make her shiver as she stared at the fight below.

Her arm lowered until it pointed at the ground and unarmed itself. "I… don't believe you," she gritted her teeth hard enough that her jaw was attacked by tremors. "But… I don't want to shatter when the Cluster emerges. So… let's… make… a deal." She paused on nearly each word, fighting the growing desperation in her stomach. "It's… clear to me that none of you have a clue what is coming, and I'm the only one who can… stop it."

Pink raised a brow before snarling, "And what exactly makes you think that we'll believe you? What is this 'Cluster'?"

"Heh, it seems I'm right. You really have no clue about it! Listen, I don't want to become a pile of shards when it emerges, and I'm sure you don't want to either. But I don't trust you, and you don't trust me, so… The Cluster is a gigantic geo-weapon incubating in the Earth's mantle. I was only supposed to be here for a short while to record its progress. Now, there isn't much time before it hatches out from the Earth and rips it apart!"

Her words reached aggressive highs and lows, but it all ended with a cry as her fingers found her hair and stuck onto strands of light green hair. Pink's eyes kept their glare on her, but her demeanor was falling at what Peridot had said.

So, she turned her head to Garnet and whispered, "Garnet, do you see this… Cluster any time soon?"

"My vision… it can't reach that far." Garnet stated after a few seconds of silence. But the way her right arm was shaking and clamped tightly in her gauntlets made Pink grit her teeth.

"If I help you… 'deal' with the Cluster, then in return, you'll allow me to contact Yellow Diamond and get off this planet." Peridot said as her shoulders straightened up from their slumped position. "I'm not a fool, and I know that I am in no place to make demands from you clods, but truthfully, you won't survive unless you work with me."

And again, Pink had trouble keeping her aggressive demeanor. 'Geo-weapon… ripping the Earth apart?'

"I…?"

"How do we know this Cluster even exists?! This could easily be a scare tactic!" Pearl pointed out as she stepped forward next to Pink, her spear in both hands. "How could a geo-weapon be put in the Earth when the war has been over for five thousand years? This is all a-"

"Guys, I think she's being serious." Steven interrupted Pearl, putting his sword away. The pale gem looked confused before spouting.

"You believe her? She's clearly lying!"

"Pearl, think about it! What if it's true? She looks scared, look at her!" He pointed out with his palm, and after Pearl looked at Peridot's angry deadpan, she turned back with even more skepticism.

Sadly, she didn't get to speak when all of them heard a loud bang.

The ground shook beneath them, and only Steven fell on his hands and knees from the force. The others looked around for the source while Peridot looked terrified.

And then the pedestal behind the gems cracked, throwing bits of rocks away from it. Amethyst got hit in the head by one, making her rub on to her neck and turn on a dime.

"Hey! Uh… guys?" She asked as she stepped back, her eyes locked on to the cracked pedestal. The four others turned and faced the pedestal, ignoring Peridot.

And then it exploded in a plume of dust and rock fragments. They braced themselves as larger, jagged rocks smacked against them, causing them to back away from the now large hole dented in where the pedestal was.

Peridot ran over to the side to get a look, keeping her distance away from the gems. Her eyes widened at the view of the… well, missing view of the control pad for the Monolith. Shaking, she grabbed her hair.

"NOOO! That was my only way of contacting Yellow D-Diamond!" She cried, actually looking to be on the edge of tears. Not one person paid her mind except Steven, who's eyebrows lowered as he frowned in sympathy. But he looked back at the fading smoke from the now-crumbling hole.

Then an orange hand grabbed onto the edge, making the group move back farther from it. The cloaked owner was revealed as they hoisted themselves up and faced the group with narrow eyes and sharp canines. "I finally tracked you down. I thought it would be harder after climbing this thing."

"Jasper!" Pearl squeaked, her grip on her spear tightening.

