And now, it is done. The chapter, the mission, and the second act of our story. And yet there is one downside: The final word count for this chapter. 8,995.
Sigh... My apologies to every DBZ fan out there.
While thousands of gems cowered in anywhere that could be conceivably called shelter, with some ducking into the catacombs in a panic, many were stunned to see two large and very recognizable gemstones fly through the sky before landing hundred of miles away. Not long after they landed, bringing down a large barracks building in the process, the two diamonds reformed.
"Oof, my head…" groaned Yellow, "I hate it when she does that."
"Agreed," moaned Blue, "But at least it's over now."
"What do you mean? That monstrosity back there could still be dangerous!"
"I meant… Look, I don't want White to lose but…" The azure queen's voice stopped as she noticed hundreds of dumbfounded gems were gawking at them and clearly hearing everything they were saying.
"Private conversation!" Yellow barked, sending lightning down her arm for good measure, "Repeat a word of this to anyone and it's Kindergarten maintenance for a century!"
That promptly got many gems scurrying out of earshot or simply poofing themselves to avoid overhearing anything. Once it appeared they were alone, Blue resumed her confession.
"I'm just saying that White has never been the same since Pink left, you know? She's insisted nothing is wrong, that everything is perfect and maybe…"
"Do not tell me you're siding with those hellions! Blue, please, I've had it up to my vision spheres with them already and White but you too-"
"And what else should I say, huh?! Pretend life is incredible now that Pink is gone, you and I can barely talk anymore, and White will 'educate' us again if we step a touch-stub out of line?!" She opened her mouth to say more but what sounded like a series of muffled explosions sounded off followed by a massive gust of wind rushing past their faces.
"Well, that has to signify something," Yellow figured, "Either White has won and she'll want us to regroup or…"
"Or what?" Blue asked.
"Or s-she… Actually lost…"
Reluctant though she was, seeing the genuine panic on the face of the fearless general made up Blue's mind. She placed a hand on Yellow's shoulder and tilted her head back towards the way they came. The more mature gem said nothing, but the grateful smile said all that was needed before they walked back towards the madness.
And while the two lesser diamonds made their way back to the central yard, they were completely unaware of how far White had gone in trying or that she was now facing an even bigger challenge.
She was also getting incredibly aggravated with just how hard Stevonnie was to hit. Given they were a fraction of the queen's size and was able to fully fly, the fusion was buzzing around her at almost ridiculous speed. Not helping her anger was the fact that any attempt to get close to them meant those blade arms would try slicing a digit off. The diamond never thought she would have to regenerate each of fingers twice in the span of a few minutes and being proven wrong about anything infuriated her to no end.
Stevonnie, on the other hand, was the picture of focus. No matter how White moved or swung, they remained vigilant to every movement and countered wherever possible. Blind anger had put them in this mess to begin and they would be absolutely sure to not repeat the same mistake.
That all changed, however, when a pair of burly arms stretched their way around Stevonnie's legs and suddenly yanked them away from the diamond before whipping around and slamming them into the ground.
"Oh, you did not just do that…" the fusion groaned, more annoyed than injured, and got up to see that a controlled Bismuth was readying another attack alongside a ring of grinning enemies. Pearl had multiple clones ready, Peridot somehow got multiple destabilizers from the ship with her metal powers, Cinnabar had black flames covering both her hands and even Fluorite stood over them in her humanoid form.
"Aw, suddenly clamming up?" White's voice came from all of them, "After all, you wouldn't want to hurt your 'friends', would you?"
Stevonnie glared right at White, now standing a fair distance away with a sadistic grin on her face, only to then look up at the contorted face of Fluorite. With their arms still formed into foot-long blades, the golden fusion suddenly leapt in the air and blurred around the giantess's body at speeds that would make Amethyst proud before reappearing in the same spot on the ground.
Fluorite took a step forward, only for her foot to suddenly twist the wrong way. A curious look down revealed it was because the appendage had been sliced clean through. She reached down with her arms but all of them began to surrender to gravity and drop to the floor. A horrified look came across the possessed gem's face just before her head separated from neck along with several pieces of her torso before all of them poofed in a massive rush of wind. Six perfectly intact gemstones clattered on the metal surface of Homeworld much to the utter shock of everyone save for one.
Stevonnie, their hands back to normal, walked up and inspected the nearest gemstone. A sigh of relief came when they saw the color was back to normal and made to bubble all of them while the ring of White-minded gems just gawked in silent terror. Even the unflappable matriarch herself looked on in fear, displaying it for the first time in her life, until Stevonnie was done and turned towards her.
"You really shouldn't have done that… I'm trying not to get angry."
Garnet then rammed a gauntlet-covered fist into Stevonnie's face, hoping to catch them with their guard down. Instead the fusion turned their head, their skin already shifted to crystal on instinct, and showed no sign of even feeling the impact despite the ground cracking beneath their feet.
"Besides, I'm not the one whose gonna get hurt…"
(Cue Epic Theme Song: Uncontrollable from Xenoblade Chronicles X)
Before Garnet could even react, a golden gauntlet formed on the half-human fusion's hand and collided with her face. The others had to dodge out of the way to avoid the gem rocketing by until she flew clean through multiple buildings.
Their eyes then turned to Pearl's half a dozen copies who all proceeded to charge ahead with spears drawn. The first two tried to spear Stevonnie only for sharp golden protrusions to suddenly burst from their stomach to stop their attacks. With the twins' stances ruined, Stevonnie pulled on the spikes to reveal a pair of shining blades that cut them down where they stood.
