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Connie wasn't sure what had woken her. Laying on her bed, she stared up at the ceiling, snuggled deep under her blue comforter.
Then she heard sirens. The noise of a crowd outside. And then a thunderous roar.
She opened her blinds and saw that the sky was bright with an orange glow, and people were being escorted from their homes.
"Don't be alarmed," came a voice from a megaphone. A tiny, elderly black woman was in the street, accompanied by two ruby guards, shouting into a megaphone and directing people to evacuate. "Evacuate Beach City in an orderly fashion. The Crystal Gems are depending on us to take the time they are buying for us and escape!"
"Connie," came Priyanka's voice. Connie turned to see that her mother and father were in the doorway of her bedroom, fully dressed and carrying a duffle bag. "We need to join the evacuation. Something is wrong and we need to evacuate for a little while."
"Where is Steven?" Asked Connie calmly, sitting up in bed, large dark eyes studying them both. Doug looked panicked, and looked at Priyanka.
"He…" began Priyanka, hesitating, but stopped as Connie snorted and jumped out of bed and grabbed a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, then ran to the bathroom. "Connie?"
"You don't have to lie," came Connie's voice as she emerged again, fully dressed and pulling her hair into a ponytail. Priyanka stammered protest, saying "Why would I lie?"
"Where is my sword?" Asked Connie, ignoring Priyanka.
"I packed it in the duffle bag," said Doug, eyes uncertain, patting the blue bag hanging on his shoulder.
"Thanks," said Connie, and promptly unzipped the bag and took it out, strapping it to her back.
"Connie, what are you doing?" Asked Priyanka, eyes wide in alarm.
"I'm going to help," she said, digging in her closet for her shoes.
"No!" Cried Doug and Priyanka at the same time. Connie blinked in surprise at them both, then smiled. "Listen, I promise to be very careful. But I'm Steven's knight, and I need to be by his side. He needs my help!"
"No no NO!" thundered Priyanka. "Steven himself would tell you the same thing. This fight isn't yours! You are recovering, and you need to stay with us. Little Homeworld has hundreds of gems in it, they can take care of this themselves."
Connie put on socks with her red tennis shoes. That feeling of déjà vu that she was getting used to was back again, and with a sigh she rested her hand on her forehead. "So we've had this conversation before."
It was more of a statement than a question. Doug and Priyanka's eyes widened, and they looked at her in surprise.
"What do you mean, honey?" Asked Priyanka gently, trying to calm down after being so stern.
"I've run off into danger before," Connie said quietly, tying her shoes, yanking the laces into knots in a determined fashion. Her mouth was set in a tight line. "And you've asked me to stay."
"Y…yes," said Doug softly. "We've had it less often now that you were in college and away from any fighting."
"Then you know what my answer is," said Connie softly. "I know that there are bunches of gems in…Little Homeworld, you called it? But there is only one Steven, and I need to know that he's okay."
"We…we nearly lost you," pleaded Priyanka. "Why do you feel like you have to protect him? He's a diamond! He's the strongest one of them all - "
"I don't know why!" Snapped Connie. "I just have this gut feeling telling me that I need to go, and it was my gut feeling that kept me alive on that god-forsaken planet! It's the same one that tells me that you two are my parents, even though I still don't remember a thing about our family!"
She hadn't meant that one to hurt, but it did. Her parents winced, and she instantly felt guilty. "I'm sorry," she said quickly, "I didn't mean…I…"
Priyanka held up a hand. "I will…let you go," she said, voice trembling, tears in her stern eyes. "I see how you've had to judge for yourself what you need to do. But you promise me this one thing, young lady," she added, voice hard as flint. "That you get hurt one more time - seriously injured - then you will give up this way of life with the Crystal Gems." She took a deep breath, then cried softly, "Because I will die if I have to bury my little girl."
Connie opened her mouth, then stopped. She didn't know how to respond to that.
Doug cleared his throat. "It's just hard, honey," he stammered, tears in his eyes. "We've had to watch as you go off on these adventures, and each time you get hurt we…we feel it, too. We love you too much to watch you…not come back to us."
