Continuing from the last fic's reviews!
FrostyChops: Thanks so much! Blue is pretty scary when she wants to be, tbh. It was fun to tap into that power she has.
Josh Spicer: Thanks for your reviews, I always love to read them. Jasper and Steven are basically friends now, not that either of them want to admit it. It's very strange, but they're comfortable around each other. Jasper's talk with Blue was kind of the opposite of Peri's with Yellow! In the show, Peridot finally lets out all her anger on Yellow, finally standing up for herself and calling Yellow a clod right in her face. Jasper carefully lies to appease Blue Diamond, mindful not to make her angry. And as for Blue Diamond...Well, those eyes will be explained ;) Steven's life and most of his identity has revolved around being a Crystal Gem and Rose's son, so finding out that he's had so much kept from him is upseting to the nth degree. Thanks again!
fatwhiteguy: I can't say too much about Blue right now, but answers will come, promise ;)
Bloodwolf432: "Thanks, I hate it." Lol, thanks a bunch!
Kraven the Hunter: Shhhh time will tell...
terminator82: AHHHHHH THANK YOU! I could just count on my fingertips the SU episodes that I would call "filler" (disregarding the first season's episodes, which were intentionally slice-of-life so the buildup to the more serious stuff would work.) Writing chapters/"episodes" that may not necessarily further the plot but definitely further the characters is a challenge, but I love doing them. My fav "filler" chapter that I've done so far was probably "The Official." Thank you so, so much for your review, it means a bunch!
And so, here we are! The third installment in OSRAS, No Going Back. Like I said in the last fic, chapters from here on out will be shorter, but that doesn't necessarily mean a shorter fic, if that makes sense. Some chapters may be standalone, while others might be a "Part One and Two" deal, picking up right where the last one left off. Like I said, I just needed more time to actually write. I wanted to do more than just one chapter a month (at best) but chapters that get up to 20,000 words in length take a lot of time. I'm very happy to be continuing this fic, and excited to share it with you all!
Well. Steven had to admit, he didn't quite see this coming.
Granted, he should probably stop expecting normal days, but still. Not quite what he expected.
A lot happened in just a few minutes.
The first was a sudden gale so powerful Steven slid across the boards of the balcony. Beside him, even Jasper grunted and raised her arms to shield herself. Tiny shards of something were peppering all over his skin, but it was not…cold? It was not snow.
The second was Ruby running down the sand of the beach, quickly followed by Sapphire. They were just as shocked as Steven and Jasper as they watch the incoming torrent came closer and closer—it was Sapphire who snapped out of her surprise first. She ran for the signal and, after hesitating for a split second, sounded the short three trumpets for everyone to stay inside. Was she using her Future Vision, or no?
Opal came bursting through the door between him and Jasper and hesitating for all of two seconds before leaping down to the sand below. Steven finally figured he should join them on the front, and thankfully Jasper seemed to agree, because she once again plucked him up by the back of his shirt before soaring through the air.
It was strange for just a moment, to be standing together again despite everything that had happened. For Beach City's sake, Steven kept his hold on Jasper's leg and stuffed it aside.
When Ruby caught sight of them both, she did a triple-take. "What are you doing here?"
Jasper threw a hand out at the roiling sea. "Does that really matter right now?"
"What is it?" Opal cried above the wind. She'd already summoned her bow into her hands. Steven summoned his shield, surprised but proud that he managed to do so as easily as he did. "It's not a storm!"
Sapphire was trying to concentrate, but the sheer force of the gusts threatened to topple her over. Ruby stepped before her to try and block them.
Finally, Sapphire answered: "It's—"
Now, this time…There was no interruption. Sapphire just trailed off, leaving everyone else to glance sideways at her.
"Sapphy?" Ruby asked.
"I…" The blue Gem coughed awkwardly. "I forgot her—name. It's—"
This time, she was interrupted.
The water of the ocean surged forward faster than anyone could react. In seconds flat, they were all torn away from one another. Steven could only catch blurs of the others as they were overcome and swept away—even Opal and Jasper only stayed on their feet milliseconds longer before they disappeared beneath the roaring current. They could have been swept miles away and Steven wouldn't know—the frothy waves drowned out any sight.
Steven, though, he stayed put and watched the waves slush by him as a current would stream past a stone. There was no barrier around him, yet he was unharmed.
The surge went higher, over his head, and the sun became a bright blob above him—still not a single drop came upon him, until water trickle over his feet and instantly froze. Or rather, solidified; it still didn't feel cold in the slightest. It was more glass than anything else. Either way, Steven couldn't budge no matter how much he pulled and fought.
Even worse, it took him far too long to realize he'd been moved after all. Through the wavering walls of his "bubble," the shore was pulling further and further away, and the neverending ocean was coming closer and closer. The panic was building in his chest as a physical pressure, but it was nothing compared to the confusion.
What could this be? A powerful Gem monster? A chunk of the Cluster left behind? Or maybe Blue Diamond had set an attack in motion as soon as her call with Jasper ended…
Steven only stopped when he was far higher above the waves than he could ever be comfortable with. Whatever this was, Steven braced himself to fight and struggle, to try and break free before he was drowned or attacked.
Past the swirling walls of seafoam, Steven finally saw her: Chrysocolla.
She looked ragged and exhausted. Her teal skin was dripping just as it had been the last time he saw her—as if she was melting. Her second pair of arms had become currents, hardly resembling arms at all. They surged from the back of her neck in choppy jets.
