Spoilers for Alone Together (if you haven't seen that episode yet, then why are you here?) and, as per usual, Beta and Earthlings.
Pearl and Stevonnie stood toe-to-toe in the Ancient Sky Arena.
The former held two long silver swords outstretched at her sides, the latter held Rose's huge pink sword in the air between them, blade pointed to the sky.
"Ready?"
Pearl smirked confidently at the hybrid Fusion. "As I'll ever be!"
Stevonnie's lips stretched into a grin and, taking the hilt of Rose's sword in both hands, she lunged forward at Pearl, the blade aimed at the Gem's chest. Pearl crossed both of her own thin swords in an 'X'-shape, the pink sword catching between them, the harsh sound of metal against metal echoing through the arena. Twisting her blades, Rose's sword was promptly pushed away with a sharp shing! and sent Stevonnie skidding back.
Pearl hesitated for a split second as Stevonnie staggered for a moment, nearly losing her footing, but she quickly regained her composure and rushed Pearl again, sword at the ready. Pearl shrugged off her opponent's slip-up and stepped to the side at the last possible moment, holding her left sword out in the air, directly in the Fusion's path. Stevonnie let out a startled gasp and threw herself to the ground, rolling beneath the sword and landing in a crouching position on the opposite side. She exhaled softly and pushed herself up off of the ground and leapt up in Pearl's direction, her mouth opened in a fierce battle cry.
The Gem stood motionless, turned away from Stevonnie as the Fusion lunged at her. But, in a flash, she had whipped around to face Stevonnie and interlocked one of her two swords with Rose's, the blades scraping noisily against each other as they both fought for dominance.
Stevonnie let out a grunt of exertion under breath, feeling herself beginning to falter. Pearl noticed it too, but forced herself to focus. The kids had been training with her for months now, surely they knew what they were doing. Twisting her own blade around the larger pink one, Stevonnie watched in surprise as her sword slipped from her grip, launched into the air. It flipped once, several yards overhead, before falling blade first behind her.
Stevonnie and Pearl stared each other down for a moment before the former turned and rushed towards where the sword waited, half-embedded into the ground. Leaping into the air, Pearl twisted her body around and landed on both feet on the opposite side of the fallen sword. She rushed Stevonnie, both swords aimed at her opponent. Stevonnie faltered for a split second, before breaking into a run as well, grabbing the sword from the ground as she passed by it and swinging it around in Pearl's direction. She didn't foresee the Gem leaping into the air a second time to dodge her blow, causing Stevonnie to unintentionally twirl around in a full circle.
As she did so, her feet became clumsily twisted around each other. With a yelp of surprise, she collapsed face-first onto the ground.
With a soft groan, Stevonnie looked up with just her eyes to meet Pearl's gaze. The Gem simply stood over her, a stern but concerned look in her light blue eyes. Stevonnie forced a nervous smile up at her, chuckling uneasily as she pushed herself up onto her feet again.
"Heh, just kidding! J-Just…" The Fusion's trailed off into silence when something strange happened. The sky turned a Hellish crimson hue and her surroundings became basked in a warm red-orange colour; the very instant it appeared, it flickered away. What the…? What was tha…? Her thoughts were cut off when she saw Pearl leap several feet into the air, both swords held up over her head.
As Stevonnie watched her come down, her focus faltered as everything began flickering red again, but quickly returning to normal as it had prior.
"Wh-What's going on?" Stevonnie whispered to herself.
Steven, what is that? Connie asked.
I—I don't know. Steven admitted, wondering himself whether he was lying or not.
Stevonnie jumped backwards just as Pearl landed. She hadn't expected Pearl to lunge forward, one of her swords pointing straight at Stevonnie's chest.
Summoning her shield completely slipped her mind as she squeezed her eyes shut, grimacing. She stood there, tense, for five long seconds, before she mustered up the courage to open her dark brown eyes again. The first thing she saw was the Hellish red scenery and… something standing behind Pearl. In an instant, all of it disappeared and Stevonnie found herself standing there, frozen, the end of Pearl's blade hovering inches from the star on her chest.