Connie looked at them, and reached out her hands to them. "I…I promise," she said, voice husky with emotion. "And I'm sorry."
They hugged her tightly, Priyanka sobbing quietly as she buried her face in her daughter's hair. Doug squeezed them both, lip trembling. Connie let them hug her as long as they needed to. She didn't remember them, but knew deep down that if she had, she would have been crying too.
"Thank you for everything you said," she said quietly. "I love you guys too, even though I don't remember. I'll come back in one piece, I promise. I won't be stupid or take unnecessary risks. And I'll see you soon," she added, as they pulled out of the hug.
"We are proud of you," said Doug softly. "No matter what happens."
The ground shook, and Connie shoved her phone into the inner pocket of her jacket. "I'll call the minute it's over," she promised, and saw the grateful looks on their faces. They gave her a kiss on each cheek, and she ran downstairs and out of the door.
Cars lined the street, all driving towards the highway out of Beach City. People honked at her in alarm as she ran towards Little Homeworld, somehow remembering the way. She noticed she didn't get winded as she sprinted along, racing towards the flames that licked the sky. She checked her watch - 11:35. When Steven had gotten that phone call a few hours ago, this must have been the subject of the conversation.
She slid to a stop, staring at the scene before her. The tower and surrounding buildings were in flames, and black smoke was spiraling into the sky, blocking the stars. Lapis Lazulis were using the ocean water to douse the fire, but once the fire was out another roar would be unleashed and more flames would pour into the small city.
The flames were coming from a giant fusion that agates, amethysts, and quartz' were trying to herd into the sea. Connie stared at the size of the dragon-like beast with it's six arms and fire-breathing jaws. Its wings beat the sea, flooding the army of gems and pushing them back. She saw in Steven and the Crystal Gems in the distance. He was rallying the gems to him and leading them in an attack, his voice strong and determined as they defended Little Homeworld.
Suddenly the fusion doubled up and began to "Spin Dash" as the gems called it, becoming a rolling blast of power and light. Connie had never seen a Spin Dash so powerful and fast as this fusion. Faster than the army of gems could run, the fusion blasted through them, poofing the majority in a brilliant burst of colorful explosions and ocean spray. Steven had managed to levitate back, and Garnet and Pearl had thrown themselves out of the way, but the small army of gems had been all but decimated. Even Amethyst had been poofed.
Now it was a fight to bubble the poofed gems while holding the fusion at bay.
Steven panted, staring up at Ametrine. After the gems in the Temple had successfully helped each of the three gems heal from their corruption using the vials of Diamond Essence that Steven and the other Diamonds had supplied, they had turned on their healers. Cracking a few and poofing the majority in a violent struggle, they had made their intentions clear. By the time Bismuth and Peridot had managed to arrive, hearing the shouts and explosions, it was too late, and the three malicious gems had fused again, bringing the deadly Ametrine back into existence. Bismuth had been poofed when she had attempted to confront the fusion, and Lapis had flown to warn the Crystal Gems while Peridot called Steven.
Ametrine had broken free and began to attack Little Homeworld, swooping over it and bathing it in flames like a dragon in a fairytale.
"What are you trying to accomplish?" Steven had demanded when he had arrived and confronted Ametrine, alarmed by the flames. "You have no way of getting home, and if you keep this up you will be held as prisoners of war!"
"You can't threaten us," They had roared back. "You made us more dangerous than any other gems here. We now have nothing to lose!"
Now Little Homeworld was in flames, his friends were poofed, and the Crystal Gems were weakened. "Bubble the gems!" He cried to Garnet as they got to their feet after the deadly Spin Dash. "I'll distract Ametrine!"
"Be careful!" Cried Pearl. Her eyes were wide, and Steven knew that she hadn't seen this much battle since before he was born.
"I promise," he said, and levitated up into the sky to face Ametrine. The familiar cool air of the high altitude was refreshing, and he felt his spirits rise as he floated up into the clouds.