Steven couldn't see her eyes behind her visor, but she knew the look she was leveling the shore with was nothing short of furious. Her arms were outstretched at her sides, just pushing the surge further.
She was here for them. And it seemed to Steven that she was going to use the entire ocean, every last drop, to enact her revenge.
He still couldn't see the others. He couldn't even see his Room through his aqua prison. Had it already been ripped to shreds? Had Beach City been wiped out by unrelenting waves? Could he just not see everyone thrashing in the water below?
Steven raised his shield and bashed it against the side of his cage, but it did no use. It hardly did more than spray mist back into his face.
"Chrysocolla!" he cried out, bashing again. He wasn't going to sit around helplessly anymore. "Stop this! Please!"
Instead, Chrysocolla raised her arms higher, and the ocean behind her swelled. A wall of water built from the depths, higher and higher until it blocked out the sun. A tsunami to end all tsunamis, but held in place until Chrysocolla was ready. There was no way anything on the beach was going to hold up against it.
Thinking quickly, Steven forced a Bubble out from his Gem. He might as well have pushed a boulder—he instantly felt the pins-and-needles fatigue after. He guessed a shield followed by a Bubble was just too much for his body. But it worked. The glossy pink walls burst through the water. He was free.
And freefalling. Not as high as he'd feared, but Steven still hardly had time to catch his breath before he hit the water. Everything went dark for a moment, his ears filled with nothing but white noise, and he just kicked, kicked, kicked his way back to the surface.
Chrysocolla wasn't a huge Gem, not too much taller than Opal, but she towered over him now. The still-building walls of seawater behind her only made her look larger, not smaller. Steven still remembered that horrid time of jumping into Lapis's whirlpool, tossed and turned in every direction, blind and deaf, his chest constricting to hold in air. He imagined it again, but if it happened this time, he doubted he'd be breathing again.
"Chrysocolla!" The chopping waves threatened to overpower him—already Steven's legs were exhausting. "You don't have to do this!"
The fusion's hands trembled, and Steven waited. Waited for them to swing down, to bring the tsunami crashing upon them all.
Instead, the hands stilled, and Chrysocolla's voice caught in the breeze.
"Okay. Take it easy…"
Her arms lowered down slowly, and slowly did the wall collapse. Even then, the ripples sent Steven tossing up and down.
As he did so, he noticed that the not-snow was no longer falling through the air. And that, though still restless, the waves were not nearly as violent as before.
Chrysocolla tilted her head back as she took a deep, shuddering breath. Finally Steven could see her eyes, but they were closed as she steadied herself.
Then the fusion spoke:
"Okay. I apologize for that. I lost my cool for a second there."
Steven was left blinking. Because—
Just—
Wait, what?
Chrysocolla's eyes opened. Calm and attentive. She blinked when her eyes did not immediately fall on him—she had to scan the waves before she found him within. The fusion that had just threatened to level Beach City with a colossal tidal wave looked sheepish.
The arms from her neck settled. One stretched forth and scooped Steven gently into its palm. It wasn't a dry experience, but it was better. As he was carried back to the shore, Steven saw with relief that the surge had only made it up the stairs and not to the Room itself. Some boards had been ripped from their place, and all over the beach there were debris of seaweed, shells, and long-taken garbage littering the sand.
Steven was set down between a bundle of seaweed and a flopping fish—which he quickly picked up and gently tossed back into his home.
He was still reeling, and Steven couldn't quite comprehend how Chrysocolla looked when he raised his eyes back up to her. She was suspended above the waves by her arms, one hand holding the other's wrist, still hesitant.
Wasn't this the fusion who literally chased him through his nightmares?
The fusion clicked her tongue and clipped out, "Hey-llo, Steven."
Steven couldn't help but blink owlishly a few times. "Hey-llo yourself."
Behind her visor, Chrysocolla's eyes swept over the damage she wrought. "I'm—sorry about…Here, let me get that."
One of her arms stretched over him and plucked up a jellyfish he hadn't even noticed before. Steven was grateful to see it taken back home…though he did have to duck to keep its stingers from brushing against his face.
With one out of ten thousands debris taken care of, Chrysocolla coughed, "I'll get the rest later."
With no one around to advise him, Steven had to ask: what was the appropriate response here?
He settled with: "How have you been?"
"Uh…Wet." Chrysocolla's eyes turned away, lips puckering uncomfortably. "I mean, I've been in the bottom of the ocean, so."
"Right. Um…It's good to see you!"
Chrysocolla's lips puckered more. Peridot's half was as clear as day. "You're just saying that."
"What? No, no, I'm not! I'm…happy you're here…! I've been worried about you!"
The hand holding her other wrist tightened. Already her skin was starting to drip again. "You've been worried about one of us…"
That wasn't entirely…wrong. That is, one of her components was a dear friend of Steven's and another was a Homeworld follower who'd tried to get them all killed, but he was still worried about Peridot nonetheless. He couldn't imagine the things they had been through in their torment called "fusion," let alone wish it on anyone.
Speaking of, another wave of confusion washed over him. True, Chrysocolla had terrified him, but she was still Lapis and Peridot—the last Steven had seen them, there were in a nightmarish void, struggling every few moments to regain their control. That was what their fusion had been before, and now it was here, calm and sheepish and not entirely unhinged. (Entrance aside.)
"Well. I was—"
"I'm not here for small talk." One of her arms came forward to shush him, but with all the grace of a decapitated chicken, so Steven got a face full of sea foam. "I'm here to…"
A few more drops of flesh dripped down her face. She hated that she was even here, it seemed, but she had to be, for some reason.
