When Hope is Key

found herself floating again. She missed the dreams about tigers and butterflies and all sorts of mystical, fantastic creatures. Her dreams were colorful, instead of complicated and void of any other, left in the voids of dawn, day and dusk. This was in between all of that.

She found herself in that doorway again. But this time she knew where to go. It was between her and the her she would become. She could see Hope Connie floating in the deep navy sea with dots of blue, green and white dots blended that reminded Connie of magical fairy lights, as the currents played with their hair in sync. Hope Connie then started to walk towards her, ever so slowly. It wasn't painful. If anything else, she was within the zone of where what ever she felt was pushed and pulled like water pulling out to sea to create the next set of waves to crash against the shore.

But there really was no water to begin with. It was all ebb and flow, as the gust of the wind that merged with the eye of the storm.

She stopped as she got really close to Connie. It took her a moment as Connie peered into her light blue eyes. There were unheard whispers again. But she could hear her own voice. Extraordinary charges were running through her like a tempest. She held on to it, knowing there was less to worry when it was like staring into a mirror, as the stars came around to find her, pulling her into the mesosphere.

I'm here...

She didn't feel any different. She felt healthy but other than that there wasn't much to say about the whole experience. Too surreal to properly describe.

Connie felt her forehead, feeling the Diamond against it. She was able to stand on her own two feet. No complaints about that. Connie expected a little bit more, but maybe that wasn't the point. She saw Pink Steven still standing in front of her and in a way, she felt his resonance, his subtle Aura, his life energy. His silent chatter of an indecipherable sort.

Snow and Peridot ran up to her, checking out of she was okay. The former stood on one knee to give Connie at once over, akin to the same style her mother would. She could hear Snow's clicks as her eyes trailed around her form.

"You're stable. Is everything alright?" Snow questioned, trying to hide her pedantic behavior.

Connie nodded with confidence. Peridot then gave Connie her gear back.

"Yeah." She replied. Her eyes kept going back to Pink Steven, whom Peridot became less fearful and more curious about.

"What about him?"

Snow stood up and turned around, then sighed.

"He's out and about. Not sure what he's going to try and do next." She said.

"Your Aura is your own now. It's no longer identical to Stevens. He still needs to return back to Steven himself so it's going to take effort to get him to even move from here."

Connie wandered up to him. She wasn't fearful of him either...instead, just wary. He didn't want to action any sudden moves but to continue on with his blinkless stare while Malachite and Black Pearl continued to fight in the back ground. Knowing how his powers were nondiscriminatory, Connie had to somehow reign him in to ensure he didn't anything the real Steven wouldn't want him to do. She had to find out how.

"Would I be able to still fuse with him?" Connie queried. If it was a good idea and had him properly cooperate this time of course. She didn't want to break her promise to him.

Snow shrugged.

"Maybe. I mean, you're part gem now so you, by now known logic, will be able to fuse with any gem in technicality." She replied, albeit her tone both unsure and perplexed.

Would he be able to defuse willingly afterwards, would be the real question.

"I wouldn't risk the fusion if you're on the fence about it."

Connie couldn't let Malachite fight as long as they had been already. Does he still pose a threat if they want to defuse? Right now they had to leave the Kindergarten to save the others.

"Fusion does require two willing parties at the least." Peridot said, although she'd never fused before, she studied a bit about it, thanks to Garnet.

"Connie doesn't have to fuse if she doesn't want to. Her gem should give her more of a resistance to the pull. If I could assume that to be case."

Of course. Any time she'd fused with Steven it would be accidental. Although, if they're anything like Ruby and Sapphire they'd subconsciously want to be together. Pink Steven just wanted to feel whole. Connie just wanted her own choice and autonomy in the matter. She grabbed his hand, to see if he'd respond. It was certainly daring, but he didn't budge at the touch. She just wanted him to listen to her. Though her heart began to race as she felt his warm glow, making her hairs stand on end as heat ran through her whole body. The strangest part was it was the same touch like any other time they held hands normally, just like a humans.

"Steven." She stated.

Would he listen? Would he know any better? She pulsed a bit of her power to him, although she didn't know she'd been doing it at first. He did straighten himself however, like he stood to attention. It was a long shot, but they needed to keep moving.

"I'll take care of you. But before we can refuse as Stevonnie, I need to know I can trust you. For now, you must be my equal as we fight side by side."