The fusion laughed when they saw him. "Hello loser," they leered. "Back for more?"
"Actually," said Steven, eyes glowing pink and his stature growing slightly, "I'm here to finish this. You hurt Connie, you have terrorized my home, and now you are trying to destroy everything I've built up in the past five years!"
Ametrine laughed. "Sounds as though I've actually done something right," they said, grinning wickedly at him. "I've done more than my leader dreamed I could have."
"Who is your leader?" Demanded Steven, asking the same question as the first time they had fought.
"I won't say," the fusion chortled. "You see, my leader doesn't care if anyone knows their name. They just want things to go back to how they were designed." Their guttural voice sounded like boulders scraping against each other, and their six eyes narrowed as they continued. "The Diamonds fell in love with the idea that their precious Pink had returned, and they still look at you with that idea in the back of their minds. But my leader knows better. Pink is gone, never to return.
"But YOU, Steven Universe - you are too dangerous to be left alive. You are like a cancer - a deadly idea with a deadly cost. You are a leech, using a gem of status to plant an idea that has eroded and dismantled an empire of power and control." They smirked at him, their fangs glimmering in the moonlight. "That is why my mission was to call you to Olia 4, and ambush you, shattering anyone who came with you and to bring you to my leader."
The fusion grinned. "I still could. Once I pulverize your Little Homeworld, I'll poof you and take you back to my leader, and my gems will go down in history as the gems that did what no one else could." They narrowed their eyes. "They didn't fall into the lies of Steven Universe."
"I know you don't want to listen," said Steven, a quiet fury in his gut. "So I won't say much. But you are destroying something very dear to me and you need to be stopped. So in advance," he shouted, bubbling his fists. "Sorry not sorry."
"Come and fight me, traitor!" Screamed Ametrine, and blew fire while charging him.
Steven ducked and zoomed to the left, and chucked five spiked panels at the fusion with a wordless battle cry of his own. The fusion roared in pain as the panels hit it squarely, and whirled to smack him out of the sky. He caught their attacking hand in his, and yanked hard, propelling them into the murky ocean beneath them. "Try breathing fire now!" He shouted as they crashed into the sea. They stood and shook themselves, roaring in fury. They leapt after him in the sky, but he swerved and they barely missed grabbing him in their hands. They turned in mid flight and slammed him with their fist and propelling him out of the sky, sending him screaming and landing on the ground in an explosion of sand.
Coughing and shaking his head to clear the fuzzies, Steven looked up to see them diving for him, racing towards him with fire in their mouth, murder in their eyes. Suddenly someone tackled him, he was rolling away from the danger, their arms were tight around him, and then in a glow of light -
They opened their eyes, feeling that familiar joy of being together as one. Blinking in surprise at the unfamiliar feeling of not being all quite there, Stevonnie rubbed their eyes.
"How…what…"
Suddenly they grabbed their face, shimmering as Steven's shocked reaction threatened to unfuse them. "Connie, what are you doing here?!"
"Aren't you happy to exist with me?" they chuckled, adding, "You're welcome for saving your life, by the way."
"Well, yeah, but - "
They were interrupted by a snarl of disgust from above. "How vile," sneered Ametrine. "You would fuse with that little human you brought with you to Olia 4? How disgusting. The gems back home will be relieved I rid the galaxies of your distasteful existence."
Stevonnie stood, drawing their sword and summoning a shield. "Ok, I think we've heard enough," they said, eyes narrowing. "Let's take them out, together."
I can protect you better this way, Steven thought to Connie. We are going to have a talk after this though.
I was thinking the same thing, Connie flirted back, and Stevonnie smiled outwardly as a familiar fuzzy feeling arose within them. I remember how to fight, after all.
Pearl and Garnet had been bubbling as fast as they could, saving the gems who had gallantly stood up to Ametrine and poofed in the process. Now they looked up and cried out in alarm and disbelief as Stevonnie began to glow pink, harnessing more of Steven's Diamond powers.
