Time passes as the duo travel downwards to the mantle of the earth.

After being sidetracked by Malachite at Mask Island, the majority of the gems are trapped on the slowly destroying island with the warp pad there broken too, leaving only Marcus, Peridot and Steven to take the drill and deal with the Cluster before it emerges.

That too has gone wrong.

Marcus was forced to bring as much control on his badly damaged helicopter as he can to prevent it from destroying Peridot and the drill. Now last they saw of him was the machine bursting in flames while the landscape around them was breaking apart at the seams from earthquakes and tremors. The two of them sit in somewhat silence of the drill as they continue to burrow down towards where the Cluster is. Steven was all determined and ready to put an end to the Cluster but after Peridot mentioned it would take them like two hours to get to their destination, Steven is now bored after his feeling of determination went away. "Wish I'd brought some tunes." He mumbles absent mildly.

*Click*

With a press of a button, Peridot puts on some music to try to pass the time for the two of them. It just so happens that the only music that they have set up for the ride down is what amounts to elevator music. Fitting since they are going directly down. "Uh, thanks." He thanks her and goes back to looking out the window. Time passes for them in silence as they continue to travel deeper into the earth. As they rocks pass by the window Steven's eyes are filled with anguish as the rocks pass by them. He shuts his eyes tightly and shakes his head then decides to talk to Peridot as a distraction. "It's kinda… freaky down here, huh?"

"Why's that?" She asks.

"It's just dark, and cramped… Ngah, I can't even, gah, stretch out." He complains as he tries to stretch his body. Once he finishes trying to stretch, the compartment tremors momentarily. Peridot and Steven look around in worry and curiosity at what the tremors mean for them. "How'd you think you were gonna get everyone in here anyway?" He asks her now that he sees just how small the machines pilot seat is.

"I don't know, they'd shrink or something. We didn't have a lot of time to plan." Peridot explains the best she can.

"Oh… and Marcus? He doesn't shapeshift." Steven points out matter a fact.

"He doesn't?" She asks in slight surprise. "But I thought you and he are still able to shapeshift despite being part organic?"

"We can. He just doesn't like too."

"Any reason why not?"

"Not particularly. He mentioned something about not wanting to mess his body up or something like that."

"Oh." After that, the two of them fall into relative silence yet again as they continue on with the trip.

"I hope he got out okay." Steven says as he continues to stare out into the window.

"Hm? Oh right." She's confused by what he means but quickly gets it. "I'm sure with what he's been through thus far, I don't think he'll killed quite so easily with a crash like that." She sounds so sure of herself.

"You think?" He asks looking at her. She turns to him and smirks.

"You're the one that's been friends with him the longest. You tell me." She says.

He stares at her for a bit before turning towards the outside and remembering all the times he's been at odds and fighting. From the first time they met, the incident with Frybo, then him taking on Sugilite, the times he was kidnapped by that evil human group, and that monster that lives inside him, he smiles at his brother's knack for taking on near impossible odds and coming back alive. Not unscathed but always coming back. "Yeah, you're right. I'm sure he's fine." He says with a smile.


*SLAM*

"STUPID…! MOTHER…! GOD… DAMNIT…!" I angrily shout as I continuously slam my foot into the window to my right. The damn thing fused shut from a combination of the fire and the crash landing so now I'm stuck in here that's SLOWLY TURNING INTO AN OVEN! And I'm not about to go through the back because the fires already engulfed that area. "C'mon c'mon!" I grunt as I keep slamming my foot, making the metal and glass warp and slowly give way. "Open damnit, open!" I wail one last time and finally it tears off. The window breaks off and goes flying several feet before it tumbles against the dirt. "I let out a breath of relief at finally having my escape.

At least until I notice my sleeve is on fire.