"I'm here to ask for some help."
Steven blinked. Blinked again. Saw a crab struggling on its back and flipped it over. Blinked again.
And still he said, "Okay. Help with what?" He paused. "I should've waited until I said 'okay.'"
"Help with—"
"Steven, get down!"
He didn't get to. A burning stream of purple lasered mere feet from his shoulder—Steven was left with a warmth radiating down his arm after.
The arrow clipped one of Chrysocolla's watery arms right from her neck, but it didn't seem to do any damage to her physical form—though it did accomplish her shrieking in alarm.
With a heavy thunk, Jasper landed in front of him, one of her massive arms outstretched to shield him. Her crash helmet glinted despite the dim sun. She was more than ready to get her hands dirty at any given moment.
She was quickly followed by Opal, Sapphire, and Ruby, all running for them at breakneck speed. Opal was already summoning another arrow, Sapphire's knuckledusters were as sharp as ever, and Ruby's gauntlets were ready to pummel. As they came closer, Ruby and Sapphire took each others' hands.
As soon as they began to glow, Steven shot out from behind Jasper to stand between them and Chrysocolla, whose arms were once again raised to bring the ocean down upon them.
"Stop!"
Well, they did, but Ruby and Sapphire were already halfway through forming Garnet, so the result was…messy. The glowing silhouette just barely managed to stop in front of Steven before it fell apart—once the two of them broke away from each other, Ruby went flying into the water like a rider kicked off a horse.
Opal stared at Chrysocolla with why-would-I-stop-this-is-a-problem eyes, Jasper watched Steven with wait-did-I-miss-something-isn't-this-a-threat eyes, and Sapphire blinked at the water with a how-did-I-manage-to-fling-Ruby-like-that eye.
"Don't fight!" Steven barked out. How could Opal not see that the two of them were just talking? Was she always this trigger-happy? (Bowstring-happy?) "She's not here to fight!"
"…UM. I know my memory isn't great, but…" Opal's three free hands went flying in every direction. "The water?! The surge?! The wall of watery doom?!"
"Yeah, I'm actually with her on this one," Jasper admitted, though she did dismiss her helmet back into her Gem. "That kind of screams 'here for a fight.'"
That was fair. Steven wondered if maybe he was getting too moody lately, too cynical…but that didn't matter at the moment. Chrysocolla was dripping more than ever, her limbs shaking, the water around her spiking up and down. She looked like she was one more loud outburst from snapping.
(Out in the water, Ruby's head reemerged. "I'm good!")
"She needs our…help," Steven told them, though he was confused as the rest of them responded.
Sapphire looked down at her feet. One of the boards from the stairs had been swept all the way over to her, split in half. "This is one way of asking for it…"
"Both of you have tried to destroy us all," Opal reminded them. "Forgive me if I'm confused."
"Well, let's just listen to what she has to say," Steven exclaimed. Not exactly annoyed with them all, but wanting so hard to avoid another fight. He was so exhausted. "What's the harm in that?"
(Ruby trudged back to Sapphire to ask if they were going to pummel this guy or what, but Sapphire only shushed her.)
Steven turned back to Chrysocolla to hear her, but she had not calmed down at all. It'd gotten worse—her panic was now swelling with anger, too. Some of the waves at her feet would freeze in razor peaks for just a moment before settling back down. More so than that, her eyes were blazing.
"No," she barked out, loud enough for all of them to jump. "Just Steven! I don't want any of you!"
Her eyes went over to Jasper, and narrowed into slits, though she seemed more distressed than furious—or that she was battling to be one or the other, which made sense. Steven took a step closer to defend her, but wasn't sure if he could do anything to stop her from being crushed by a hailstorm.
"What is she even doing here?" Chryscolla's voice strained. Steven could only guess that her components were struggling to get on the same page. "Why are you defending her?"
Jasper's eyes narrowed back, somehow seeming bigger than the fusion, her hands in fists at her sides—fearless against whatever threat Chrysocolla was posing. She opened her mouth to bark back, to make a snarky insult, to—
"Who are you?"
Chrysocolla blinked. As did everyone else.
Ruby said, slowly, "It's…Chrysocolla?"
Jasper raised her shoulders—How does that answer my question?
Sapphire added, "The fusion of Lapis and Peridot."
And Opal: "The one that's been in the ocean all this time?"
Even then, it took a second for Jasper to finally say, "Oh. Right." Catching Steven's very baffled eye, she raised up her palms in defense. "Look, I never met her, and you have a lot of weird friends."
"Why. Is she. With you," Chrysocolla snapped again. Water snapped at her ankles.
"Jasper is…" Steven ran through the conversation they'd had just hours before at the Beta Kindergarten. He had to choose his words carefully. "Not…with us, but she's not against us anymore, either."
When the fusion's eyes bugged almost against her visor, Jasper scoffed. "These guys are janked up, Homeworld is also janked up, I'm just going to do me for a while."
"Wh—How—urgh…!"
Chrysocolla buried her face into her hands and thrashed in the air. The razor spikes of the water stayed, too sharp to even look at for too long, and everyone tensed once again. Steven just held his breath. He couldn't just let her wreak havoc on his home, but he held onto the hope that they could just talk—it was the only time so far he wasn't the one to make the first step to do so.
The fusion was melting so badly now the drips were pouring between her fingers. Her voice muffled against her palm, but as she spoke, Steven swore he heard Lapis speaking with her. "How could you be friends with a Homeworld loyalist?" But then Lapis faded, and now it was Peridot: "How could a Homeworld loyalist be friends with you?!"
