Shattered Stones
Chapter 5: Reunited

Disclaimer: I do not own Steven Universe or any of the characters involved except Amarl

Steven watched as Pearl and Amethyst made their way to opposite sides of the room.

"So, who's Opal?" Steven asked.

"Opal is a Fusion," Pearl told him.

"A… fusion?" Steven asked.

"Yes, we Crystal Gems can fuse with one another to become more powerful, though it's a very delicate process. The gems that fuse must be in perfect sync or the Fusion won't be able to hold itself together," Pearl elaborated.

Steven's eyes lit up as he realized what was happening, "So you two are going to fuse!?" He asked giddily.

Pearl smiled, "That's the plan. Are you ready Amethyst?" She called.

Amethyst gave a thumbs up and Pearl took up a dancer's stance. There was silence for a moment, and right as Steven was about to ask a question Pearl and Amethyst began to dance toward one another. Each with their own style, but seemingly together on the same rhythm.

Steven watched in amazement as the two came together and were enveloped in white light. He shielded his eyes as it became too bright. When it dimmed, he lowered his arm and gasped as he saw a large woman with four arms and a large ponytail standing before him.

"Opal…?" he asked.

She giggled a little, "Yes Steven, I'm Opal," She said.

Steven's jaw almost hit the floor.

"We can talk later, I need to save Amarl first, ok?" She asked.

Steven nodded.

Opal looked to the exit and stepped forward, ducking under the exit of the shrine she stood to her full height, and with each set of arms, she summoned a weapon: Amethyst's whip and Pearl's spear. She spun them together and they fused in a light similar to the one that fused Amethyst and Pearl into Opal. The two weapons became a bow, and Opal pulled back on the string, an arrow of light appearing as she aimed the circling bird creature.

"There," She said to herself as she loosed the arrow.

It streaked through the sky and hit the bird-creature dead on, it squawked in pain and tried to remain airborne, but couldn't find the strength to flap its wings and began to plummet to the ground. Opal watched, another arrow ready on the string in case it tried anything. It seemed to be going down, right until it was about to hit the ground. It suddenly recovered and came screaming towards Opal, its beak snapping and cawing a threat. Then it suddenly stopped, a rumble sounded from its stomach, and in a flash, it disappeared as Amarl emerged, his sword mid-slash. He landed on the walkway to the Heaven Beetle's enclosure, then sighed as he stood up and dismissed his sword.

"Close one," he said with a grin.

"Amarl! You're ok!" Steven shouted as he saw his friend and ran towards him.

"Yeah, it'll take more than that to take me out," Amarl's grin widened as he put a thumb on his chest.

"You're still as confident as ever," Opal said as she approached the two.

"Opal! Seems Pearl and Amethyst were able to settle their differences after all," Amarl replied as he crossed his arms over his chest.

She giggled again, "It seems so, how are you feeling?"

"Like I could use a good bath, and we can get going home for one too, look what I found," Amarl said as he opened the palm of his off-hand. Inside was a small, green, gem-like beetle creature.

Opal gasped, "The Heaven Beetle!"

Amarl nodded, "Yup! Safe and sound! So let's get going back home yeah?"

Opal nodded before waving goodbye to Steven and Amarl. She then de-fused into Pearl and Amethyst who turned and led the way back down the mountain. As they walked Amarl gave the beetle to Pearl for safe keeping and then fell back to talk to Amethyst.

"So… about earlier," He began.

"What about it?" Amethyst asked, her hands behind her head and her nonchalant attitude made her seem like she was back to her normal self.

"You were pretty upset, everything ok? I know I've been gone a while, but you and Pearl were fighting so bad you couldn't fuse into Opal?" He asked.

Amethyst blew a dismissive raspberry, "We fused didn't we?" She asked.

"After I got eaten," he retorted.

She looked in the other direction, avoiding his gaze. "We still fused…"

Amarl sighed, "Amethyst, help me out here will ya? I'm still adjusting to all this, and you guys fighting isn't helping me figure it all out."

A moment of silence passed between them before Amethyst sighed, "Fine… it's just… Pearl hasn't been the same since Steven was born," she started.

"She was so convinced that Steven was just Rose, and I don't think she's fully accepted he's not… even now. She's been… different. Tense, short-tempered. I'll tell you, don't bring up Rose around her unless it's all good memories or she'll blow up in your face," Amethyst warned him.

Amarl nodded, "I gotcha… what about Garnet?"

"What about Garnet? She's the leader now, she's keeping everyone together and on track."

Amarl nodded again.

"And you?"

"Me? I'm fine! Never better!" She gave him a light punch on the arm and grinned.

Amarl gave her a small smile, "If you say so. It's just… it's a lot to take in y'know?" He asked as he looked ahead toward Steven and Pearl who were having their own conversation.

"Yeah… double for you since you weren't around for all of it," She said.

Amarl's gaze fell to the ground at his feet and he stopped walking for a minute.

"Ok, now it's my turn to ask if you're ok," Amethyst stopped and leaned down to look up into his face.

"Yeah… physically anyway… mentally… that's another story…"

"What's up?" She asked.

"It's… I don't know, something to do with Emerald," He said.

"Emerald? But she got shattered, right? It's just you with her cracked powers... right?" She asked.