"What is Connie doing here?!" Shrieked Pearl in horror. "She's not all the way better yet!"
"We have to help them," gasped Garnet, her gauntlets doubling in size as she prepared for battle.
"My stars," was all Pearl could say, and they rushed to join the fight when the two fusions suddenly flew high into the sky, battling in the clouds, far above their heads.
"Opal could shoot arrows at Ametrine," said Pearl, trying to think of ways to help. "But Sardonyx is grounded! We can't get up there!"
"The light cannons," said Garnet, touching her vizor.
"NO!" Shrieked Pearl, eyes wide in alarm. "Garnet, those cannons - "
"I don't like it either, but it's them or Little Homeworld," interrupted Garnet, face grim. "And Stevonnie won't last long. Steven is wearing out and Connie isn't quite herself yet."
"Those cannons are deadly," cried Pearl. "Ametrine won't just stop fusing, they'll all die!"
"I remember the gem war," said Garnet, angry. "I know what they do! But I'm not going to let some shortsighted gems kill Steven and Connie because they want the Empire back!"
"But is that the price we are willing to pay?" Asked Pearl, old decisions haunting this one. "There's no going back from this!"
"Just like Connie if she takes another blow to the head!" Argued Garnet. "We have to do this!"
"Don't manipulate me into this kind of decision!" Cried Pearl, deeply offended. "We are talking about life or death!"
"And I value Steven and Connie's lives over these gems!" Shouted Garnet, pointing at Ametrine. "If you won't do it for them, do it for earth! Those gems come from a leader wanting to destroy everything we have fought for!"
"Don't push me into murder!" Cried Pearl, shaking. "I…l don't want to be responsible for more terrible things! The retaliation from the Diamonds after Pink's faked shattering was almost too much to bear!"
"I'll walk it with you," said Garnet firmly, and took Pearl's hand in her own. "You won't do it alone."
Her memories as Stevonnie were trickling back to Connie, and she felt Steven gently guiding her back to the fight every few seconds as her mind wandered. That familiar love and acceptance that Steven had for her was multiplied tenfold inside of Stevonnie, and she realized how much she had missed fusing with him.
But the exhaustion was new. Steven seemed unspeakably tired, and they both struggled to maintain the balance of the fusion. Connie felt that there were still parts of her missing, and this seemed to effect them too. Yet even in this weakened state, they were stronger together.
Ametrine was snarling and throwing flames at them, but as Stevonnie with amplified Diamond powers, they were able to fly around the larger fusion, making them spin and waste energy. They slashed with their sword, wounding the fusion in the side, and Ametrine's slashing hand was blocked by a well-timed shield.
"What a waste of a Diamond," snarled Ametrine. "You need a human to fight better?!"
"Everyone fights better when they know they are loved," said Stevonnie, grinning, forehead glistening with sweat.
"And everyone fights better when they don't want to die," smirked the fusion, eyes rolling as they reigned in control of themselves. "And trust me, this fight is to the death!"
"It doesn't have to be," began Stevonnie, lowering their shield. Steven, careful, Connie thought to him, red flags in her mind.
"I'm not going to let you live," thundered Ametrine. "You are a disgrace to Gemkind, and I am under direct orders to bring you, dead or alive, to my leader!"
"I - " began Stevonnie, but suddenly Pearl's voice was screaming "If every pork chop were perfect, we wouldn't have hot dogs!" and a well-aimed blast of pink power and light tore through Ametrine with a terrible explosion. Stevonnie was thrown back, and recovering slightly they hovered to the ground, staring as one of Rose Quartz' light cannons bore a flaming hole into Ametrine's chest.
The fusion screamed, long and terrible, eyes rolling back into their head and beams of light pouring out of every opening in their face. Fire and magma spewed from their mouth, and their limbs convulsed violently as they twisted and writhed. Stevonnie cried out in horror, but couldn't look away. Then Ametrine exploded in a bright burst of light.
Connie fell to the ground as Stevonnie unfused, and Steven, glowing bright pink, vomited into the sand beside him. Garnet and Pearl ran to their sides, and Steven was shaking like a leaf, moaning and crying miserably.