"Hey, easy, easy." Finally, Opal dismissed her bow and held out her hands. Ruby and Sapphire did the same, though not without unease. "Just calm down. I don't know what you want help with, but we can—"
"No!"
Water swirled around Steven's body and swung him up into the air. All he could do was let out a strangled yell. The saltwater held him tight around the middle, pinning his arms to his sides, while his legs uselessly dangled a good ten feet above the surface. He was beside Chrysocolla now, the Crystal Gems and Jasper still on the shore, and already the Weapons had reappeared.
Steven tried to summon another Bubble, but it was no use. His body couldn't take anymore.
"Just Steven," Chrysocolla barked again. "I don't want anything to do with the rest of you!"
Steven was pulled into Chrysocolla's real hands, and the others rose up. Steven realized that she was about to fly off with him—once again pulled from his home, stolen away, with no one to help him but himself.
Steven wasn't in the mood.
"Put me down!"
The winged hands stilled, but Chrysocolla's gaze narrowed at him. She held him out with both hands at arm's length. The way a child held a teddy bear, embarrassing as it was to say. The others were watching closely.
"You're the only one who can help me," hissed Chrysocolla.
"Well, I'm going to help you here!" Steven tried to stomp his foot, but—yeah. "No kidnapping! Put Steven down now!"
At first nothing happened…and then Chrysocolla's wings went up again, slowly, challenging.
"Chrysocollaaaaa," he warned. He sounded like he was scolding a child.
And Chrysocolla responded like one, voice losing all of its edge as she mumbled, "But…"
"No buts! Back on the sand."
With all the moodiness of a reprimanded teenager, Chrysocolla growled, pouted, and gently put him back down on the sand with the others. They all stepped closer to him, just in case, but all Chrysocolla did was cross her arms with a huff.
"Okay," Ruby sighed. "Do you want to explain what the problem is now?"
In response, Chrysocolla turned her back to them, arms still crossed. It was only then that Steven saw she had another pair of eyes—a little below the nape of her neck, now glaring at them all.
Jasper scoffed again, and even Opal let out an audible breath. None of them said anything, but Steven couldn't blame them. He was the only person who Chrysocolla was 50% okay with.
"Just talk to me." Steven stepped forward until the tide lapped at his toes. Chrysocolla peeked at him over her shoulder. "Just…ignore everyone else, I promise they won't do anything. Pinky promise!"
But when he stuck his pinky out as an offering, Chrysocolla's nose wrinkled. "You don't have to give me your pinky, I get it."
"That's not—" Steven held up a hand to stop Jasper—and didn't point out that she also didn't know what a pinky promise was before he told her. He just needed everyone to stay calm.
Steven patted his chest. "It's just Steven now. Talk to the Steven."
Still unhappy though she was, Chrysocolla turned back around with her eyes only on him. Steven smiled. He reminded himself that Chrysocolla was also Chrysocolla—he was going to have to appeal to both Lapis and Peridot, who couldn't be more different.
"What's wrong?"
Chrysocolla extended her hands and hesitated. She almost seemed embarrassed, unable to forget they had an audience.
"I want—" She tried to find a hand gesture to explain, but everything she did just looked like broken sign language. "I want…to—I want to stop."
"'Stop'?" Steven's brows furrowed together. "Stop what?"
"I want to stop—this."
She ran her hands down at herself, with a few drops of her skin still sliding down and the waves beneath her still bubbling. Steven wondered if she ever knew peace for all of five seconds.
"Ohhh, you want to—calm down? Okay! We can do that!" Steven turned to Sapphire and clapped his hands together. "You go get the cucumber slices, I'll go get the mud masks."
"No," groaned Chrysocolla, burying her face again.
"Yoga?"
"No! I want—to—this."
Chrysocolla hooked her fingers together and pulled them apart—as though she was snapping something apart.
Understanding finally dawned on Steven, quickly follow by more confusion. Judging by the others' faces, they were in the same boat. "You want to unfuse?"
She stuck out her palms at him, satisfied.
"Then just…do it," said Ruby. She remembered she wasn't supposed to be there when the fusion turned her eyes on her, annoyed. "I mean…Isn't not doing something the easiest thing to do?"
"If I could, why would I be asking for help?!"
"Hold on." Jasper turned to the others. Her brows were knit together tightly, and she looked just ever-so-slightly horrified. "You can get stuck in a fusion?"
"Hold on, hold on." Steven sloshed forward a few more steps. Chrysocolla stayed put, fuming. "Do you want to unfuse, or do Lapis and Peridot want to?"
"I am Lapis and Peridot."
"That's…Correct. I have no idea how to explain this."
Sapphire raised her hand to whisper to Opal, "Maybe Peridot took over?"
"We want to split up. They want to. I want to! Whatever! Just help!"
"Okay, okay, okay!" Steven started stepping backwards—the spikes in the water making him wary. "Why don't you come down here, 'kay? Then we'll talk."
Chrysocolla complied, but only after everyone stepped back. She didn't seem to like dry land much; her legs were stiff as stone on the sand. Though to be fair, she may have been wary of stepping on a seaweed cluster.
"Good. No weapons, no tsunamis, we're all calm here. So…Why can't you unfuse?"
"I don't know," growled Chrysocolla. She was crossing her arms hard enough to squeeze her chest. "I just can't."
"Well…I know you only want my help, but why don't we ask Opal? She's an expert on fusion!"