"Oh god!" I quickly grab the top and pull myself out the window feet first before slamming into the ground. Next the cockpit catches fire and more fire comes close to engulfing me. Next I jump forward away from the wreckage before slamming into the ground and rolling around as much as I can, snuffing out the fire on my arm and any that might be forming on the rest of me. I continue to roll away from the fire trap until I'm a good enough distance away and I'm thoroughly put out. With a sigh as I look into the sky when I lay on my back, I slowly sit up and take a look around me. The drill is gone and there's a hole right under where it was. Next my Russian Hind helicopter is completely totaled and is engulfed almost completely in fire. Normally I would be worried and scared of the war machine combusting and exploding its fuel and payload, but we used all of the ammo in the fight against Malachite and I was on bingo fuel when we came back here so their shouldn't be enough to cause an explosion. I get to my feet and watch as the fire continues to eat away at it before looking down at my burned sleeve. "Ahhhh." I hiss as the wind touches the red raw skin on my arm. It's not blistering by any means but it's pretty red and stings.

A tremor nearly knocks me off balance, making me remember what our original mission was. "Oh god. The Cluster!" I sprint over to the hole and look down it, hoping to see the drill going down but unfortunately it's pretty dark and far down. "Damn. Alright, maybe if I fall straight down I can land on top of it and still catch them." I surmise before standing. "Alright it's going to be tricky but I should be able to—" Another tremor sends me falling back. "Oof!" I grunt as I land but just before I can get up, a shadow looms over me. "Huh?"

*SMACK*


Marcus falls unconscious from the large fist that hit him square in the head.

The giant fusion monster stands back up to its full height as the rest of its compatriots flow into the hole to go after the drill. The giant muscled up fusion monster stands in front of the knocked out hybrid for a bit before it finally stands next to the hole and jumps down the hole.


"I'm talking to the cluster?!" Steven questions loudly and in surprise after the bright light subsided and the voices calmed. After his and Peridot's failed attempt to destroy the Cluster using the drill, pain and visions racked his mind and body extensively until his gem activated his Astral Projection, allowing him to get a clearer feel for the Cluster. "But... how did I get inside your brain? Brains?" He asks confused at the idea.

"Have to... Want to... Need to... Must!" The Cluster continues to mutter again and again until Steven manages to make sense of the words.

"Wait! Please don't take form!" He begs for the Cluster to not do but it refuses.

"Form! Form! Form! Form! Want form! Want form! Form!" The massive gem weapon chants angrily as the light flares up again.

Steven covers his ears in an attempt to silence the loud voices but it stops soon after, along with the light. "Maybe instead of forming you could do something else?" He asks it.

"Form!" The light flares and the Cluster shards demand again, making Steven cover his ears again.

"Boy, you've sure got the one-trackiest mind I ever met."

"Need form!"

"Agh!" Steven groans.

"To be whole." The Cluster says in a slightly lower voice.

"Whole?" He catches that part from them. Just then the same gem shard that floated past him before floats past his view. "Oh."

"Have to…" He faintly hears the gem say.

"You're shards. You just wanna find the rest of your gems." He surmises. "But forming won't help you find the rest of yourselves. You'll just destroy the Earth!" He explains the consequences of them forming.

"No. No, no. No! No." The Cluster realizes what might happen and begins to have second thoughts.

"But if you wanna find other gems, there's so many of you right here! Look." He tells them and pushes one of the floating gem shards around him near another one. "Shard, meet shard."

"Have to…"

"Want to…" The two shards say to each other.

"See? You already have so much to talk about."

Much to Steven's elation, bubbles of light begin appearing all around as multiple voices from the different gem shards begin greeting each other. "Hi! Oh, hi! Hi! Hi! Hi! Oh, hi!"

More light begins to form around the Cluster as all the shards begin getting to know each other. "This is great! You don't even need to form. You can just stay here!"

"Want to stay." The Cluster manages to say finally, no longer wishing to form. Steven smiles at the news.

"Steven?" A familiar voice says from behind. Spinning around, his eyes widen as for some reason he spots his brother suspended in the air just like him a few feet away.

""Marcus?! What are you doing here?"

"I don't know! I got knocked out by something up top and now I'm—"

"YOUUUU!" The loud booming sound of the Cluster yells, shaking the two to their very core.

They both cover their ears at the noise but a lot of the lights start to converge on Marcus. "Huh? What's going on?" Marcus asks as he hears multiple voices directed at him along with their flashing lights.

"Cluster? What's wrong?" Steven asks hesitantly to the gem fusion they are with. Many of the shards are dark and silent but a large majority of them seem to be focused intently on the older hybrid.