Nothing came of his mouth for a few seconds, until.

"Yes." He said ever so softly.

That was good enough for Connie. She looked at Snow who had been simply observing.

"If he listens to you then good for us. We have to get back."

Connie couldn't agree more. She refused with Dori as Howlite reappeared, while Peridot got another rogue piece of debris. A longer piece, this time. She jumped on top of it, as Howlite stood on one side. Connie, without realizing it, jumped higher than she anticipated as she took Pink Steven with her and had him stand next to her. Peridot wavered slightly, having to adjust for the weight. She then clung on to the side of the piece and shot them forward. Howlite swiped falling rocks with her claws as Steven seemingly shielded himself with Connie. Even if it wasn't fully him, him being there with her made her feel slightly better. It was her suggestion that the two stand back and let them handle, as Connie would not be used to her new powers yet and it would be better for her keep Pink Steven aside, as if his power could potentially make things worse. Being reminded of his power in White Diamonds mecha gave this idea credence as she took him back to the the nearby wall as they watched on. Connie felt useless, but it was better for right now to restraint Pink Steven as much as she could.

Peridot landed them before the fight with the two.

"Hey how ya two clods doing? Need a hand?" Peridot shouted.

Malachite had Black Pearl's monstrous Lillim form in a headlock, as she gave off a devilish grin to the smaller green gem.

"Oh now you come back around after we're almost done." Malachite answered mockingly as they punched Black Pearl in the face.

Peridot smirked.

"Hey hey hey! You looked like you were having fun!" She said playfully.

Connie held onto Pink Steven's hand tightly as Black Pearl summoned more tentacles as unholy roars escaped her mouth, shaking the area even more so than before. Malachite was doing well, but they needed to poof Black Pearl before they all got caved in. But they needed a plan to do so. She took all of the abilities into account. Malachite couldn't summon water due to the heat. Howlite must have Dori's restraints due to the Geas and Peridot couldn't do much on her own, as she tried and threw bits of metal to distract her... and they really needed Snow's Medusa power to freeze.

Howlite looked lost and perplexed. She desperately wanted to help out as she dug her claws into her head, distressed and almost to her knees, like Snow and Dori were arguing with themselves. She remembered something Pearl told her about the Geas put on her by Pink Diamond about her secrets and by Steven finding out about it, it helped him break it. Apophyllite did mention the Diamonds were able to give and take from other gems as they pleased. She wondered if she had the power to do the same.

It was then she heard Pink Steven muttering in her mind, words she didn't expect to hear.

There is no Command for Dori if Snow decides to attack another gem. He said telepathically.

What?

What do you mean? Connie replied the same way.

He turned his head to the Fusion.

The Command was removed.

How could he possibly know or even see that? No. No time to suss that out. They had to know.

"Howlite! There is no Command for Dori! You're able to attack freely!" Connie yelled.

Howlite looked confused. Connie didn't blame her. Pink Steven had no concept of right or wrong, truth or lies. At least from what she could assume. But he was Steven. She'd trust his word.

"Just do it! Trust me."

Howlite paused for the moment as they stood back up and roared, which caught the Lillim Pearl's attention. Several tentacles shot towards them as Howlite summoned an doubled sided axe from Snow's gem, then summoned what appeared to be spiked knuckle dusters from Dori's gem. The Axe split apart and fused with the knuckle dusters which attached themselves to Howlite's arm, becoming sharp arm blades in their place. She crossed her arms together to defend herself, as the tentacles were cut cleanly. Howlite spun upwards, using the motion to slice the multitude of tentacles coming her way.

Suggest Peridot to fuse with Malachite. Pink Steven told Connie.

Huh? Why? Connie questioned. Such a random suggestion.

No response.

Ugh. Okay then.

"Peridot!" Connie called out. How was this going to work.

"WHAT! I'M BUSY!" She yelled back in response.

This was a bad idea. But Steven seemed to think some good could come out of it. Not necessarily good. Powerful perhaps?

"Go fuse with Malachite!" A sentence Connie would never hear herself to say. It seemed stupid...

Peridot turned back to Connie with the biggest dumbfounded expression that she could ever make. His advice worked for Howlite. It could work for them too. Connie understood fusion to be personal, relationship dependent experience. Pink Steven's suggestion sounded like something his whole self could say. Which gave it more to understanding to Connie, but not the other gems. It was crazy, it was outrageous. But it could work.