Pearl's eyes were wide at first, shocked by how close she had come to stabbing the Fusion, having expected her to instinctively summon her shield to block it. Shaking off her reaction, Pearl narrowed her eyes into a stern glare, but stepped back and allowed her arms to relax at her sides. Finally allowing herself to breathe again, Stevonnie dropped to her knees with a frustrated groan, covering her face with both hands in shame.
"I'm sorry, Pearl. I—I guess I'm just… a little out of practice." Stevonnie admitted, looking up wearily at her mentor.
"Hm. In that case, perhaps we should review what I have taught you… tomorrow."
"What?! No! Scratch that, it'll be fine! Honest! We're just a little… a little, uh…"
"You're uncoordinated." Pearl finished for her. "Your stance is lacking and your strategies are all over the place! What if we were in a real fight, Stevonnie? I can assure you that any enemy worth fighting wouldn't have hesitated when they saw you freezing up like that! They would've seen that as the perfect moment to strike!" She punctuated the last word by lifting one of the two blades and pointing it at Stevonnie again.
Stevonnie flinched slightly at her stern words, but forced herself to keep a straight face. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I…"
Pearl sighed. "You don't need to apologize. You need to do better."
Stevonnie nodded a couple of times, but didn't meet Pearl's gaze. "Yes, ma'am. I'll try… no, I will do better next time! I promise, Pearl, I won't let you down!"
Pearl smiled in slight amusement. "Very good. You can go ahead and return to the Temple, I'll meet you ther…"
"What?! No, give us another chance! Please!"
"Wha… right now?" Pearl said, a little surprised. "Stevonnie, are you sure you're feeling up to it?"
"Yes, ma'am!" the Fusion said confidently. She picked up Rose's sword off the ground and gripped the hilt in one hand, resting it on her right shoulder. "I'm ready when you are!"
Pearl stared at her for a bit longer, a skeptical look in her eyes. Stevonnie's determined expression faltered a bit until Pearl let out a defeated sigh.
"Don't be afraid to call it off if you need to. Your tactics seem pretty rusty, and I don't want to risk hurting you or your components because of that!"
"You won't, I can guarantee that!"
Pearl hesitated for a moment as Stevonnie swung her sword down and dropped the hilt into her opposite hand. She adjusted her grip on it for a moment, and sprinted straight towards Pearl, yelling out a battle cry as she swung the sword in Pearl's direction. The Gem leapt backwards into the air, landing on her feet several yards away, before charging at Stevonnie, both swords crossed between them.
The scenery began flashing red again. Out of the corner of her eye, Stevonnie caught a glimpse of the large orange shape she'd seen before, but the moment she turned to look, everything was normal again, taking the anomaly away with it. Shaking her head with an annoyed grunt, she returned her attention to the charging Gem. The pink gemstone in her belly glowed momentarily and a large shield materialized into her waiting hand. She held it protectively in front of her before turning it on its side, launching it at Pearl like a frisbee.
Pearl's eyes went wide and she flattened herself to the ground, sliding underneath the flying shield. As soon as the shield had passed overhead, she lifted both swords over her head again as she forced herself upright, preparing to bring them down upon Stevonnie. Smirking slightly, she summoned her magenta bubble, causing the blades to be deflected off of its impenetrable surface. Pearl smiled in satisfaction as she skidded backwards, quickly recovering and throwing one of her swords in Stevonnie's direction, twirling around elegantly as she threw the other. Her own gem glowed as she summoned her spear, simultaneously watching how Stevonnie deflected the attack.
Stevonnie summoned her shield a second time and the flying blades stabbed straight through its translucent face; she cringed at how close the blades' tips came to her face on the opposite side. Turning the shield upside down, the blades that stuck through it pointing upwards, she threw it. In rapid succession, she summoned two more shields and sent them both flying in Pearl's direction.
Pearl caught the first one in her hands as simply as catching a frisbee, removing one of the two impaled swords and sending the shield flying into the air. She used her retrieved sword to knock one of the shields out of the air and threw her spear at the final one. It severed straight through Rose's emblem in the centre of the shield, pinning it to the ground before both of them dissipated in cloud of white sparkles. The first shield vanished before it came back down, leaving the sword alone tumbling through the air. Outstretching her free hand into the air, she clenched her fingers into a fist the instant she felt the hilt brush against her palm, bringing the sword down to eye level with a smug smirk.