The other copies all stayed back, waiting for Stevonnie to make the next move. Rather than attack back, however, they returned their look to White Diamond. Her expression was more controlled, but panic was still showing in her eyes.
Seeing a distraction, Adamite and Topaz charged in from the sides with the former somehow having earth covering her fists while the latter had her pugil stick. Stevonnie's eyes never left White's even as a pair of barriers appeared seconds before they could strike. The two heavy hitters clanged into the hexagonal walls like birds smacking into glass but they never fully touched the ground. A simple curve of the adolescent's hands made the barriers shift and expand into a roll that covered all but their heads.
The glimmering Crystal Gem was about to move forward only for a black and white streak to cut her off. Amethyst's diversion gave Topaz enough time to split into her halves and break free. It was not enough, however, to stop a massive spine from suddenly shooting from Stevonnie's back to spear Adamite through the barrier and then the gut leaving a green gemstone behind.
With another gem down, the gloves suddenly came off as a whip suddenly wrapped around Stevonnie's legs to carry them off. As Amethyst dragged them along, smashing them through various buildings as she ran at Mach speed away from the thoroughly wrecked battlefield, they could distantly hear the others all rushing to keep up.
"Hm, probably should cut this short before that nutjob drags too many innocents into this…" the warrior muttered, barely fazed by the repeated dents their face were making in the lower floors of skyscrapers. Their focus turned to changed both of their hands into crystal hooks and embedding them into the metal underneath them with a single swing.
As for Amethyst, she went from hauling her diamond's enemy with no issue to having her whip snap into pieces and sending her flying thanks to physics. Once she got up from sliding across several hundred of feet of metal with her face, she got five seconds to register Stevonnie flying just above the ground before leaping out of the way for dear life. All of the other Homeworld gems nearby, ranging from soldiers who wisely evacuated the central warzone to civilians, ran for their lives as Stevonnie rammed into a twenty-foot tall metal tower with enough force to knock it over like it was a stack of building blocks.
"Heh, sorry about that…" they apologized, even twiddling their fingers in embarrassment, "Hope that wasn't too important."
They then turned to see the flock of other brainwashed gems with all of their faces showing a mixture of terror and indignation.
"Is this all some form of joke to you?!"
"You're fortunate that building was scheduled for demolition, you cretin!"
"You ought to be ashamed of yourself-"
"And that's where I'm stopping you," Stevonnie deadpanned, a crystal sword already in hand and rushing up to knock Rhodonite back, "Look, I didn't want collateral damage either. But you just keep making this worse, White."
The four-armed swordfighter was about to spew more blame as one of the tyrant's new mouthpieces, but found her words cut off by the pommel of blade suddenly bashing into her chin sending her sailing into the sky. Cinnabar than doused them in fire only for Stevonnie to walk out completely unscathed, their entire body glistening while the flames harmlessly sputtered out around them.
The possessed pyro tried to run away only for Stevonnie to reveal a shimmering whip of their own. The others all watched as the gem was ensnared and wrapped up in an instant before Stevonnie ran forward with a foot reshaped into a knife that they plunged into Cinnabar's gut. The now-restored red gem soon fell into Stevonnie's waiting hand before being bubbled.
"Don't you get it?" they asked the circle of puppets, "This is all your fault."
"You dare speak back to me-?!"
"Well, someone has to!" Even as Padparadscha, Peridot and Pearl all charged in on them, Stevonnie never lost focus as what could only be described as razor-sharp golden tendrils extended from their back along with two sabers in hand and displayed godlike multitasking by holding all the fighters off (eight in total with Pearl's clones) and continuing their speech.
"I don't know if you can hear me through the members of my family you're controlling, but you need to hear this! You. Are! AT! FAULT! You keep dragging this grudge up, you keep throwing attacks at us and then get mad that we have the gall to defend ourselves! That's like someone back home picking a fight with me, trying to have me arrested for slapping the loaded gun out of their hand and then running away, and then screaming how I'm the bad guy while they're rotting in prison! What is wrong with you?!"
Stevonnie did not even bother listening to the retorts which boiled down to the same tired repetitions of how stupid and insolent and inherently wrong they were. Honestly, they had to try not to roll their eyes as it finally clicked that all of White's arguments boiled down to a child throwing a temper tantrum because mommy and daddy would not give them what she wanted.
And while that was a refreshing thought, the dressing down also revealed something very interesting. White said something about how she did not spread her influence for a reason and it showed here.
When the three gems tried talking while fighting, their skills dropped immensely. Peridot and Padparadscha left gaping holes in their defense giving Stevonnie ample opportunity to slice through their forms and free their gems. The only reason Pearl survived was her ability to generate more doubles whenever one was cut down, or else she would have fallen not long after the others.
With five gems down and more to go, Stevonnie simply waited for the next in line to come at them. Their patience was soon rewarded with a vengeful Garnet stampeding in from one end while Rhodonite in attacking from the other end. It was only when the duo got close with their respective weapons that Stevonnie pulled off something new. The three-eyed veteran's gauntlets was stopped with the teen's shield but Rhodonite's own swords were stopped by a pair of blades… Held by a pair of fully articulate arms coming out of Stevonnie's shoulder blades.