Jasper smirked as she looked between all the gems, yet her brow raised a bit in disappointment. "I was really hoping this wasn't all that's left of the Crystal Gems. It would've been fun beating more of your defects into the dirt." Her eyes landed on Pink, who had practically broken the handle of her sword as she glared with buried hatred.

"Jasper, wh-"

"You know why I'm here," Jasper interrupted gruffly as she pushed a hand into a pocket on her right hip. "I don't care about… what?" She finally looked to the left and saw Peridot sunken on her knees. "You?"

Peridot noticed the orange brute in the same fashion, and quickly yelped, "Jasper?!" Her face contorted from sadness to frustration in a flash, "Where have you been? You were supposed to be my escort!"

"You still care about that? Don't you know that Homeworld has abandoned us? They don't care about some worthless-" She caught a pink construct with one hand. "Peridot." Throwing it off to the side, she glanced back at Pink already making another near her right forearm.

"Fine, enough with the chat," She pulled her hand out from her pocket and held up three… gems in her palm. "I've been waiting for this, so I brought some 'friends'." she tossed the gems on the ground as she threw off her cloak and stood in a wide stance.

"Come at me!" She roared as the gems on the ground began glowing and lifting in the air. Everyone watched the gems form, their limbs grotesque and minds broken . A tall one with a huge club for an arm screeched while a shorter one on all fours instantly began crawling to them. The last was still on the ground, letting a soft glow before failing to form. Before the short one could even get close, Pearl shot it with a bolt of energy, poofing it instantly.

The larger one rushed at them, before it ran straight into a hexagonal shield. Three more appeared around it and began converging towards each other, squeezing the gem monster. But a fiery shadow jumped over the shield box and nearly crashed on top of them, if they didn't move out of the way.

Jasper blasted through the bottom, sending deep cracks all across the top of the spire. It began crumbling down to the floor beneath, and Steven was caught in one of the falling sections.

His hands clawed at the rocks behind him as he crawled back in fear. But his scabbard stopped his progress, and the cracks caught up with him. And as he fell with a scream, a hand caught the back of his shirt and hoisted him away from crumbling doom.

"Steven, be careful!" Pearl said as she hugged him close and set him down on a stable ledge. He quickly nodded as he gulped down his shock from the event, staring down at the giant hole. Pearl looked across the roof and saw the others were still okay, including… sadly, Peridot. Although the shell shocked look on her face showed that she might not be okay mentally .

Garnet stepped up to the edge before wordlessly jumping down. The floor beneath her was a mix between destroyed rock and dust made by the destroyed floor. Crushed wiring zig-zagged across the rubble and crawled into the shadows of the room.

And Garnet barely had enough time to catch the figure charging straight at her, holding her up by her crash helmet. Reeling back, Garnet punched Jasper away, sending her flying from the impact. With her vision limited, Garnet got in a stance and faced the shadows with her fists. Jasper walked out this time, a sneer on her face.

"You… look at you," She muttered in disgust. "I know what you really are. Don't you know that fusion is just a cheap tactic to make weak gems stronger? Stop embarrassing yourselves."

Garnet's shoulders lowered a bit before a smirk spread across her lips, and then split as she chuckled. "No, you haven't!"

"This is G-"

Jasper didn't wait a second and charged towards her, her left fist pulled back and ready to attack. Garnet stopped and held her arms up to block it, waiting until Jasper was close to instead dodge to the left and backhand the brute in the side. It didn't seem to do much, until Garnet planted her left foot hard on the ground and used her momentum to land a strong slam of her gauntlet into Jasper's lower back.

The quartz let out a pained grunt before turning 180 and swinging at where the fusion was. Key word, where.

Garnet crouched and shot off her foot, using her speed and pushing it into a punch into Jasper's stomach. But Jasper seemed unaffected and just grabbed her wrist with a snarl, "You're fast, but you're still WEAK!" She flung Garnet over and slammed her into the ground, causing more cracks to form beneath them. Dust plumed up into the air as Jasper then swung her around in an arc and threw her into a wall.