Stevonnie looked on in silent awe, but shook it off and charged in Pearl's direction, her pink sword held out in front of her. She propelled herself into the air, leaping up and pushing off of the ground with the sword's tip like a vaulting pole, soaring into the air with her sword in the air, grinning widely down at her opponent as she lifted the weapon up over her head.
However, as she came down, the scenery flickered for a moment. Stevonnie didn't pay it any mind until everything was shrouded in the Hellish red-orange, and this time, it didn't expire like it had before.
"Huh?"
Stevonnie landed hard on the ground in front of Pearl, staggering and nearly falling, but she quickly regained her composure. Everything looked relatively normal, excluding the red hue over everything… up until Stevonnie got a little closer at Pearl and noticed that there was something off about her. As she cautiously approached the Gem, Stevonnie stopped in her tracks with a startled gasp. "What the…?"
Pearl hung her head, two large swords, almost the size of Rose's, held at her sides, their golden blade tips touching the ground. Stevonnie at first thought the orange tint to her skin came from the weird hue of everything, until she noticed the red bands on her face and arms. Stevonnie suppressed a startled whimper as Pearl slowly tilted her head up. Her short blonde hair partially covered her left eye. Her right eye was in full view, the Sun glinting off of an intense yellow iris. When she noticed the unsettled look in Stevonnie's eyes, her lips stretched into a wide, fanged grin.
"Rose…"
"J-Jasper?!" Steven cried through the Fusion.
The Gem chuckled sadistically under her breath as her form turned to white light and morphed into her larger, bulkier physical form. Once the light faded away, Stevonnie tensed as she found herself staring into the eyes of the savage Quartz soldier, who towered over her, dual wielding two huge swords of gold.
"Did you miss me, Rose?"
"Ugh… s-stay away from me!"
Stevonnie began taking shaky steps away from the Quartz, both her shield and her sword held protectively in front of her. After a moment of pause, Jasper slowly began matching her footsteps, closing in on the Fusion more and more.
Steven, what is she doing here?!
I don't know, I don't know! he cried out. I—I thought I was past this!
What?
Stevonnie whimpered as she squeezed her eyes shut, tears seeping from her closed eyelids. "Please… don't do this!"
Steven… Steven, it's okay! Just—Just breathe! Just breathe, and relax! Connie coaxed him.
I—I am breathing!
Calm down! J-Just remember, she's not real! She can't hurt us!
Stevonnie's eyes snapped open wide with a startled gasp when Jasper roared out a battle cry, lunging at the hybrid Fusion and sweeping both swords over her head. Stevonnie dropped to the ground with a cry; if she hadn't, she could've been left with a couple of bad lacerations on her face… or worse. Standing back up, Stevonnie hastily stumbled backwards as Jasper stabbed at both of her legs, cackling maniacally at her fear.
Focus, Steven! Remember what Garnet said! Just breathe, and focus, it'll be oka…
Connie was cut off when Stevonnie staggered back, letting out a choked cry. She froze solid for a moment, breathing heavily. But every breath was a burning, painful one.
Hot tears formed in Stevonnie's dark eyes as she shakily looked down: Jasper's sword was impaled straight through her chest. She felt nauseous when she realized she could feel the end of the blade sticking out of her upper back. Neither of them seemed to notice the distinct lack of blood coming from the injury. She shakily looked up to meet Jasper's intense golden gaze, the Quartz soldier grinning down viciously at her.
Stevonnie's whole form was beginning to tremble and she could feel herself beginning to falter, but she couldn't just unfuse. Not now. Not until this was over.
Stevonnie let out a pained whine as Jasper jerked the blade from her chest, nearly causing her to collapse right then and there. She held a fist against her chest, hiding the nonexistent wound from view. But, with a weak grunt, she flipped backwards into the air, one of her feet connecting with Jasper's red left hand. The contact knocked her hand upward, her fingers opening involuntarily and her sword flying into the air. As Stevonnie landed on her feet again, she grabbed the hilt of the falling golden blade before it could hit the ground. She looked up at Jasper with an uncharacteristic look of rage burning in her dark eyes. Jasper's own eyes went wide, but Stevonnie hardly noticed as she charged at her, both swords at the ready.