"Heh, surprised?" the half-human fusion asked, chuckling at the thoroughly disgusted looks White's new cronies were giving, "Turns out Steven's shapeshifting and Connie's crystal body means I make a lot more than just blades!"
Rhodonite did not appreciate the development, however, as she was short a head thanks to the two new arms slashing down in an X. Garnet managed to recover and joined the others but now they were the ones on the defensive as Stevonnie rushed towards them with more arms sprouting from the fusion's body.
In truth, White could see through anyone she controlled but it had to willed. Like a normal person swiveling his or her eyes, she could shift her focus from one body of hers to another. Overwhelming to most, but White did possess the intellect and focus to make seeing through over a dozen different viewpoints at different points viable if mildly difficult.
Now, however, she almost wished her sight would give out on her from the one-sided brawl that emerged. Her remaining tools were dropping fast now that this Stevonnie was going on the offensive. On a fundamental level, the diamond had to admit their skills were impressive. Aside from being physically strong enough to be her equal and resilient enough to withstand anything thrown at them so far, they efficiently moved from one target to the next with every angle covered either by crystalline blades, new appendages or barriers appearing out of thin air.
This respect, however, quickly gave way to unyielding rage as the super-mutant was whittling down her tools one by one. The advanced Lapis Lazuli, the Topaz fusion, the two-headed Rutile, whatever the one called Rhodonite was and even the elastic Bismuth got trounced in the span of minutes. And to make matters worse, Stevonnie insisted on running their mouth the entire time until White had to literally stuff a fist into her mouth to stop a torrent of obloquies from rushing out.
Eventually, however, it was down to the original three Crystal Gems who were panting in exertion while Stevonnie was right as rain save for a crick in their neck that refused to leave. After trying to work it out to no avail again, they looked down at the still-bleached saviors of humanity with pity.
"You know, this might be hard to believe," "Pearl" spat, "But I find that difficult with that cocky smirk you kept."
"It's called throwing you off your game. Sorry, but you really pushing me back earlier."
"'Sorry?'" "Amethyst" let out, "You claim to repent even as you attack me and everything I have built."
"Oh darn, your empire built on genocide is being hurt… No, seriously, don't listen to this flat expression, I am deeply apologetic and stuff. What do you want in your gift basket?"
"You… You…" "Garnet" fumed before blindly unleashing a wave of ice that froze Stevonnie where they stood. The three controlled gems did not waste the opportunity and stomred ahead with their weapons drawn. This, unfortunately meant they did not stop in time before meeting the mass of golden spikes that broke clean through the ice. Garnet and Amethyst had no chance of retreating in time and it was only Pearl throwing a clone into the fire at the last possible second she was still standing.
Or, at the very least, alive since she was now lying down as her limbs stubbornly refused to move. All she could do was watch as the mass of gleaming spines slowly retreated back into Stevonnie without a trace and crystal seamlessly gave way to flesh. After picking up three fallen gemstones, the only parts of the two that were not riddled with holes, and sending them away in a bubble, Stevonnie slowly stepped towards the last of White's puppets.
"G-Get away from me!" "Pearl" cried, throwing out two more clones to try and stop their approach. Stevonnie did not even blink as two jagged blades emerged from their body to poof them both and then receded seconds later. She was about to spawn more until a golden hand grabbed the new servant's gemstone and hoisting her in the air until she was eye to eye with a Stevonnie that had none of the mirth or wit from before. All that remained was a cold glare that pierced right through the diamond herself causing her and her tool to sweat unconsciously.
"I'm going to make this very simple for you to understand. I don't want to use a more… permanent solution. I can just close my eyes and see where that led Steven and I'd rather not stomach it myself. But that all comes down to you. You can throw as many mooks and machines at me as you want. I'll just stop them."
The actual diamond flinched as she watched through Pearl's eyes as the fusion's free hand formed into the head of a golden scythe.
"But if you ever do this to my family again? I'll do it. And then just think what will happen to your precious little kingdom when you're the one in shards. Got it?"
Pearl had no choice but to nod frantically before her gem changed back from a stark white to its usual subtle shades of color. The hues soon returned to the rest of her as Stevonnie set her down on the ground.
"Oof, my everything hurts…" the fighter groaned, finally back to her old self. Once she got over her aches, she looked up to see Stevonnie holding out a hand.
"That bad, huh?" Pearl asked as she accepted the help up and looked around to see they were alone although the toppled building and other signs of damage were enough of an answer.
"Well, at least you seem to have this mostly under control. But, if you could just do one thing for me, Stevonnie?"
"Yeah?"
"Kick her butt. Hard."
"Can do!" Stevonnie then flashed a salute before flying back to the plaza while Pearl made her way back at her own pace.
While the two of them were relatively peaceful, the grand head of the entire gem empire was a nervous wreck for the first time in her entire life. And this foreign feeling made her simmering anger even worse as she quickly found quivering and occasionally looking over her shoulder did not sit well with her.
She was so consumed with this terror that she did not even notice Yellow and Blue had returned until the former literally walked up to her and poked on her leg. Both of the lesser diamonds could scarcely believe their eyes when White actually shrieked in panic and jumped a few feet in the air.
"U-Um…" Blue eventually said once she was sure she would not giggle, "White? What happened?"
"Er, f-forget what you just saw! We have an even worse threat than that Obsidian creature! Steven Universe has fused with some sort of golem and they've-"
"Hey guys!" Stevonnie waved, floating above all of them, "And White, thanks for finally seeing reason and letting Pearl go! She really appreciates it."