"Shatter… shatter… shatter… SHATTERER!" The voices bellow loudly and together one last time before the white fog like faces that were engulfing Steven before hit and completely cover Marcus.


Black.

That's the only color I see all around me. The surface I'm standing on is the same blackness but I can feel it under my feet.

"Hello? Hello?" I call out in hopes someone will answer but all I get is silence. "Steven? Are you there? Can someone please tell me what's going on?" I ask out loud but still nothing. My brother was here, or there or something with I think the Cluster but I don't know now. I remember seeing the white light go after me but now I have no idea where I am or what's going on. "This is really weird? Huh?" I begin to scratch my head but I notice something in my hand, or on the wrist more specifically. Actually I think in is literal here because I see a ruby red gem in the underside of my right wrist. "Wha-?" I question confused as I go to touch the gem with my left hand.

*SHINK*

"AAAAAARRR!" I yell in pain as something blurs past me and cuts through me. My hand by reflex covers the point of pain origin. As I take it away, I see the gem again, cracked. The pain flares up as the crack increases before it shatters all together. "Arh!" I grunt in pain as a jolt of pain is sent through my entire body, making me fall on one knee. My breathing comes in deep ragged breaths as the ruby disappears. "What the hell?!" I gasp before standing up. I look around for the blur but I don't see a thing, especially not in this empty void I'm in. My search leads me to a new discovery however as I see another gem on my knee.

*CRACK*

I don't have time to see what it is before a massive force slams into it; shattering it on contact and making my knee go the wrong way completely. I fall down and wail in pain for a few seconds before everything returns to normal. "What the fuck is going on?!" I curse and get back onto my feet. I search around frantically against around me for the blur but their's nothing.

*Shink*

"Ar!" I grunt as another slash hits me just behind my left shoulder. On reflex next a pair of fire wings appear on my back as I growl in anger. "WHERE ARE YOU?!"

*Shick*

"Cruh!" I let out a strangled yell as something enters my back and out my front. The force of it lifts me off the ground and into the air, leaving me suspended there for what feels like eternity. Looking down, my eyes widen as I see a green sword sticking out of my chest.

"Right here." A chilling, deep, quiet and yet familiar voice whispers into my ear before tearing the sword from me and it disappears.

I fall onto my knees weakly before slowly standing back up. My body heals from the rapid scene changes but the mental anguish is making me feel even worse. As I shakingly get to my feet, my vision shifts for a second until the depth perception of my right almost disappears. I try to blink away the feeling, another pain tears through, this time in the back of my legs. I go down onto my knees and my head dips down in pain at everything I've been through. I let out a weak groan before a pair of feet step in front of me.

Slowly a hand reaches down and picks my head up by the chin. On my knees, body and arms limp, my eyes widen in horror as I see what's been tormenting me. What's been giving me such pain in such a quick amount of time. The sadistic smile she gives me is something I thought never to have ever seen in my entire life.

"M… mom?"

She doesn't respond, she only smiles. Slowly she lifts one of her swords and aims it at my face. Weird thing is its not aimed directly at one of my eyes, but instead just to my right. It only takes me the fraction of a second before I make the haunting realization why my depth perception is off.

My right eye is my gem.

Ever so slowly, she pushes the blade closer and closer until I see the tip disappear from my view… and I feel a pressure against my head. "Nnng." I grunt as I try to pull back but using her other hand she holds my head firm as she applies more pressure. The pain gets worse as she digs the blade deeper into my gem. The sound of cracking becomes audible as I watch the blade disappear further into me. A tear goes down my eye as she's on the verge on the completely shattering it.

With one final grin and a firmer grip on the handle of her katana, she thrusts.


"What are you doing?! Please stop!" Steven pleads as he grabs his brother's shoulders and shakes him, trying to snap him out of whatever spell the Cluster put him in. From the horror ridden expression, mouth agape, slack body and the tears flowing down his eyes are anything to go by, it's not good at all.

"Shatter! Shatter! Shatter! Shatter!" The Cluster chants repeatedly.

"Nh." Marcus grunts as something else happens and his body goes ridged and more tears flow.