Garnet gritted her teeth as she glared at Jasper through her broken visor, only one eye hidden by the shades. Her gauntlets planted themselves into the wall as she pushed off of the Garnet-shaped hole in the wall.

Jasper slowly approached for another attack, her fists tight enough to cause strains in her forearms. Garnet cracked her neck before hitting her gauntlets together. A short zip shot through the air before white electricity surrounded her gauntlets.

Above, the space left on top was acting as a ground for Pearl, Pink, Amethyst, Steven, and Peridot to face off against the two corrupted monsters in front of them. Except, Pearl and Pink didn't know that they weren't corrupted at all.

"Amethyst! Those look like-"

"I know, dude! This is really, really bad right now!" Amethyst shouted as she watched the monsters screech and slowly walk towards them. Her eyes glanced down to Garnet facing off against Jasper, seeing the damaged look of Garnet and the huge dent she had put in the wall. Anxiety rushed up her form before she said, "I'll go help Garnet!"

"Amethyst, wa-"

"No, Pearl, let her go. Me and you can take these… things ourselves." Pink said as she glanced back at the skinny gem. "We need to get this done as soon as possible, they won't be able to take Jasper down themselves."

Pearl watched Amethyst slide down and gritted her teeth, before turning to Pink and nodding, "Alright, I'm with you!"

Pink gained a determined shine in her eyes before she extended a hand, "Then let's take it to the next step!"

Pearl couldn't help but smirk right back, before taking Pink's hand into her own. Spinning her around, Pink let Pearl take over in the dance before bringing her close. The two were engulfed in light as a shocked Peridot and a awestruck Steven watched three meters away. Soon Morganite stood in the two gem's place, a wide smile on her face as she fixed the small cape that hung off her shoulders.

"Well, looks like we got ourselves into a jam, eh?" She looked back at the shivering Peridot. "Looks like I'm gonna hafta think about that offer of yours. Peridot, wasn't it?"

Peridot's terrified eyes stared at Morganite as she somehow talked in the most casual voice and tone... in the worst circumstance at the worst time!

And she wasn't even paying attention to the gem experiment creeping up right in front of her. "I gotta think about your offer later, because right now-"

Once the monster was just a few feet away, easily able to grab her if it wanted, she suddenly kicked a leg straight up. It was so fast that Peridot only saw it as a blur, but the shock wave that roared after was definitely all over her face. If it wasn't for her one working limb enhancer sticking to the floor beneath, she would've been blown away.

And that's what happened to Steven, who was lucky enough to grab onto a large jutting crack in time. He looked back, his hair blowing everywhere, and saw that he was only a few feet away from falling off the tower. Whatever kinda power the fusion had, he did not want to be around for her strongest hit.

The monster was, in simple terms, gone. A bit of the clouds overhead were circling the tower weakly, but a gem fell back down and clinked on the broken ground. The other monster screeched and rushed at Morganite. This turned out to be a mistake as the fusion rushed forward and punched the monster in the chest, before sending it flying back, small wisps of air and mist along with it.

Again, another blast of wind flew by Peridot and Steven, sending their hair back as it roared past. Once it faded, it turned out the monster didn't end up hundreds of miles in the sky, but on the ground poofed.

"Jeez… that was easy. Now c'mon! We gotta help those two down there!" She said, a wide smile on her face as she turned to the two. Peridot gasped as the fusion approached, but before she could react, she was being carried under the fusion's arm.

"No! Put me down ri-"

"Say anything and I'll gut ya'." Morganite interrupted, her wide terrifying eyes betraying her arrogant smile. Peridot instantly closed her mouth as she winced. Morganite walked over and picked Steven up by the back of his shirt. "Good then! Let's fight!"

She ran and jumped down the hole, landing in the dark room. Peridot screamed her non-existent lungs out, even though the fall was only a few meters. Of course, that would be very terrifying for a human, but gems didn't typically care for such heights.