"What. That's it?" Yellow asked, befuddled beyond words that this could be a bigger problem than the building-sized monolith.
"Hey, can I ask you two a question," the fusion pointed towards Blue and Yellow, "Did that whole possession thing hurt for you too?"
"Find out for yourself!" White lashed out, sending out a ray of overwhelming power from her hands only for Stevonnie to slap it away like an irritating bug. That got Yellow to all but drop her jaw and Blue to let out a terrified "eep!"
"Of course, you still want to do this…" they moaned, "By the way, where are my parents?"
"In that ship of yours. They're unharmed."
"Oh, phew, that's good. But there is one more thing I need to do before we're done."
"And what would that be-!" White was suddenly got off when Stevonnie rocketed down into her from behind and sent both of their crystalline legs into her back end causing her to fall flat on her face and then form an impact crater in the perfect shape of her splayed out body.
"Okay, now that that's done, I think there's only one thing to do and…"
"GET THEM!" White commanded, "If you two don't stop them, I sincerely think you're going to hate what life will be like here!"
"Oh come on…" Stevonnie sighed, "You guys don't have to do this."
"Actually, we sort of do," Yellow rebutted, "Regardless of White's… Overbearing measures, you are still an enemy of the gem empire. You have endangered countless civilians and the property damage from just this battle will take months to repair."
"And as satisfying as that last hit was," Blue admitted, "You are a Crystal Gem, right? Flying under the same flag as the Rose Quartz who committed the unforgivable crime of shattering Pink Diamond? Then I must do everything I can to fight you for her sake, even if I can't defeat you."
"Wow…" the fusion gasped, "That's… I'm really sorry about this. And look, I can't rebuild your cities, but I can do this!" Stevonnie reached for their gemstones only for a stab of lightning to wrack their body thanks to a blast from Yellow. Rather than poofing, the fusion merely grit their teeth before a golden bubble forced the lightning and a thoroughly stunned Yellow back.
"H-How?!" she balked, "No gem's form can withstand my energy!"
"I'm half human. Now, as I was saying-"
Blue, rather than listen to any explanation, tried her own energy and sent a spiraling pulse at Stevonnie. This time, the fusion merely shook their head a few times to remove the tears from their eyes before glaring up at the scared-stiff diamond.
"You aren't going to stop until I beat you all up, aren't you?"
All three diamonds, though reluctantly, shook their heads. The fusion at least gave them credit for being honest right up until White kicked her miles away from the back. Once Stevonnie managed to get out from the building she just collapsed, she flew back to the diamonds with a flat look.
"You know, for hating all the collateral I've done, you just made more."
"Well, if you weren't here, I wouldn't have kicked you through that, now would I?" White smugly admitted, some of her old poise coming back despite that kick hurting her foot more than anything.
Stevonnie's eyes actually twitched at the sheer logical fallacy in front of them and muttered, "And there goes what little sympathy I had for you all…" before rolling to the side to avoid a blue foot trying to stomp her. They then took to the air to properly face the diamonds who came rushing in from three different angles.
All of them were stopped, however, but an impenetrable golden bubble that suddenly started growing, tearing up the planet's metal ground to reveal the desolate dirt underneath along with pushing back the attackers. The sphere quickly grew to be taller than White, taking up most of the plaza's space. In the center of the gargantuan bubble was Stevonnie who glared right at the largest of their foes and mouthed one question.
"Give up yet?"
Offended by the suggestion, White's response was to pound both her fists against the bubble only to find it would not budge no matter how hard she wailed on it. It made her so distracted that she did realize that a tiny hole had opened in the sphere letting Stevonnie fly out of their own barrier and punching her in the nose and then flying back in before White could retaliate.
To many of the Homeworld gems watching from the outskirts or orbiting above the planet's surface in various ships to escape the carnage, they saw the surreal image of Stevonnie flitting around inside a golden bubble, whizzing out long enough to smack one of the three matriarchs in the face, and then fly back in with the entrance closed like some kind of superpowered bug in full control of the jar.
Unfortunately, Stevonnie kept this up for long enough for Yellow to figure out the pattern. When the fusion tried bashing her again, the diamond sent a fist to meet them. The surrounding gems got a laugh out of Stevonnie then smacking into their own bubble before sliding down to the ground.
The other diamonds felt better as the sphere dropped only for Stevonnie to get right back up after stretching their neck. All of them had the same thought: "Just what would it take to get rid of this thing?!"
The Crystal Gem, on the other hand, was more disappointed with how carrier away they got. They needed some other method to fight back only to be shocked to see White Diamond actually run away while Yellow and Blue stood in Stevonnie's way.
"Nope, that's not happening," they mused before taking off with an extra-large shield in front of them to break through the pair of queens. They fully expected to bowl the two of them down but got another unpleasant surprise when each of the diamonds grabbed a leg and held them down.
"You've done enough!" Yellow grunted.
"We may have our problems with White," Blue protested, "But we won't just let you do what you want with her!"
While Stevonnie could understand defending family, they could not let the mass-murdering giantess who was running back into her palace do as she wanted. Needing to catch up fast, they shapeshifted both of their legs into two long blades and suddenly changed their flight from forward to the west. Yellow and Blue quickly recoiled as the feet-long swords sliced through their hands. Even then, they rushed after a soaring Stevonnie as they were stopped by the entrance to her palace closing.