"Where…where are their gems?" Asked Connie, breathless and gawking as the smoke faded in the sky.
"They disintegrated," said Garnet, looking away. "They don't exist anymore."
Connie felt her face go pale. "That…that's what you guys used those cannons for during the war?"
"This is why we use them as a last resort," said Pearl softly, tears trickling down her face unashamedly. "And why we hid them away for so long."
"You…you killed them," shuddered Steven, his diamond eyes wide with horror, gasping and moaning, face distraught. "They -"
"They were going to kill you, Steven," said Garnet gently, laying a calming hand on his shoulder. "And if comes down to gems destroying you and the earth or us destroying them…then we will do what it takes to protect you and our home."
He was still shaking, and Connie scooted over to him. "Steven?"
"And you!" He whirled, fixing horrified eyes on her. "Why are you here?! What if you had hit your head again or worse -"
"But I didn't," interrupted Connie gently, leaning down to eye level with his hunched figure. "I was smart, and fused with you right away. I - "
"I don't care," snapped Steven, head turning to her, eyes furious. "You mean everything to me Connie Maheswaran, and if they had hurt you again I don't know what I could have done to them. The light cannon would have been merciful compared to what I would have done!" He was still shaking, skin glowing bright pink, and reaching up he held out his trembling hands to her. "I need you to be more careful," he said in a voice that cracked with tears and ended in a distraught shriek, reminding her of his meltdown years ago. "You don't understand how much I need you to be safe!"
"And that's why I came," she said softly, taking his hands into her strong grip. She kissed them, and pulled him closer so that their knees touched in the sand. "I need you to be safe too. Ask my parents; that's why I came."
"I need you," he gasped out, tears beginning to trickle down his face. He let go of her hands and reached up, cupping her face in his shaky hands. Her dark eyes gazed into his, and he felt a calmness settle over him.
She was being strong, and confident, and - so like the Connie she'd been before. He had missed her steadiness so much. "I need you to be safe and happy and okay."
She smiled at him as the pink light from him began to fade back into his usual skin color, his eyes darkening to their natural, deep brown hue. "And I am," she whispered, laying her hands on his wrists as his thumbs caressed her cheeks. "Everything is okay now. That thing isn't going to hunt us down anymore, and we are all safe."
He hung his head, exhaling with a huff as his PTSD was gently reigned in, and the anxiety inside of him subsided with each breath. Connie turned her face in his hands and kissed his palm gently. "Yes there is cleanup to do," she smiled ruefully, "but that's the easy part. Everything is okay. The fight is over, and you are safe with me."
Pearl was sniffling, and Garnet laid a hand on Connie and Steven's heads. "Go to the beach house," she said gently. "You both should rest. We will help the remaining gems to put out the fires and begin rebuilding."
"Help yourself to anything in the fridge," said Pearl, wiping her eyes and patting Connie on the shoulder. "And welcome back."
Connie smiled at them, and for a moment everything felt so natural. She belonged.
Steven wiped his face with his hands, his cold sweat making him chilly in the night air. Connie stood and held out a hand to him, ready to help him get to his feet. He looked up at her, large brown eyes surprised.
"What?" She asked, a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. "It's called a hand, and I'd like to give you one."
"You're so…" he swallowed his words and took her extended hand in his, pulling himself off of the ground.
"I'm so…?" She asked, looking at him curiously.
"Just a few hours ago you had a meltdown about college," he said, shaking his head. "And just a few minutes ago you were fighting alongside me as Stevonnie! And right now you are everything I've ever needed you to be - calming, grounding, and…honest." He rubbed his eyes, tired and baffled, and they began walking towards the beach house. "I don't know what to make of it. There are things that are challenging for you, and then there are other things that are so natural to you that you don't even notice how amazing you are."
She blushed, and reached for his hand. His fingers laced with hers, and his gave her a gentle squeeze.
"You think I'm amazing?"
"I always have."
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