Steven…
"Just…"
Stop…
"…leave me…"
No…
"…alone!"
She punctuated the final word by sweeping both swords in front of her, slicing through Jasper's torso like it was nothing, effortlessly bisecting her through the middle. Time seemed to slow down as her physical form fell apart before the Fusion. Her yellow eyes were wide, and Stevonnie couldn't help but notice a look of sheer terror in her round eyes. Stevonnie flinched, feeling a pang of guilt in her heart as she stared at her opponent.
"St… Stevonnie…" the Gem whispered. Her voice sounded higher pitched and more effeminate than it had prior.
And, with that, her destroyed physical form vanished in an explosion of white smoke, triggering the scenery to transform back to normal.
Stevonnie gasped and her own eyes went wide, both swords clattering metallically to the ground at her sides. A smooth, round, white gemstone clinked to the ground and rolled on its silver edge, stopping and falling onto its side inches from where Stevonnie stood. Tears began to form in her eyes as she stared in horror at the disembodied gemstone.
"Pearl!"
In an instant, Stevonnie vanished, leaving Steven and Connie on the ground in her place.
"Pearl!" Connie cried out, but Steven jumped up and ran over to the fallen gem before she had a chance to.
"Wait! I… I—I can fix it!"
He sat on his knees beside the gemstone and lifted her up in one hand. He stared solemnly at her for a few seconds and proceeded to encase the gem in a magenta bubble, prompting a shocked gasp from Connie. But before she could say anything, he immediately popped the bubble again, catching her gem in both hands before she could hit the ground. He sat there and waited in silence, before he felt the gemstone become warm. In almost the same instant, it levitated from his grasp, surrounded by a brilliant white aura. Getting up off of the ground, he stepped back, standing beside Connie as they silently waited for Pearl to reform.
When she did, she still bore her physical form from before, not getting a chance to pick a new form after Steven forced her to come back prematurely. She landed on both feet, swaying slightly and looking more than a little weary from the prior ordeal. Before she had a chance to do or say anything, Steven rushed forward, pulling her into a tight embrace as tears streamed from his eyes.
"Ah... Steven?"
"Pearl!" Steven sobbed. "I-I'm so sorry! I-It was… I—I didn't… I—I…"
"Steven, Steven…" Pearl said, gently pushing him away and forcing a small smile down at him. "It's okay, I know you didn't mean to."
"It-It… I-It's just… Jasper. She… she keeps coming back. And I… I—I don't know why!"
Pearl's smile disappeared at those words and she pulled him close again, stroking his thick, dark hair and whispering comforting words to him as he cried against her. A few moments passed before Connie hesitantly approached, resting a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Steven…?"
"Hm?" he said, pulling away from Pearl and wiping the tears away.
"Why… why didn't you tell me about Jasper?"
He sniffed. "I—I didn't want you to get involved with this. It's stupid and I didn't want you to worry."
"It's not stupid!" Connie retorted. "Steven, if Jasper's back, then I…"
"No, no! She's not back… n-not really. I mean, lately, I've been having these… nightmares about her." Pearl grimaced slightly and walked away from the two of them. "I-I feel like she's trying to communicate with me or something, but the Gems keep saying she can't if she's trapped in a bubble. I want to release her, try and get some answers out of her, but…"
"Isn't Jasper Corrupted though?"
"That's the thing! In the Beta Kindergarten, Jasper wouldn't let me try to heal her because she still blamed me for shattering Pink Diamond, so… maybe if I heal her now, then maybe she'll forgive… me…?" Steven trailed off as Pearl approached them again, a stern look in her eyes.
"But you can't heal her, Steven!" Pearl snapped. She paused, taking a deep breath and speaking again in a more even, collected tone, "Not completely anyway. You remember the Centipeetle. You partially healed her Corruption at first, but then, she just lapsed right back into her Corrupted form again. Not to mention Jasper is already so fueled by… bitterness, and hatred. In her case, healing the Corruption won't be so easy!"
"But that doesn't mean I can't try!" Steven shouted, causing Pearl to take a step back. "Jasper wasn't Corrupted the same way Centi was! Centi was Corrupted by the Diamonds… but Jasper's Corruption was passed over by another Gem! Maybe that means she can be healed easier than the damage from the Diamonds can be!"