Undeterred, the fusion tried bashing their way in with fists only for the alabaster walls to barely budge under their punches. Even when they changed their arms into swords, their scratches made little more than dents. Before Stevonnie could try more, however, a tremor rocked the plaza and the whole building suddenly levitated into the air causing them to fly back just as White Diamond's voice came through.
"Surprised, are we?" she sang, the smug assuredness back in full force, "As cliché as this might sound, you should be honored that we had to resort to this. You will be the first to face the Mega Diamond!"
Stevonnie raised an eyebrow at that until they noticed a crack in the ground directly under White's ship and realized only when it split open that it was an underground hangar. And floating out of that platform was a copy of Pink Diamond's old ship which joined White's at the waist to create an armless body.
"Okay, that might be really bad…" they admitted, "But as long as I stop the other two then-"
They turned around too late to see Yellow and Blue's arm-ships quickly approaching the plaza. Both queens held two pyramid-shaped crystals that went back in their gems before hopping into the hatches of their respective ships. In the blink of an eye the appendages joined at the shoulders of White's ship with Yellow on the right and Blue on the left to complete the utterly gigantic machine.
"Yep, I was right. This might be a problem…" Stevonnie gulped as the Mega Diamond looked down at them. Its left arm then swung down slowly yet somehow quicker than anything that size should have and nearly swatted the Crystal Gem to the other side of the world. It was only thanks to a twenty-foot tall shield forming in the nick of time, but now the fusion could feel the strain of holding back such an attack.
The crushing pressure stopped soon but a new problem was made as the mecha began stepping towards her. Slow as the paces were, each one crossed part of a mile and soon it was Stevonnie's turn to run lest they be crushed underfoot. They had no choice but to flee into the city surrounding the diamond's plaza the war machine tore after them, the distant screams of gems panicking filling their ears.
Realizing that they were causing a much bigger problem, Stevonnie knew they had no choice but to face this thing directly. After pulling a midair U-turn, they charged straight at the Mega Diamond with both fists covered in both gauntlets and shining crystal just as Yellow's arm formed a punch.
Thousands of gems were swept off of their feet. Buildings for miles around were ripped apart as a shockwave like an atomic weapon was dropped. A crater several hundred feet deep was made while the two fighters' fists were still locked. The diamonds in their ship and Stevonnie both looked around at the devastation they just caused and then turned to the other. For once they were in total agreement and proceeded back to the demolished plaza instead of endangering anyone else in the crossfire.
And once their restraints were off, both sides went at each other with all they had. Stevonnie did learn the hard way that the diamonds could still channel their energies through the machines. While they were mostly immune to the affects, it still was not pleasant getting electrocuted by Yellow, blown up by Blue (or to learn that now her energy were actually repulsor blasts) or lasered by White.
On the other hand, the three diamonds working in tandem still found the golden fusion to be a nuisance in every sense. They were simply too fast to pin down, had too much defense to be taken down whenever they were hit and the matriarchs were grateful that they had implemented self-repair systems on their ships. Stevonnie's blades may not have been enough to cut clean through them, but the damage would still be racking up otherwise.
And as the stalemate dragged on, both sides slowly getting frustrated that neither was making any progress, they resorted to two different methods of staying calm. Stevonnie tried to concentrate on their breathing and their movement, focusing solely on the battle and all the people depending on them.
The diamonds, on the other hand, went straight back to spewing whatever hateful slander they could think of. Stevonnie did not even bother listening to any of it as it all boiled down to "This is all your fault!" without any thought that maybe running a galaxy-spanning, imperialistic, totalitarian prison-state with no checks and balances was *GASP!* a bad idea. Or, you know, that abusing one of your own family might have been the catalyst but whatever.
As much as it grated on their nerves, Stevonnie just drew on all the training they had from Garnet and Pearl. To take a moment and think about what was really important. Keep moving, keep their eyes peeled, keep fighting to protect the whole of Earth and-
"I sincerely wonder if your Rose would be proud of you?" White snarked, derailing Stevonnie's train of thought in an instant, "She shatters a diamond and causes all manner of havoc and what do you accomplish? Destroying our bases, several of our warships, turning our own kind against us but you can't beat us. If only she could see you now…"
"THAT'S! IT!" Stevonnie snapped, "I have had it with your nonstop trash, you clods! All you do is point the finger at me like stubborn toddlers and-"
A blast from White's ship hit them, but Stevonnie was so hellbent that they swatted the attack away like a bothersome fly before going on.
"NO! I am going to talk! You are going to listen to someone else for once in your lives! I don't know how old you all are, but you all need to stop living with your heads shoved so far up your butts that you can tell what color your kidneys are!"
The monarchs were equal parts perplexed at what a "kidney" was supposed to be and nervous at just how worked up Stevonnie was getting. Now they understood how other gems felt when they shouted loud enough to make the walls of their palaces rumble since the fusion was now causing the newly unearthed dirt to scatter to the wind from their shouting.
"All you do is blame everything! Not just me, not just Mom, not the other Crystal Gems but everything. In existence! Do you have any idea how psychotic that is?! Oh look, an uncharted planet that has peaceful locals on it. Can't have that, let's conquer it! Wow, a gorgeous nebula that lights up the sky and poses no threat! Oh, but we need that space for more of our warships, let's get rid of it! Huh, a pearl that doesn't want to be somebody's 'shiny toy'? You're a criminal, eat death lasers! Seriously, what is WRONG with you?! What made you like this?!"