Chrysocolla didn't protest, only turning her glower on the other fusion. Steven could have sighed in relief. For all the secrets they kept, the Crystal Gems had a vast knowledge in all things…well, Gem-related. This was the part where Opal readily explained what was happening and what they had to do.
But as all eyes went to her, Opal's hand stiffened on her chest. Her blue eyes went off to the side, embarrassed.
"Um."
Well, it was Steven's fault for getting his hopes up. "You don't know?"
"I've never heard of anyone getting stuck in a fusion," confessed Opal. She looked curiously up at Chrysocolla, who glowered harder back. "Peridot's a first-timer, neither of them want to keep it up anymore…They should've broken up the second they called it off."
"Maybe this is just a 'her' thing."
"I don't know enough about Christopher—"
"Chrysocolla."
"—Chrysocolla to guess, Steven." Despite her words, Opal wasn't yelling or insisting—just explaining the way it was. Her gaze never changed from consideration. If Steven didn't know any better, he'd say that she was either compassionate for Chrysocolla's state or really, really interested in where it came from. "I guess I could try—"
"I already told you! Just Steven!"
Steven took a breath, made his compassion take over his frustration. "I don't know how to help. But I want to!"
"Why?" spat Chrysocolla. "So you can get your best friend back? So you can all be a big happy team again and lock Peridot away so she can't do anything? Or maybe Lapis, too?"
Well, this was a lot to unpack…Steven couldn't just let her go away again, knowing what she had to go through every day, but this was a hard path to navigate. The only sliver of hope was that Lapis was his friend—Peridot hated him, and it seemed they both hated the Crystal Gems. He'd been hoping that Lapis might have let her anger go, but, well, he'd never been trapped in a mirror for thousands of years, so.
"The others are going to help me, and I'm going to help you." Steven took a chance and stepped closer until he was within arm's length of her. Chrysocolla stiffened but did not pull away. He smiled. "We're going to get you out of this."
Chrysocolla's mouth flattened into a hard line. "And what about after that?"
"Listen." No, no, no, Steven wanted to beg Jasper, but she went on talking before he could stop her. "I doubt Lazuli would be going back to Homeworld anyway, and unless Peridot has an entire ship tucked away in her Gem, she's not going anywhere, either. Right?"
Jasper raised a brow to the others. The Crystal Gems looked between one another, a few nods and shrugs shared between them. Sapphire answered, "The Cluster's gone, and the Warps are destroyed, so I can't see how Peridot can cause any more trouble."
For a second, the fusion's glower fell to bafflement. "What did you do to the Clu—?!" Then she shook her head vehemently. It made her visor bob on her face. "Okay, whatever. Are you going to help me, or not?!"
"Yes," Steven stressed. "But you have to let me."
Chrysocolla looked at them all in turn. Jasper and Ruby returned her glower, Opal merely raised a brow, and Sapphire was as calm as ever. Steven kept smiling even though his cheeks were starting to hurt.
"I don't want anyone coming closer than three feet of me," Chrysocolla snapped. She glared off to the side and mumbled, "But fine. Okay."
"Fantastic!" Steven clapped again and turned on his heel. "I'm going to go get cookies!"
"Don't leave me with them."
"Ruby is going to go get cookies!"
Ruby went, though she did mumble something or another about how she used to be a soldier in a war to save the planet.
With the beach in the state it was in, they decided to take their meeting up to the clifftop. Steven had to admit: watching Chrysocolla walking alongside them, squirming as the grass brushed between her toes…was the least strange thing that was happening. It still felt odd to be walking alongside Ruby and Sapphire and Opal.
He was at least happy that they were all ignoring the tension. He still remembered with bitterness how Ruby and Sapphire had tried to coax and comfort him on the island, ignoring the literal incoming of the apocalypse to try and get on his good side again. Not only were they all focused now, Steven never once felt a pair of eyes linger on him.
Steven didn't want to overthink it—his mind and body were both about to give in to exhaustion—but he wondered what life was going to be like from here on out. With Blue Diamond's talk with Jasper, it seemed Homeworld might leave them be for just a while. They may have a few more hundred years until they have to worry about them again. Jasper said she was going to stay and figure things out for herself, but that was going to be the easiest thing to accept at this point. Having Jasper around would be a change as harmless as a new color of paint on the walls.
What would Lapis do? She wouldn't go back to Homeworld, but what had happened to change her mind on staying on Earth? The galaxy was neverending, she could surely find somewhere else to go, though Steven knew he would miss her.
And yes, things were probably going to work their way back to normal soon. Steven took a look over at Opal and Sapphire, remembered that they had no idea about his and Jasper's trip, Blue Diamond's call, that he knew who Pink Diamond was and what had happened to her. He was going to tell them, of course—they were still on the same team.
It was strange that just a few hours before, he was telling himself that it was okay to take his time, and he and the others were going to have "That Talk" when he was ready to do so. But already the idea wasn't as daunting to him. No, he didn't want to discuss it now, but the inevitability was a smaller pill to swallow. Did he need a stronger backbone? Should he try and get that stewing bitterness back?
While they all stood on the gently drifting grass, Jasper leaned down to him to whisper. Steven was pleased that neither Sapphire nor Opal so much as side-eyed them—apparently no longer bothered by Jasper interacting with him. Perhaps their fusions to take down the Cluster had solidified that they didn't need to worry about Jasper anymore, and that she wasn't trying to pull Steven to the dark side.
"Remind me why we're doing this again," Jasper said.