"What?! Why?! Why do you want to shatter him?! What did he do?!" He pleads to them.

"Shatterer… Shatterer… Shatterer…!" They continue to chant.

"But… why do you want to shatter him?! He never broke any of you!" He tries to explain all around but the light around Marcus isn't dissipating.

The light starts to fluctuate slowly but it soon turns to more rapidly until it flares to blinding measures in one final shout. "SHE SHATTERED UUUUSS!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!" Marcus shouts as more pain racks his body, forcing Steven back.

"Nooo!" Steven shouts as he tries to help his brother but can't do anything to help properly. It's also what the shards said that makes him confused. "Wait… she? But… he's not a girl. Why are you—" Steven begins to question but he spots something on Marcus that makes his eyes widen in realization.


"… Steven… she told me how many Gems my mom… how many she… shattered. So many Gems Steven."


His eyes widen as he realizes just what some members of the Cluster are talking about as he stares at the green gems on his arms.

Jade… Marcus's mom… shattered many gems in the war… and now the ones that she shattered here they want revenge.

Marcus's breathing starts to go ragged as the memories torment him even more so.

"Wait stop! He's not his mom! He never did anything to you all He only inherited his moms gems, just like I did mine!" He shows by pulling up his shirt to reveal his own gem. "He has the gems but he never hurt any of you! Please stop hurting him!" He pleads around him and for a second the lights start to lessen and Marcus seems to be a bit more at ease. "He's my brother." He looks down sadly. "Please, he never meant to hurt any of you. He's not her."

Everything seems to lessen and the overall grim atmosphere around Marcus lessens. The shards start to analyze Marcus a little bit more and realize what Steven says is true. The way how he is acting towards the memories he faces, plus the fact that the subconscious form that takes place is not the true female form they experienced shatter them, but instead this male organic being.

Finally, after close examination and pleading from Steven, they've finally stopped their attack. The light surrounding Marcus dissipates and the look of pain on his face dissipates. He breathes a sigh of relief at his brother no longer being tormented. The next second later, his form starts to flicker off and disappears entirely. "Huh?" He questions at his sudden disappearance but the light around him from all the shards this time subsides before returning.

"Can't stop!" The Cluster wails in anguish. "Going to form! Can't stop! Going to form! Help! Help! Help!"


Around an hour passes and they succeeded with the Cluster. The drill manages to pull itself out of the hole using the smaller mechanical arms equipped onto the machine. As soon as it's out though, the machine being on its last legs collapses in a heap, making the two occupants inside tumble out and onto the ground. They breathe in relief at finally being back on the surface but once they get up, Peridot hugs Steven.

"You did it!" She exclaims happily.

"We did it together." He corrects. "And it was great!" And says. Before anymore can be said, the sound of the warp pad activating gets their attention. Looking over at it in the distance, they spot the Crystal gems have finally returned with Garnet carrying the still unconscious Lapis. Both of them run over to give them the good news. "Guys! You're back! I-is Lapis okay?" He asks her worried after seeing the unconscious gem in her arms.

"She'll be fine." Garnet reassures him.

"Hey, where's Marcus?" Amethyst asks as she looks around.

"Please tell he's not in there." Pearl hopes as she points to the charred remains of his helicopter.

"Oh no! Marcus!" Steven cries out and takes off to the hole. He runs over to where they came out and looks around for any signs of his brother. He spots some prints and scratch marks around the hole they came out of that don't belong to the drill. Following them, he finds the tracks leading towards the barn with the door slightly ajar. Not hesitating, he goes over to the door and forces it open before glancing inside. He smiles as he spots something and goes in.

"So what happened exactly? Did you both destroy the Cluster?" Pearl asks Peridot as they walk to the drill.

"Oh it was touch and go for awhile but then Steven—"

"Ah Aaahhhhh!" The kid in question shouts in distress.

"Steven!" All the gems cry out his name but what happens next leaves them baffled.

Steven goes flying out of the barn, tackled to the ground by Marcus. Steven pulls out his shield just in time to block a sword strike from Marcus as he brings his blade up and down. The clang of metal pierces the air as he repeatedly slashes at Steven again and again with such ferocity. Steven is scared witless and Marcus has a look of teeth gritting tear stricken rage.