As their words dug into the diamonds, their attention was more focused on how Stevonnie's body slowly changed from skin to crystal from head to toe. That changed to fear when their hardened body started to get bigger with every word they spoke.
"And you know what else is your problem? For as smart as you all claim to be, you're all total idiots! I mean, look at the facts: You have a gazillion planets under your belts, done and dusted. But one. One singular, TINY planet manages to slip through the cracks and what do you do? Chalk this up to a misfire and move on with your lives? NOPE! Let's take hundreds of thousands of pieces of our dead kin, some of which were your own soldiers you killed, thought you might want to know that, and fuse their remains into a gigantic, planet-busting doomsday weapon for no other reason than 'We felt like it!' Some sound strategy there, huh, Yellow? How much time and effort went into this petty revenge scheme against a hunk of rock and water instead of anything more productive?!"
"And Blue, you're not out of the woods either! For being the one-woman judge, jury, and executioner for this whole pyramid scheme, you suck at your job! I remember that little trial of yours, you know. And one of your own defense zircons managed to come up with a credible theory from the evidence gathered in the case and presents her theory that perhaps Pink Diamond was shattered by someone else. Your reaction? Fry her and the completely innocent, if jerkish, prosecutor on the spot because 'I reject your reality and substitute my own!' And don't even say that was Yellow because I noticed you never stopped her or disagreed with the bogus charges. And by the by, if I ever catch you kidnapping someone else from Earth on your little pilgrimages, I will make you suffer."
"And then there's you, White, the crowning jewel in royal lineup of idiocy! You think you're so perfect? Perfection incarnate, huh? That your grand design is the ideal state of the universe? HAHAHA, now that's a riot! First of all, who died and made you the be-all, end-all decider on what's best for literally everything? Please let me pay my respects to whatever sap you drank the blood of to gain that position. And even besides that, for as oh-so perfect as you are, you have exactly one solution to every problem: Force. And I know you want to disagree with me, but let's stick to a little something called facts…"
"The shatterer of Pink Diamond escapes from Homeworld and now resides on Earth. Your solution? A squad of rubies. That doesn't work? A fleet of ships led by that wretched little turd Aquamarine. That doesn't work? A trio of warships ready to level my whole town for the heinous crime of being next to me. That doesn't work? An invasion force that tries to abduct anyone they can before popping up a giant bubble-bomb to blow everyone, including your own soldiers whom you value so much, to atoms. That doesn't work? Storm the whole dang planet with millions of goons to terrorize billions of innocent people but also set the whole world to go kaboom by reactivating the Cluster with all of your henchwomen still on it. There's a very clear pattern here and if you're even one iota as smart as you claim, you'll spot it in t-minus yesterday!"
"And even if you wanna say, 'Well what about Jasper? She was all by herself!' then hoo boy, let me clue you in on something. Jasper told me she was the perfect Homeworld gem before she got corrupted. How she stood for everything that you guys stood for? Well, imagine that she effectively won the battle and Steven fully agreed to go to Homeworld to help everyone he loved. And do you know wha Jasper did next? She decided, out of her own petty pride to beat Connie, her own hostage, to near-death for the sake of it. And that's even getting into the fact that you all decided to take every corrupted Crystal Gem and send them into the nearest sun. So, at least Jasper wasn't wrong about your values."
The three diamonds, in a very rare instance, were all thoroughly silenced. Yellow was actually running through the scenario in her mind at just how much time she put into that Cluster debacle. Blue was shaking her head trying to deny the trial and realizing, just maybe, that being the final word in every legal matter was somewhat problematic. Plus, mad as she was about that zircon accusing one of them for being Pink, she did realize that nearly ending the attorneys was a touch too far.
White, on the other hand, was more concerned with two things. One was trying to block out all of Stevonnie's words as her mind all but unraveled hearing these words. She tried to think of something, anything, to try and ignore the fact the line of logic actually made sense. The other was a very worrying fact that as the Crystal Gem ranted and raved, that slow expansion never stopped. Bit by bit their body grew larger and taller until a literal giant stood beneath the Mega Diamond on par with Obsidian after she tapped into Steven's full power.
It was not until White Diamond truly focused on what she was looking at that she saw the normal sized Stevonnie standing a golden bubble within the crystal colossus. When they moved their arms out, the massive avatar surrounding them did the same. This, if nothing else, snapped White out of her funk and realized they had a major problem. And yet even Stevonnie was still talking as the telephone-pole sized limbs they were now controlling slowly grew into serrated blades that started whirring at an alarming speed.
"But I'm guessing you still want to say how amazing and awesome and right you are and how inferior I am, right? Because I'm getting the feeling you still aren't listening? Well, I'm going to make you listen even if I have to CUT YOU OUT OF THAT MASSIVE TIN CAN AND BEAT THE TRUTH INTO YOU ALL MYSELF!"
In no time at all, Stevonnie's avatar charged forward with the chainsaw arms roaring for blood. The Mega Diamond tried to fry the oncoming monolith with every kind of energy they had but all of them just bounced off its reflective skin and blew up somewhere else. They tried to back the mecha up but the blades soon got into the legs and sliced through the pink metal like hot knives through butter. All of the diamonds were knocked clean off their feet as their ultimate weapon collapsed under their own feet in the most literal sense possible.