"Well…She was going to destroy the town." Steven thought of what Beach City might look like if Chrysocolla hadn't reigned in her temper. Buildings swept away, destroyed, the town reduced to nothing but debris.
"Looks like her temper tantrum's over to me."
Steven kicked at a stone by his foot. "Lapis is my friend. I have to make sure she's okay. And Peridot—"
"Hates your guts and tried to kill all of you."
Steven waited for her to correct herself, but she didn't. "So…did you?"
"…Okay, point taken." Jasper glanced off to the side, embarrassed for a fleeting second. "But what happens when those two split up again? You think Peridot's going to be grateful? I'm pretty sure all this time in underwater prison would just make her angrier."
"We're just going to have to cross that bridge when we get to it. Like Sapphire said, Peridot can't really do anything to us or the Earth anyway. Besides…" Steven mumbled from the corner of his mouth, cool as cool could be, "Don't tell anyone I said so, but I'm pretty sure I could take Peridot."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night."
Steven chewed on the inside of his lip. The others were far enough out of earshot. "Are you okay?"
"Hm? Oh." Jasper readjusted her cape as it flicked around in the breeze. She paused for just a moment, looking down at her blue uniform, her lip curling just so. She looked away just as soon, though, and cleared her throat. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Don't worry."
Their conversation cut short when Ruby finally emerged, trudging up the grassy slope. Jasper stood up straight again and called, "Took long enough!"
"I don't think any living person has ever had a short conversation with Mayor Dewey," sighed Ruby. Down below, Steven just barely caught the papier-mâché head driving back into town. "I told him it was just a freak surge and there was nothing to worry about. Onion's going to clean up the beach. Community service hours and all that."
Ruby stopped beside him and Jasper, and Sapphire came over to join them. Towards the end of the cliff, pressed against the stretching sky, Opal and Chrysocolla stood apart from each other, straight and stiff. Chrysocolla's watery wings still bubbled anxiously.
"What are they doing?" whispered Ruby.
Sapphire whispered back, "Opal is trying to get her to calm down."
Opal stretched her four arms high in the air, slow and fluid, and Chrysocolla mirrored her movements. Even so far away, Steven could see some of the tension melting away from her limbs.
"Breathe in," said Opal.
"Breathe in," repeated Chrysocolla.
The two fusions lowered their arms in tandem, their breaths gusting out slowly. Chrysocolla's toes curled, embracing the grass instead of squirming at it.
"Breathe out."
"Breathe out."
They'd been doing this for some minutes now in Ruby's absence. Opal stretched her limbs and arched her back and Chrysocolla mimicked her, her reluctance fading with each movement. The fusion had a grace to her stifled away under the…everything-else.
At last, Opal lowered herself to the ground and crossed her legs together. Chrysocolla did the same.
"Now," said Opal, "Close your eyes."
From Steven's perspective, nothing changed.
Opal added, "Both sets."
Then the ones on Chrysocolla's face closed. Oh.
"Take deep breaths in and out." Chrysocolla obeyed, breathing so deep Steven could hear each inhale even so far away. "Focus on the wind and the ground beneath you. Forget anything else. Just let go…"
For a minute they all watched as Chrysocolla went stiller and stiller until at last she was a living statue. She leaned forward just a bit, almost as if she was powering down, only needing to charge her batteries again.
Even as Opal stood to her toes once again, slow and careful, Chrysocolla did not twitch a muscle. Opal left her at the edge, a pleased smile on her face.
"Alright," she said quietly as she approached.
Jasper frowned. "Now what?"
"Now we wait."
Opal sat down cross-legged once more, soon followed by Sapphire and Ruby, the latter of which lazily propped up against her. Jasper only did the same when Steven laid down on the grass, and with a sigh. Again, there was another moment where Steven was almost caught in the bizarreness of it all. All of them, sitting in the grass, no defenses. Letting it go was getting easier and easier.
They were all together, all watching Chrysocolla, and Opal mused, "They should melt apart in no time."
Five hours passed.
"How about now?" mumbled Ruby. She was sprawled on her back with her arm across her face. Sapphire was using her belly as a pillow and may or may not have fallen asleep; it was hard to tell.
"No," Opal grumbled in response. She still had her hand propping up her chin, though its hold was precarious. She looked one long blink from nodding off herself.
Even Jasper was beginning to get some bags under her eyes. She groaned (with a muffled voice because she too had went to the grass on her side), "Can we please move on to something else now?"
It was this grumble that awoke Steven, who had fallen asleep at some point, using the back of Jasper's legs as a cushion. He came to with a snort and a slurred, "Pancakes…?"
"Alright, I'm calling it in." Opal stood up once more, brushing her clothes from grass. As she walked for the still-frozen and still-present fusion at the end of the cliff, Ruby sat up and rubbed at her eyes. Sapphire groaned unhappily. "C'mon, Chris. Wakey-wakey."
Chrysocolla's eyes fluttered open as gently as someone waking from deep slumber—a gentleness that flew out the window when her eyes fell on Opal again. She shot a good ten feet in the air before coming back down again, water-wings bubbling and skin going slick for just a moment as if in a heat flash.
She looked down at her arms and feet, took two handfuls of hair and pulled, and snapped, "I'm still here!"
"So I see," hummed Opal. She'd gone back to her analyzing mode—not paying mind to the acidic glare Chrysocolla was trying to pin her with. The others joined them while Opal tapped on her chin. "What to do, what to do."
"I have an idea," Jasper gruffly offered.
"No you don't," replied Chrysocolla.
"I have an idea," chirped Steven.
"It's about time," replied Chrysocolla.