"But it's still Corruption!" Pearl shouted. As she continued, her voice lowered and she began sounding a bit solemn,"It's not like when their gem is broken, Steven, their mind itself is broken. Their minds become so warped that they don't even remember who they are, so they just… wander aimlessly, attacking everything on sight like wild animals."
"And that's exactly the reason they need to be healed! They're suffering, Pearl!"
"Not in a bubble, they're not!"
"But…"
"End of discussion! You're not going to release her, Steven! That decision is final! It… it just isn't safe!"
"B-But…"
"No, I don't want to hear about this again. Now, come, both of you. We're going back to the Temple for now." The Gem turned to look at Connie, who only stood off to the side, looking more than a little uncomfortable. "Connie, perhaps you should go home for today. We can continue your sword training tomorrow."
She nodded once. "Yes, ma'am."
Steven writhed as he laid on the ground, flat on his back.
He flipped from one side, then the other, struggling to find a comfortable position, before he gave up and fluttered his tired eyes open. He didn't think much of the yellow sky stretching overhead at first, until he realized that he was no longer in his bed in the Crystal Temple… and that the sky wasn't supposed to be yellow!
His eyes went wide and he quickly sat up, his shocked gaze snapping in every direction in startled confusion. A flat field of yellowish-orange terrain stretched out for miles in every direction, the orange hue of the ground occasionally truncated with streaks of red of varying lengths. Some went on so far that he couldn't even see their end, while others stopped short, coming to a point at one end. Hundreds, possibly thousands of sheer dark green spikes stood in clusters on the orange and red field, some of them stretching miles into the golden sky, others so small that Steven could easily end up stepping on them.
He knew right off that he was dreaming; at this point, having some sort of dream that was plagued by the Quartz soldier was no surprise.
Steven stood up, glancing around cautiously, speaking in a low voice to himself, "Where... am I?
He got no answer in the vast alien land. Once he fell silent, though, he began to notice something: there was the occasional echo that sounded like distant whispering and the eerie howl of a lukewarm wind that blew through the realm.
As turned around to get a better look at this strange dream-world, and that's when he saw it: in the distance, he could see one growth protruding from the ground that was unlike all the others. It had a tall, unnaturally gnarled trunk of dark green with teal splotches and rings covering its surface. From the top of it was a huge canopy of long, feathery leaves of a pale gold colour, almost white. It resembled an unearthly willow tree.
A few feet in front of it, he saw something crouched on the ground, almost camouflaged against the terrain if not for its long mane of blonde hair, several dark green spikes sticking out of it.
Jasper! Steven's thoughts told him.
He glanced over his shoulder and, deciding that he had nothing better to do, started walking towards her, breaking into an all-out run once he decided simple walking was taking too long.
As he ran, he cupped his hands around his mouth and called out, "Jasper!" He got no response. She was crouched down, her head against the ground, shielding her face with both clawed hands. The closer he got, the more noticeably audible the indistinct whispering and muttering to herself became. She appeared to be trembling; whether it was from fear or something else, Steven couldn't really tell.
A few feet away from her, Steven decided to slow to a more patient walk again.
"Jasper! Are… you okay?!" he shouted, a bit louder this time.
Still no response. He tilted his head in confusion and, once he stood within arm's length of her, he hesitated. He took the time to figure out whether or not it would be a good idea to draw attention to himself before he reached out a hand and gently touched her shoulder. "J-Jasper."
She jumped up and practically screamed, whipping around to face Steven. In response, he stumbled back with a startled yelp of his own when he noticed the tumorous green spikes still replacing her eyes. In fact, as he looked over her physical form, he realized that she still retained the exact features of her Corrupted form: the teal splotches, the dark green spikes, the claws, but she still had the physical build of her muscular, humanoid form. Regardless, she could still speak as clearly and intelligibly as ever, but it was much more raspy and had lost almost all femininity it had had prior.
"Ugh… you again." she stated bitterly as she turned away again. "Why do you keep coming back?"
Steven hesitated for a couple of seconds. When he spoke, he clenched both hands into fists at his side and spoke with a bit more anger and force than he had intended, "I don't know, Jasper! Why don't… why don't you tell me?!" He was almost shouting at her, but quickly regretted it when she turned her head, casting a blind glance over her shoulder at him, letting out a barely audible snarl under her breath.