In the left arm, Yellow Diamond was just getting her bearings when the entire ship suddenly lurched and she landed on the ceiling. It was only after she hit her head that she had the horrible realization that Stevonnie's shell picked up her entire flagship, ripping it away from the rest of the Mega Diamond, and suplexed it no doubt flattening miles of land around the plaza. She just started to panic when the wall to her now trashed personal vessel was ripped open like paper to find Stevonnie sprouting more blades and still not done talking.
"You wanna know what your problem is?!" they demanded, their voice ringing out throughout their monumental golem and lifted her up by the shoulders, "All you are is angry and you explicitly refuse to act otherwise! Your answer to everything is to just shout at it. And when that doesn't work, you threaten someone to take care of it. And if that doesn't work you just blow it up yourself! And how's that strategy working out for you, hm? Maybe if you spent a hundredth of the time actually fixing your problems with your family and your empire instead of just zapping it all away then you wouldn't be such a miserable, abusive clod!"
And while they ranted to Yellow, they wasted no time tossing her around like a ragdoll and pounding the lesson into her. Finally being helpless for the first time in eons helped the message sink in as all Yellow could do was shout and beg to be let go as Stevonnie's giant soaked up whatever minor damage she made and paid it back a hundred-fold. If it were not for her regeneration, then she would be down all of her limbs and have hardly anything for a torso. By the end of the tirade, the fearsome general of gem-kind was a barely conscious zombie aching from head to toe and muttering something under her breath.
Stevonnie then moved to Blue's ship only to find the morose matriarch was actually hiding behind it and trying to stop shivering as she curled up in a fetal position. When she cracked open her eyes to see the fusion standing over her, she immediately tried to run only for Stevonnie to grab one of her arms and swung her around to face them.
"And I know Lapis said this to you earlier, but she was right. Get over Pink already. All you're doing is hurting yourself and too many innocents by obsessing over grief all of this time."
"Y-You didn't know her!" Blue insisted, trying in vain to free herself, "She was so pure and bright and your mother ended her life!"
"You know, it's funny you say that," they mused before suddenly headbutting Blue and sending her stumbling backwards, "Because from what I've seen you didn't love her very much."
"You think I'm lying?! Or that you're in any position to-!"
"I! Watched! It! Happen!" Stevonnie suddenly belted out, punctuating each yell with a punch across the face, "Rose Quartz showed Steven just how you treated Pink. Stuck on that assignment you knew she hated and Rose, your sworn enemy, was the one who gave her happiness and something to smile about. And what did you and Yellow do? She laughed in her face and you threw her under the bus!"
"H-How… How could you know?"
"None of your business, but you know what I say? Take off the rose-colored glasses, Blue. If you loved Pink so much, then you would have listened to her. You'd actually give her some respect instead of just indulging her like a bad parent with a spoiled kid. Too little, too late, huh?"
Rather than give Blue the same beatdown she gave to Yellow, Stevonnie's avatar grew a set of claws between the knuckles before thrusting them into the diamond's gut. As she screamed in shock and fell to the ground in a sobbing mess, Stevonnie turned their attention to White's vessel. Even now, the diamond hid inside causing them to roll their eyes. It was actually getting sad how predictable she was.
The avatar grabbed a hold of White's palace, one hand gripping the rut Obsidian had made in their fight, before tearing the ship clean open. Inside, White's calculating eyes were unfocused while her body was trembling unlike anything before. The only reaction she had to her ship being destroyed was a small step backwards like that would put distance between her and the gold giant that could easily overpower her.
"And then there's you, White," Stevonnie growled, "I'm pretty sure you don't even love Pink. This isn't about avenging her for you, is it? It's all about the same thing at the center of everything around you; you. Because that's all you care about. Your invasion. Your empire. Your forces. Your perfect legacy. And you know what?"
The diamond could only let out a scream in response as the avatar suddenly threw her out of her ship and onto the ground before unleashing a series of blows fast enough to make Amethyst at her fastest look lethargic. And as she got a full-body pummeling with each blow strong enough to punch clean through her, Stevonnie let out every bit of aggression both of their components felt and then some.
"I hate you! You're the definition of narcissism! You literally see yourself as the center of the universe if not the multiverse! You see literally everyone around you from the lowliest pearls to the other diamonds as your tools! You had a smile on your face when you threatened Pink! You took her pearl and brainwashed her to be your puppet and I'll bet you're still doing it! I don't even think you comprehend what affection, of any kind, even is!"
And when all the screaming died down, White was moaning in agony as Stevonnie slammed her down into the ground hard enough to crack a tectonic plate before two swords the size of Opal appeared in the titan's hands.
"And you know what, White? I have these thoughts going around in my head. Really dark thoughts that say I should just kill you," Stevonnie muttered before both swords were thrusted into White's stomach. Even as she screamed in more pain than she could ever remember feeling, she looked up to see more sabers were ready.
"You're the definition of toxic…" Another blade joined the two in her gut.
"You see everyone and everything as expendable…" A sword was stabbed clean through her left arm, severing the limb at the elbow.
"All we wanted to do was live in peace, but you just couldn't have it…" A matching sword found itself through her right arm.