"Okay, maybe instead of going deep into their mind-zone, we should just work with what we got?" His response was a unanimous stare. "Man, I'm really bad with my words today. Why don't we give them a push in the right direction? Or—a pull, I guess?"
Jasper turned to Sapphire and Ruby. "You guys getting any of this?"
"I am," Opal answered quickly. She cast a long look behind them at the grassy slope of the cliff. "Let's go back down to the beach. We're going to need some space.
Jasper held up her palms in defense, but somehow in a way that said she still didn't need to defend herself. It was a paradoxical gesture. "Look, I'm just saying I think it would be equal."
"Four to one is not equal," snorted Ruby. She was drumming her foot on the sand, probably trying to look impatient, but Steven knew a hurt Ruby-ego when he saw one. "I may not be the best at math, but I know that ain't right!"
Jasper rolled her eyes up to the clouds. It was starting to darken in the afternoon, but her eyes were still stark yellow and shining. "You can't split five people equally." She flicked her gaze to Opal. "I mean, we could, but we're not going to."
"Indeed, we're not." Opal looked between all of them again. She must have gone through a hundred combinations at this point. "Maybe we should put Sapphire and Steven with me. That might balance it out."
"The Ruby can go on your side, too. That's what I've been trying to say."
"Okay. So just to be clear." Ruby pressed her hands together and closed her eyes. "You weren't arguing against us, and you really don't care, you just wasted the last five minutes to say that you're just as strong as five other Gems combined."
"You said it, not me."
Ruby walked away halfway through, hands above her head. "I'm about to have a conniption."
"Guys, does it really matter?" Steven sighed. They'd been standing around for a good fifteen minutes just figuring out who was going to go where—or rather, coming to the conclusion that it didn't make much of a difference. "Chrysocolla looks pretty impatient."
From behind him, she called out: "I feel pretty impatient, too!"
"Plus, I haven't eaten like…anything today, and knowing I missed Dad's Breakfast Surprise is giving me shame-hunger on top of the normal-hunger. I'm running on backup energy right now."
Opal held up her hands to stop any further comments—knowing how serious a matter Steven's hunger could be—and told them all, "Just go wherever you want."
Chrysocolla just silently pouted on the sand while they split up. The chains wrapped around her chest and feet were courtesy of Opal, who had collections of literally everything that had ever existed. Just looking at how tightly they were weaved and knotted, Steven could only guess at how uncomfortable it must have been, but it looked like Chrysocolla was more annoyed than anything else.
As they came closer to her—not noticing how the fusion curled up at their proximity—Jasper leaned towards Opal to whisper, "Hey, have you thought about…"
Then she caught the fusion's eyes on her, and tried to pretend she was talking about something else, even though her voice dropped as low as she could manage. Steven didn't catch a word of it.
When she finished, Opal clicked her tongue grimly. "Let's focus on Plan B for right now."
Opal picked up the loose length at Chrysocolla's feet. The links clicked and rang together as she passed it to Ruby and Sapphire. Jasper took up the head end, and seemed reluctant, but eventually gave the chain to Steven to help.
Steven honestly didn't realize that he'd once again chosen Jasper over the others. He'd done it without any conscience at all. Did that say anything? Was he getting too deep again?
Looking at Chrysocolla as she squirmed on the sand, he worried about Lapis and Peridot. For a moment he regretted ever getting the mirror to begin with. He shook that thought away quickly—Lapis would still be trapped if he hadn't gotten that mirror out.
She's trapped now, something reminded him. Now she just has company.
Steven wrapped the chains around his knuckles for a firmer grip. He was going to get Chrysocolla apart. Even if it took the weirdest game of tug-of-war to ever happen to do it.
"Ready?" Opal called from the other side.
"Ready," Jasper and Steven answered.
"PULL!"
Steven pulled with every morsel of strength his muscles had…and realized that behind Jasper, he was doing nothing but tugging on the slack, so he moved to be in front of her instead.
The chains pulled taut, almost ringing with tension. Chrysocolla grunted and squeezed her eyes shut but did not protest, even as the links dug into her skin and wrenched. Steven still probably wasn't doing a quarter as much as Jasper, but he kept pulling regardless. Already he could feel calluses rubbing into his palms.
The air filled with grunts and hisses. Sweat rolled down brows. Teeth gritted together. Muscles bulged so far from under the skin they seemed like to burst through.
Pain was starting to swell in the bones of Steven's arms. The sheer promise of the pins-and-needles to come was painful, but he didn't stop for a second. For each second that passed of the pain growing sharper and sharper, he just told himself that in a few seconds, Lapis would be there. Chrysocolla would never be a problem again. Just one more second, just one more second.
He didn't know when he'd squeezed his eyes shut, but when he finally felt a give, he didn't dare open them for a second lest he lose focus. They all kept pulling, the tiny millimeters of change feeling like miles.
Then, finally:
POP!
Steven went flying through the air in a flurry of chain links and sand. He hit Jasper back-to-chest, and the two went to the ground like ragdolls. It was better for him to be in front, after all—Jasper probably would have crushed him dead.
The others had to deal with just that, though. Opal went falling on Ruby and Sapphire. They didn't even get the luck of going down domino-style. Opal pinned Sapphire underneath her legs and Ruby underneath her back. Ruby got the worst of it. She was not lost in the never-ending abyss that was Opal's ponytail.
There were groans of dizziness and yes, the foretold pins-and-needles that set their hands and arms ablaze. But they only basked in the consequences for a moment. Opal picked her head up from the sand, spat out a sand dollar, and asked, "Did it work?"