Instantly, the loud sounds of grunting, thumps, punches, and footsteps echoed through the air. Morganite saw Jasper, Garnet, and Amethyst in an intense scuffle. Amethyst had her whip wrapped around Jasper's arm while Garnet punched at Jasper with electrified gauntlets.

Morganite set the two down on the ground before cracking her fingers. "Wish me luck, though I'm not gonna need it!" She took off not a second later, leaving dust in her tracks as she summoned her wide-tipped javelin(no one was going to tell her it was a larger spear)and made her attack.

Sadly, her shout had already drawn Jasper's attention, and the brute dodged it as she pulled Amethyst's whip forward. The small quartz was lifted off her feet, feeling a dreadful deja vu as she went off to the side in a cloud of dust. Morganite twirled the oversized spear javelin to the side, hitting the side of Jasper's helmet as the large quartz punched her in the chest. But Jasper was left slightly winded from the blow to her head.

Even the previously missed slash at her felt like a full force punch… and it hadn't even hit her.

Garnet meanwhile, looked over at Amethyst and held out her gauntlet. The coughing purple gem looked up at her before getting the hint and throwing a new whip at her. It wrapped around the gauntlet and Garnet threw half her body into a wide arc, sending Amethyst into the air again. She was on a crash course collision with Jasper, and she let go of the whip and charged into a deep purple fireball.

With Jasper now trading punches to a sweating Morganite, who was struggling to dodge or block any of the attacks, Amethyst got the hit and crashed into Jasper's back. Jasper barely stood on her feet as she let out a cry, not a grunt or groan, but a cry of pain. Amethyst bounced off her back after striking Jasper, landing with a roll a few feet away. Jasper let out an animalistic growl before she went directly for the closest gem to her.

Who in return, striked her in the chin with enough force to whip the air with a visible 'mist'. Jasper was sent a few feet away from the blow, her visor cracked as she slid on her feet and snarled.

"Another fusion?! And…" She stopped as she looked at who exactly made up Morganite, before giving a look of pure disgust and disbelief. "You're an abomination." Her hands shook as she panted like a beast, the fight managing to take a toll on the perfect quartz. Failing to see she was just inches away from the edge of the room, hundreds of feet waiting for her, she tightened her hands into fists and roared, "You think you've beaten me!? I'll never lose to a DISGUSTING fusion like yo-"

A green ball of energy smacked into her chest and sent her over the edge.

Everyone took in the shock from the sudden interruption, and turned to see Peridot shaking and staring at where Jasper had been standing just a few moments before. Her blaster was smoking as she slowly lowered her arm and muttered, " What have I done? "

While Garnet unsummoned her gauntlets and held a hand near her stomach, Morganite's form wavered before breaking apart into Pink and Pearl, both of whom let out tired groans.

"Eugh… that… hurt a lot." Pink muttered as she breathed heavily. Pearl wasn't fairing much better next to her, holding her head and chest.

"Hey, you guys okay?" Steven asked as he ran over and looked between the two. He tried helping Pearl up first, but the pale gem winced in pain and shook her head.

"We're fine, S-Steven. That fusion just took a lot from us."

"No kiddin', you guys look like sh-"

"Amethyst, no!" Pearl squawked instantly, her left arm lifting up and trying to cover Steven's eyes. She failed to realize it wouldn't do much. Steven didn't have a clue though and pushed her hand away with a giggle. They were interrupted by Garnet coughing into her hand.

"I believe we have one more thing to discuss." She said in a monotone, and turned everyone's attention back to the green gem in the room. Peridot nervously looked around before shooting up to her feet and frowning.

"S-see? You need me." She said as she looked away at the ground. Although it wasn't very convincing, it made Pink crawl up to her feet in a painful process. The Diamond turned and faced the green gem with an exhausted expression of doubt.

"Peridot… I can't believe- I didn't think I would ever say this but…" Her eyes grew into a more narrow and serious look.

"Let's talk."