"Marcus! Stop! What's wrong?!"

"You won't shatter me! You won't shatter me! I won't let you shatter me!" He yells at the kid as he continues to slam his sword down on him.

"But I don't—"

"I won't let you!" He interrupts Steven and grabs his shield with his left hand and moves it away. He prepares to stab him but something stays his hand.

"Marcus no!" Pearl shrieks.

"Hold it man!" Amethyst wraps her whip around Marcus's arm, making him look at her in anger. "What's gotten into- Whoa!" With a jerk of his arm, he flings Amethyst towards him and with his left hand he backhands her away once she gets close enough. She goes flying and slams into the side of the barn before falling to the ground weakly.

"You won't take me." He growls darkly before turning back to Steven. "You'll never take me." He says once final and turns his blade into the reverse grip. "You won't!" He brings it up over his head.

*BOOM*

"Arh!" Marcus suddenly is thrown off of Steven, his swords flying away and embedding itself into the barn door.

Steven breathes heavily as the others come up to him to check if he's alright. Garnet sets Lapis down next to Steven before too checking on him. He waves them off that he's alright but it's what saved him that gets his attention. All four of them look back to see Peridot standing there with her Anaconda in her hands, the barrel smoking as she breathes heavily from the action. Her hands shake from the shot against someone she cares about and the weapon falls from her hands, clattering to the ground.

"Uhh." Attention is brought back to the attacker. Marcus lies on the ground, a hole in his right shoulder as he stares into the sky with his breathing ragged. His hand covers the wound but it doesn't detract the pain he feels, but it does snap him out of it. "What… happened?" He weakly asks. Steven, ignoring the others, walks up to him and kneels next to his brother's head, coming into his vision. "Steven… I'm sorry." He apologizes and prepares to say more but Steven nods and places a hand on his hand holding his wound.

"Marcus…" Steven begins, his heart panging with guilt as he sees the dried tears streaks on the already healing hybrids face. "What happened to you? What did they do to you?" He asks.

A blank look graces Marcus's face before a single tear flows down from his eye. "They… showed me Steven. They made me see… feel… being shattered…" The gems get an uneasy look about them at the description. "Steven…!" His left arm comes up and grabs Steven's shoulder before pulling themselves close to each other. "My mom… shattered so many gems!" He cries out before his body shuts down altogether, uttering one last phrase before his eyes start to drift close.

"I… felt… them…"


Just wanna make it clear everyone, Jade DID NOT shatter all the gems in the Cluster, only a good chunk of them. That would be too much even for her, but either way it looks like they still have bad memories of what happened and took it out on her son by mistake.

I had made a few changes to the original plan I was going for this chapter but only small changes, like the bullet, probably the ending too. Not satisfied with the ending, maybe I could have added a bit more context but I'm not going to hold it up anymore. In any case I'm sorry to say those of you following this story but the train of chapters I was working on have come to a stop. Gotta get to work on the rest of my stuff you know?

By no means is this going to be stuck on hiatus. I will work on this on occasion but I gotta put some effort into my other pieces. I don't want to make it seem like I'm going to abandon any of my work for anything so it's high time I get back into it with all my other stories. Sorry to leave you all like this after that ending though and I've got special plans for over the next few chapters but it's something I got to do. Sorry ya'll.

Onto the guest reviews:

XxGuestxX: (Answers in order) That is as good a question as many for everyone, including myself, in which I need to come up with one. Possibly. Probably not; I'd kill to see a picture of something like that; not with my character though but I wonder if there is ever going to be something in the canon show that may inspire that to happen. That's a possibility but it's something I should put more thought into. The Iron Kings are not done. They will eventually make an appearance again in the future but how much of an appearance and how much of an impact they'll make, that I'll leave your imagination until it is put into words.

Okay it was one guest reviewer but still gave a lot of questions. Thanks. Anywho, thank all of you for your reviews

There is though one last question I wish to ask you all and I hope gets positive reception and encouragement. I know I have just released a new story only a few weeks ago but what would you all say to me working on a new story.

A Code Lyoko story.

Thank you all, fave, follow, review, and as always, have fun reading.