The answer was, of course, no.
Chrysocolla just sat between the two teams with her arms and legs curled into herself, almost embarrassed. They all blinked at her, trying to figure out just what had happened—she hadn't glowed to shapeshift out of the chains. A silent exchange between Jasper and Opal confirmed that no, the chains weren't broken.
Then everyone's eyes fell on Chrysocolla's skin. It was still melting like a popsicle under a hot sun.
In a flash, Chrysocolla's watery arms covered herself. "Don't judge me."
Thus followed a collective sigh. Steven kicked himself for trying to find the easy way out again. But still, why couldn't things ever be easy? When was the last time something was easy?
Ruby was finally freed from hairy torment when Opal stood up again. She gulped for air that she didn't need. Thoroughly traumatized. "Did it work?"
"No," Sapphire answered. She thumped the red Gem on the back while she coughed and trembled. "But it was worth a short."
"UGH!" Chrysocolla's arms of water slammed down on the sand. Everyone went bouncing. "You guys haven't helped at all!"
"We haven't succeeded, but we are helping." Ruby stood up to her feet, brushed off her clothes. The terror had worn off. "You're welcome, by the way."
"Oh, don't get all hoity-toidy with me, Miss Let's-Bubble-The-Trapped-Gem-In-The-Mirror!" Chrysocolla stewed for all of two seconds before adding, "Miss Let's-Mess-Up-All-of-Peridot's-Hard-Work!"
Jasper snorted a genuine laugh. "Ooh! Do me."
"Miss Throw-Lapis-In-a-Cell-And-Make-Her-Tell-You-Where-The-Crystal-Gems-Are!"
"Nice."
Taking a chance, Steven came closer to Chrysocolla, until he was an arm's reach away from her face. She only pouted up at him. He still felt bad for her, though he knew that they would have made even less progress if she'd managed to snag him away like she wanted—like, negative progress. He was almost tempted to lay a hand on her forehead for comfort, but decided against it. Surely Peridot would come surging up to the surface to bat him away.
"You're not keeping anything from us, right?" he asked. "Nothing we should know that could help?"
Chrysocolla's nose scrunched up for the thousandth time. "Why would I keep anything from you if I thought it could help?"
She said that, but Steven caught some kind of hesitance. But it wasn't defiant—as though Chrysocolla herself didn't know if she had something worth sharing or not.
In any case, the group had come together again to discuss the next strategy. Chrysocolla flopped over to turn away from Steven—her other pair of eyes scowling away from him—so he let her be as much as it pained him. She didn't have a friend in the world right now.
As he was coming closer, he heard Ruby saying, "…like the hiccups? We just have to—scare 'em out?"
If Jasper's nose could have curled up, Steven was sure it would have. "What are 'hiccups'?"
"Just forget it."
"Does anyone have any other ideas?" Steven asked. He was out, himself. "I might, but it's hard to think on an empty—Oh, thanks."
While Steven tore open the granola bar Ruby had tossed his way, Sapphire mused aloud, "Maybe they're scared for what will come after." She looked Chrysocolla's way, sighing as she saw the fusion curled up on her side. "Even if Peridot says she won't try to contact Homeworld, you can still keep secrets in a fusion. I just don't know if Lapis knows that or not."
"We don't have time to dissect their every thought." Jasper turned to Opal. "What about now?"
Whatever they were talking about, Opal looked very hesitant at first. She cupped her chin as she peered at Chrysocolla, thinking, worrying, guessing. Maybe as a fusion herself, she had thoughts the others couldn't.
Something shifted in Opal's face, a sudden thought that she took a second to muse over. Her concern had morphed into curiosity—the look of someone coming up with an experiment of sorts. She just didn't say what thought she was considering.
"We might as well," she settled. She turned to Ruby and Sapphire, nodding her head towards the Temple. "Come on. I'm going to need some help with this."
They seemed curious, but followed nonetheless. Meanwhile, Jasper scratched at her cheek a bit awkwardly.
"Um…So you still want to stick around? Or do you want to go get some bio-fuel in you?"
"I think I'm good for now," Steven answered while he stuck the crinkled granola wrapper into his pocket. Chrysocolla was still lying on her side and was doodling sloppy images into the sand. At least now she was bored instead of frustrated. "So…Since you and Opal can read each other's thoughts now, can I know what we're doing?"
More discomfort. Jasper scratched the other cheek. "I guess I should, but I'm going to need you to promise me that you won't let your knee-jerk reaction stop us from getting this over with."
"Those were a lot of words. But yeah, go ahead." Steven puffed his chest out. "I can do whatever it takes to save the day. You with me, Chrysocolla?"
"Harumph," said the teal-colored lump on the sand.
"So what's the plan?" Steven pressed his hands to his lips. "Are we going to do a support circle? I can speak first if you're not comfortable."
"I don't know what that is, but you said 'support,' so no." Jasper caught eye of something behind him, and raised her hand to point at it. "That's the plan."
At first Steven couldn't make out what it was the others were pulling through the front door of his Room. He just saw that it was big and hulky, large enough for a struggle not to break the doorframe (funny, considering the house phone was still ripped from the cord via Sapphire.)
He still didn't see what it was until they finally got it out. Steven's throat closed up in an instant.
He wasn't an expert on weaponry, but he didn't have to be to see that the three of them were lugging a ten-foot-long, razor-sharp sword as wide as he was tall out of the door.
Steven realized what Plan C was and he didn't like it at. all.