"…What?" she rasped, her tone more flat than her expression suggested.
"I… I don't know why, but… I keep seeing you in my dreams! Every night… you're always there! I—I can't even fuse anymore without some hallucination of you attacking me! I've been different, and I've even hurt my friends! An-And it's all because of you!" Steven yelled at her, closing his eyes so that he didn't have to look at her. He felt tears forming behind his eyelids as frustration rapidly built up within his heart.
Jasper only let out a disdainful snort.
Steven let out an exasperated sigh and calmed himself as he spoke again, "Wh-Why, Jasper? Why do you keep… bothering me like this?!"
"I'm not making you come here." Jasper snarled. "You can just… leave me here. I couldn't care less."
Steven grunted in increasing annoyance at the Quartz's perpetual stubbornness. "I—I don't know how to leave!" he pointed out to her, trying to match her hostile tone of voice… and failing. "Wh-What even is this place? And… why am I here? Why are you here?" He winced and took a couple of steps back when Jasper growled much more audibly this time and pushed herself up, turning around to face Steven again. Even with her lack of eyes, Steven saw that she was becoming furious.
"What, did you emerge yesterday?!"she snapped, her tone dripping with hatred. "This is what happens when you're Corrupted!"
"B-But… Amethyst bubbled you! And the Gems told me that Corrupted Gems don't suffer when they're…"
"Well, they're wrong! When you're Corrupted, this is where you go! And this is where you stay!Alone! Forever!" Steven flinched as the Corrupted Quartz leaned in close, getting so close to his face that he feared she might pierce him in the eyes with the spikes on her face. She grabbed the front of his shirt to ensure that he couldn't move away. "And there's nothingto greet you here, nothing to keep you company! Nothing… but end. Less. Suffering!"
"Jasper, I'm sorry, I—I didn't know!" Steven cried out. He opened his mouth to say something more, when suddenly, he heard something in the distance. He painstakingly twisted his neck to glance over his shoulder, and that's when he caught a glance of something out the corner of his eye that left him feeling anxious. He wasn't entirely sure why. "Jasper, wh—what's… that?"
Jasper stood upright on two feet as casually as ever, holding Steven up off of the ground by the front of his shirt off to her side where Steven could get a much more accurate look at whatever it was. He pointed with a trembling hand at the gradually approaching anomaly and Jasper sightlessly followed Steven's fearful gaze and pointing hand. She stared at it for a second, then smirked and started chuckling softly to herself.
"Heh-heh. That's her." Jasper drawled. "Rose Quartz…"
Steven let out a whimper. "Jasper, she—she's coming closer!"
He tumbled to the ground with a grunt when Jasper unexpectedly released him. Her smirk turned into a long, frightening grin.
"What do you want this time, Rose? To fight?" She got no response. "To see me cower? To see me beg for mercy!?" She dropped onto all fours again and viciously dragged her claws across the ground.
"What? N-No, Jasper, I… huh?" Steven let out a startled gasp as the form approached close enough for him to make out its features. He had become so accustomed to answering to "Rose Quartz" whenever he interacted with Jasper that he didn't even consider that she was talking to this… thing.
It looked like Rose… kind of. Her dress was a torn, shredded mess, her skin was a sickly grey, and her hair was frazzled and chaotic. Her mouth hung agape, showing jagged, yellowed fangs and she didn't seem to have any eyes, just empty black sockets that oozed something black that ran down her cheeks like streams of tears. An ominous black haze filled with dark pink rose petals danced around her demonic form as she glided slowly across the ground in the direction of Steven and Jasper. Her hands were thick and her fingers were curved with gnarled, twisted nails, like claws, their yellowing tips battered and cracking.
Jasper crouched close to the ground, letting out a low growl.
"Jasper…" Steven chimed in, his voice barely over a whisper. "Jasper, she—she's scary. L-Like a ghost. Is… is that… really how you see my mo… uh, Rose Quartz?"
"How else should I see her? It's a fitting appearance," Jasper said. "for a monster."