"How many lives have you taken? I'll bet you don't even know… Or don't care!" A blade was stuck through her chest at the last word, White screaming so loud that the half of Homeworld could hear it. Tears streamed from her eyes as she finally felt the same fear she instilled into countless others. That fear only grew when a yet another blade appeared and Stevonnie pointed it right at White's gem in her forehead.
"I'd be doing the universe a favor, getting rid of you. No more planets getting strip-mined. No more Off-Colors getting hunted. No more of Yellow and Blue living in fear of you. And I could do it so easily…"
Stevonnie's avatar raised the sword for an overhead swing, causing White to shriek one last time before her voice seized up and she closed her eyes. It took her five whole minutes for her to open them again to see the tip of the massive cutlass resting inches above her gemstone.
"But I won't," Stevonnie sighed, the blades pinning the diamond down fading into sparkles while the crystal golem around them slowly shrank. As soon as she was free, White's limbs reformed soon after but she was far from fine as the fusion walked towards her.
"Because you know what? That's easy. It's so easy to lash out at someone especially when you have this much power. But that's what you'd do, isn't it? That's all you ever do. And I absolutely refuse to be like you anymore."
Stevonnie then reached a hand down towards their gem to reveal a single pink bubble. "But now we're done, White. You can this up with her now because I am doaaaAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
That scream was thanks to a beam of pure white energy pierced clean through Stevonnie's chest and out the other side. The bubble they were holding rolled onto the floor as they were more concerned with the horrendous feeling of this energy ripping them apart. Their body started flashing pink until all of it suddenly collected into a pink orb that suddenly flew out of sight. Steven and Connie then fell to the ground, both of them unconscious, only seconds later.
That left only a terrified White Diamond holding the same remote for her special project gasping for breath. The special laser was built into the head of her ship by White herself with the sole purpose of draining the light directly from a gem. True, she knew that with a half-human physiology the effects would be different, but it turned out to be the perfect surprise. She did, however, conveniently ignore that the angle had to be perfect for Stevonnie to be hit where they were.
Nevertheless, White stood up and slowly felt her ego swell as she saw the two teens lying helplessly on her feet. She raised a foot to squash them before another word could pass through either of their lips only for the last thing she ever expected to happen; a massive torrent of mud suddenly rained down on her.
"OH, NOW WHAT?!" she yelled only to see Sandstone floating above her.
"Sorry, but that would be me," the fusion said as she slowly picked up the kids, "We've been in sub-orbit the whole time in case something bad happened. Buh-bye, White Diamond. It looks like you'll have much bigger problems to worry about now."
As Sandstone flew off on brown wings, the diamond felt her anger spike harder than ever. She raised both hands and charged them with enough energy to smite Sandstone a hundred times over…
"Stop."
…Until the last voice White ever expected to hear spoke up. Her hands suddenly dropped as she turned around to see a tiny figure only slightly taller than Stevonnie standing before her. Despite the poofy shoulders of her top, the frills resembling a tutu around her waist and the fluffy white orbs on top of her shoes, nothing about her was the least bit silly. Her arms were crossed in disappointment as she glared up at the much taller diamond.
"P-P-Pink?" White stuttered. The other two diamonds, having been watching this whole ordeal, could not even form words much less move closer towards her.
"Yeah. And you haven't changed in the slightest."
This, combined with the absolute nightmare today has been, was too much for the three rulers who all fainted on the spot. Pink, however, just shook her head and grimaced.
"And that seems about right…" With no one else around, all of the obvious questions started filtering into her head. Why was she back on Homeworld? Where was Rose? And the palace looks like a train wreck WHAT?!
She could only think one thing now. "Just how long was I bubbled?!"
With the diamonds in complete disarray, the armies of Homeworld did not even attempt to stop the Crystal Beacon from flying away. The rebels on board did not question the good fortune as they were too busy getting Steven and Connie into beds so they could recover in relative comfort. Besides that, an air of relief washed over them. Their mission was finally accomplished and all of them had managed to leave in one piece.
There was, however, one thing left unaccounted for.
The mass of pink energy streaked out of Homeworld's orbit as well and into the great black void of the final frontier. It may have been only a few feet tall and barely any wider, but it still moved so fast that no one had noticed it especially with the chaos now unfolding on the alien planet. Only when it was thousands upon thousands of miles away did the ball stop rushing ahead. As soon as it stopped, it began to slowly expand from a simple sphere to a more complicated shape. Arms, legs and even a head were formed until the glowing body finally settled.
Long white tiers of fabric floated aimlessly in the nonexistent gravity of space. The same was true for the thousands of pink hairs as tall as she was. A singular star-shaped hole was cut in the naval of her gown only now there was nothing there but peach-colored skin.
Slowly, her mind seemed to awaken and her eyes opened to find herself drifting far away from Homeworld.
"W-What…?" Rose Quartz asked herself, "I'm… Alive?"
There's a certain fan of mine I've been talking with on . I promised a BIG twist in the story and refused to give little more than hints and answers to yes or no questions. And now having done it, all I can think of is I cannot wait to see the comments! Tell me if you're surprised, outraged, just plain confused! I find your shocked reactions DELICIOUS! Also, since Rose and Pink are two different people here, Pink is now played by Kimberly Brooks.
Maybe this is why George R.R. Martin kills off so many characters...
Anyhoo, that's enough rambling. Next time it's the reunion of Pink and the other diamonds! See you then!
Thank you all so much for reading! Please leave any questions or comments in a review because they'll taste great with my dinner tonight!