"I'm not so sure. Lately, I've been having these-"

"Amarl! Amethyst! Are you guys coming? We're almost to the warp pad!" Steven called back to them.

Amarl and Amethyst both looked up at him.

"We're right behind you Steven!" Amethyst called.

Steven waved in recognition and turned back to continue ahead. Amethyst turned back to Amarl.

"Whatever it is, we'll work through it. Together."

Amarl smiled a little then nodded, "Yeah… together."

She put a hand on his shoulder before she rushed to catch up to Steven and Pearl. Amarl lingered a few seconds before shaking his head to dispel his gloomy mood and took off after her.

The team returned to the temple after Garnet, who took the beetles and sealed them in the temple for safekeeping.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, and as they all retired for the night Amarl took up his usual spot on the couch. He drifted off to sleep quickly, and in his dream, he found himself in a long white hallway with a multitude of doors on either side.

"Hello? Anyone there?" Amarl called, his voice echoing in the void.

"stronger… stay stronger…" a voice whispered to him.

Amarl looked over his shoulder but found nothing but more white void behind him.

"Hello? Can you hear me? Where are you?" He shouted.

"stronger… stay stronger…" the voice echoed to him again.

Amarl slowly began to move forward, each step was taken with extreme caution. After a few of these, he felt something. He turned to his right and was face-to-face with one of the doors. He reached down and touched the handle, but it slid open with the mechanical hiss of an automatic door.

Amarl couldn't see anything behind the door, just more white void. But he knew something was on the other side. He took a tentative step forward, and in a flash, he was on the bridge of a ship. Blaring lights and sires deafened and blinded him as he dropped to his knees with his hands on his ears.

"Captain Emerald! What are you doing? We need you at the helm!" A voice called.

Amarl looked up and saw a ruby soldier staring at him.

"But… I'm not-"

"Captain Emerald! Please!" Another voice called.

Amarl tried to turn to see who was talking to him, but the whole scene disappeared in a flash, leaving him in the white void again, save for a figure standing before him.

Amarl looked and recognized Emerald. She was standing with a hand on her hip and a half cape covering her other arm.

"You! You're-"

"Emerald. And you're Ama, of the Northern Mountains," she replied, cutting him off.

"What are you doing here?" He asked as he walked towards her.

"I could be asking you the same thing," She said.

"Well I'm sleeping, and I thought this was all a dream," he said.

She laughed, "No. It's not a dream, you're digging through my memories."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to pry. It's just that-"

"You aren't. I called you here," She explained. "I wanted to talk to you… about us," She said.

"What about us?"

"Us. This situation we're in. My gem is infused in your body, you're in control while I'm… locked up here."

"Well, what do we do to fix that?" Amarl asked.

"You give me control. I'll take us back to Home World, and we'll see what the Diamonds say comes next," Emerald replied as if it were obvious.

"What? No! The Crystal Gems need me on Earth, we can't just abandon them!"

Emerald sighed, she straightened her stand and her cape fell away to reveal her gem in her chest.

"I thought you might say that," She said as she reached for her gem.

The familiar hand of Amarl's sword began to glow and emerge from her gem. Amarl reached for his own blade from his arm.

The two drew at the same time, and Amarl immediately noticed the difference in their weapons. Where his was a cracked, curved blade, Emerald's was a beautiful, straight-bladed sword. A rich-dark green hue to the blade.

"I see you haven't been able to figure out how to summon a real sword," She said tauntingly.

Amarl growled before kicking off towards her. He tried to slash at her, but she blocked the attack easily. Placing her cape-hidden arm behind her back, she yawned, then opened one eye to look down on Amarl condescendingly.

"If you can't fight me, you should just give up," She said.

Amarl grunted as he set off a flurry of swipes and swings, each attack coming faster than the last. But Emerald was ready, she blocked each attack with practiced ease, never seeming to tire as Amarl wore himself out with a constant offensive. After a few seconds, Amarl was beginning to heave with effort, and with one particularly powerful blow, he tried to finish things. But Emerald was ready and swung a counter-blow that ripped the blade from Amarl's hands, sending it spinning away to land point-first in the ground of the void.

"Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy," Emerald said as Amarl dropped to his knees.

"Oh well, time to end this. I'll be taking control now. I'll make sure to pass on your last words to those traitors before I shatter them. What would you like me to tell them?" She asked as she raised her blade over his head.

Amarl looked up at her, panting and heaving with exertion. He went to say something when a voice rang out around them.

"Amarl!? Amarl wake up! You're shaking! Amarl!" It was Steven's voice.

The white void around them began to collapse, turning black as it closed in around them.

"No! Not again! You can't seal me away again!" Emerald shouted as she tried to rush Amarl, but the void seemed to be lengthening the distance between them. Amarl almost blacked out, but the last thing he saw was Emerald disappearing on the horizon.

Then, he was lurching up, awake, and on the floor at the foot of the couch. He was sweating, panting, and sore from where he'd fallen.

"Amarl!" Steven shouted as he lunged forward and wrapped him in a hug.

Amarl mindlessly put a hand on Steven's back, but he was still staring at the wall. The events that played out in his 'dream' ran through his mind.

"What's the matter Amarl? You look like you've seen a ghost," Steven said.

Amarl finally snapped his gaze away from the wall and looked down at Steven.

"That's because I have."