The hole in "Rose's" dress wasn't a five-pointed star with neat edges, but little more than a jagged tear in the fabric, revealing her gemstone and part of her grey stomach. Her gem looked relatively normal despite a deep fissure that ran its length; a number of veiny, black cracks ran from the edge of her gem and extended out across her skin, disappearing beneath her faded dress. Steven whimpered and clenched his shirt in his fingers.
"Come on, Rose Quartz!" Jasper taunted her. "Give me all you've got! I have all the time in the world!"
Steven opened his mouth to say something, but Jasper cut him off with a monstrous roar and began charging the apparition. Steven fearfully reached out towards her, as if that would somehow stop the Corrupted Quartz soldier. He watched as she reared up, one claw outstretched in the air, ready to land a blow. "Rose" stopped in her tracks and, before Jasper could bring her claw down, the apparition brought up her sword. It looked identical to Rose's real sword, but it's colour was darker and duller and the blade was visibly cracked. She ran it straight through Jasper's chest without a word.
Jasper let out a choked cry of pain and she quite literally froze in place.
Steven expected her to disappear in a cloud of red-orange smoke after a few seconds, but… she didn't.
Instead, he noticed black cracks beginning to trace her entire physical form, identical to the one's on "Rose's" stomach. He looked on in horror as her form glitched violently, and her form began slowly, painfully falling apart with crackles of greyish-yellow static as if she'd been hit with a Gem Destabilizer. Before long, her strangled whimpers turned into all-out screams of agony. The destabilization started with her clawed hands and her arms, and the last part to disappear was her head as she finally, mercifully exploded into a cloud of orange smoke.
The boy's eyes went wide with horror when her gemstone fell to the ground in her place… in three shards.
"J—Jasper!" he cried out. Steven was on his feet in an instant and rushed towards her shards, shakily picking them up and cradling them in his palms. Tears began forming in his eyes as he shakily looked up at the warped version of Rose Quartz that towered over him. "How… h-how could you?" He knew this wasn't really his mom, but he couldn't bear to even see a demonic form taking her image shattering another Gem like that.
She stood there, frozen, for a long time, she didn't say a word. Steven wondered if she could.
He put Jasper's broken gem back onto the ground and stood up.
"Well?! Say something!" he furiously demanded.
A few more seconds passed, and suddenly, she began gliding away from him. "Wha… h-hey! Come back!" Steven began running after her, but the closer and closer he got, the faster she seemed to go. His running slowed to a stop as he watched, wide-eyed, as the haze around her thickened. He whispered softly, "Wait…" but it went unheard. As the haze finally faded away, he found that she was nowhere in sight.
He stared after her in silence, before collapsing to his knees, letting out a gloomy sigh as he traced the edge of one of the red streaks on the ground with a finger.
That is, until he hears a sound behind him. The distinct sound of regeneration. Stars entered the boy's eyes as he stood up and turned around, facing where he'd left Jasper's broken gem.
He watched as the three shards levitated into the air, surrounded by a glowing white vortex as the shards came together in the middle of the swirling vortex. With a blinding white flash, the Corrupted Gem collapsed limply to the ground, her gemstone placed on the centre of her face, completely intact. Steven's eyes widened as he looked at her and he hardly hesitated as he ran towards her, eagerly calling out her name.
However, before he got too close, she growled and clawed at him, making him recoil.
"J-Jasper… what happened? Why did you… why did she…?"
"That's just what happens here, runt!" Jasper snapped. She turned away and started towards her tree again on all fours. "I'm alone here, all except for… them. The Gems I hate the most." Steven began to wonder if he'd see a warped version of himself there soon. "They attack me, but I can't fight back! I retreat into my gem every. Single! Time! And there's nothing I can do to stop it!" She fell onto her knees and started grabbing at her head, pulling at her hair.
"Well, all you have to do is just… not… fight back?" Steven suggested.
"Heh, as if it were that simple! If I fight back, then I retreat into my gem." Jasper said. "If I don't, then they tear me apart! They draw it out, they make it as long and torturous as possible, until…" She winced as the ground beneath their feet began tremoring violently. Steven stumbled back and nearly lost his balance. Jasper repositioned her footing to avoid falling, until she looked down as the ground right beneath her feet began cracking and breaking apart.
"Jasper, what's going…?" But she didn't have a chance to respond as the ground beneath her shattered entirely. She would've fallen if a turquoise hand, thrice her size, didn't suddenly reach up and latch into her Corrupted form, the Quartz soldier tiny in comparison to it. Steven watched, wide-eyed, as another hand reached up out of the shattering ground; this one was greenish-black. A third one that followed was the same colour as the first with a black 'V'-shaped stripe on its shoulder, matching the one on Jasper's.
Steven whimpered softly as Malachite reached up with her eight huge arms and dragged herself up to the surface, her four teal eyes narrowed viciously as she stared down at Jasper.
"Ugh… Lapis?" Jasper choked out weakly. "Don't…"
Steven only looked on in horror as Malachite stood there, crushing Jasper, one of her component Gems, in one of her hands. He couldn't help but notice there were still water shackles around the wrists of both arms, as well as the six she used as legs. Two water chains wrapped over her shoulders and crossed over her chest in an 'X'-shape. The chains went down and disappeared into the gaping crater in the ground where greenish water sloshed audibly.
"Jas… per…" Malachite hissed. She clenched her fist that held the Quartz so hard that Steven thought she would poof right then and there.
Once Malachite stopped squeezing her, Steven heard Jasper weakly plead, "No… not… again."
Either Malachite ignored her or heard Jasper's words, but refused her plea. Her fanged mouth stretched into a thin, sadistic grin and her eyes went wide, her pupils shrinking to manic pinpricks. With little hesitation, she threw Jasper into the air and, summoning Lapis's water wings, she leapt into the air and followed close behind. Once she propelled past the soaring Quartz, she clenched her fist and hit Jasper in the chest, sending her crashing hard to the ground in front of Steven.
He let out a startled yelp and jumped back while Jasper laid motionless on the ground, moaning weakly.
"Jasper! What's… wh-why aren't you fighting back?"
Jasper only laid there, groaning, until they both noticed Malachite, still hovering several hundred yards overhead, summoning Jasper's crash helmet, ironically, atop her head. Jasper flipped onto her side and trembled as she attempted to get up and get out of the Fusion's way, but Malachite was faster. She rolled into a fiery, spinning ball and crashed straight into the Quartz soldier, unfurling and lifting up Jasper's battered, broken form between her two hands.
She lifted Jasper up to eye level.
"You. Are. Nothing!" Malachite screamed at her. Steven winced; her voice sounded exactly like Lapis.
She punctuated her final word by throwing her head forward, helmet still summoned, and poofing Jasper instantaneously.
He looked up as the shards fell from Malachite's grasp, catching all three of them in his palms before they fell. He stared down sadly at them, but he knew she'd be back before long. Then, he looked up at Malachite. She simply stood there, staring down at Steven with her eyes narrowed to teal slits. Her expression was unsettlingly blank.
"Malachite?" Steven whimpered. The Fusion didn't respond, then Steven remembered what Jasper had said when she first laid eyes on her. "Uh… L-Lapis? Are… you in there?"
Again, Malachite was silent. Then she reached forward with a giant turquoise hand.
Panic stabbed into Steven's heart and he scrambled to his feet, ready to run. But Malachite was faster.
Lifting her massive hand into the air, she brought it down hard upon Steven's form, tiny in comparison to her, crushing him beneath it.
It was quick. He didn't even have a chance to scream.
Steven gasped as he awoke in his bed with a start. He laid there, still, for several long seconds, breathing heavily as he stared up at the ceiling. The warped, monstrous version of Rose Quartz and the towering form of Malachite was still vivid in his mind's eye, preventing him from going back to sleep. He threw his legs over the side of the bed and sat up, staring around the shadowy bedroom in silence. For a second, he thought he saw something watching him from just outside the window, but it was gone before he could get a good look at it.
A fitting appearance… for a monster. Jasper's words echoed in his ears; Steven shivered.
He sighed as he got up, jumping off of the loft and landing with a bounce on the couch. He crouched atop it like a mischievous cat. He glanced around to find the whole house empty; the Gems had retired into their respective rooms for the night. That was good, because then, no-one would see what he was about to do. He couldn't let her stay there; he couldn't let her to suffer for eternity like that. Steven would never have any peace of mind if he didn't.
He was going to enter to go to the Burning Room and find Jasper's bubble. He was going to release her.