Peridot ended up being whacked by a tentacle during her slight moment of distraction which ended up having whacked towards the pair. They walked up to her Connie temporarily let Steven go, crouching towards Peridot and for what ever reason, instinctively touched her gem as she sent her Aura through it. Pink Steven shielded them from a swarm of tentacles as Malachite accidentally threw the Lillim Pearl in their direction. Peridot shot up, furious as she threw up her hands and started to yell at Connie.

"WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? THAT'S YOUR FAULT!" Peridot roared, then she noticed Pink Steven staring at her, causing her to cower back in fear with a little meep at the end of her lips

Connie agreed on how asinine it was. How illogical it must be to consider such a proposition. But it wouldn't be without good reason. Even if the sentence she had mentioned was the last set of words she'd never see herself saying.

"I...I don't know." Connie replied as she stared at Steven.

"But he seems to think it'll help."

Peridot's perplexed expression didn't surprise her as she stared at him for the moment. Another blast, another rhombus shield. Why were the doing this...no. It wasn't the why. It was the reason. The reason they needed to do it...

Connie grabbed hold of Peridot's hand and summoned her bluish energy into her unknowingly. The green gem pulled her hand back instantly, then looked back at Connie.

"I don't know what that was...but I'm invigorated for what ever...uh...I'll try and fuse...if they even let me." Peridot worded with concern. Connie knew she herself was out of her mind on matters she'd barely scratched the surface on with this new, yet subconscious desire to empower others. She used the Diamond salute for Connie as she ran off towards Malachite. She could hear beyond all the screeches and roars from Lillim Pearl, Peridot's demands to fuse with them. Malachite was left with the same reaction Peridot had, as she grabbed hold of a rogue tentacle and let Howlite slice through it.

Connie was highly tempted to fuse with Pink Steven, but she forced them back further as Howlite offered to keep Lillim Pearl away as they did so. She could only watch as Malachite picked Peridot up and attempted to fuse. They tried multiple times with no avail. Ugh. Looked like she had no choice.

"Steven I promised you would we bring back Stevonnie. Please promise me you'll defuse when I want to." She urged him. Not that she'd expect him to follow through with it, it was worth a shot.

Yes.

Close enough.

She took his other hand and stared him in the eyes. She was curious on or if Pink Steven had any legible thought processes. His ideas worked so far, although the Malachite plus Peridot fusion could be for more practical purposes like for strength, but whether or not he even could understand the relationships required between all components. He needed to feel whole...he was suggesting others to do the same.

She hugged him tightly like she hug Steven normally. A harmless glomp that lit up both them gems, as the world inside Connie Maheswarans mind turned to water once again.

Stevonnie returned shortly after the big blast of violet energy. They looked down to see their skin had turned periwinkle instead of the pink they had previously and their hair a dark Byzantium. They summoned their shield, revealing it to be of a different design that Steven's own. Instead of the floral pattern, it too was a faded purple, with a line from both the top and bottom parts of the shield meeting with a diamond outline in the middle. It had the gem like center, but a patterned line of white dots on each side of the lines themselves.

They grabbed Connie's sword and charged it full of Diamond Energy. It radiated the Aura for a few seconds, but before the sword turned mauve and glistened.

"This isn't working!" Peridot cried out.

Howlite kept trying to distract Lillim Pearl until they noticed Stevonnie. They weren't too concerned about the fusion, but they worked together nonetheless.

"What do we need to do to..well, defeat it? It's basically just throwing random tentacles constantly!" Stevonnie called out.

The Werewolf fusion growled in annoyance as they jumped back to stand next to them,

"I...I'm trying to figure out how the Medusa Power works." She said.

"Black Pearl keeps covering her gem and I can't reach it. Snow froze Peridot before so I'm thinking we might need to use it against her gem."

She must have known. So somehow they had to attack her and get rid of the tentacles that covered her Pearl. Why would a centipede need tentacles anyway?

They both stared the Lillim Pearl down as it prepared to attack again. They could hear Malachite and Peridot grumbling over their failed fusion.

"Steven suggested they fuse." Stevonnie commented.

"Though even I'm having hard time deciding why. He won't tell me."

Howlite donned a toothy grin.

"Diamond Intuition?" She joked as she stretched her arms out.

"They should know how certain gems work."

Stevonnie was ready to believe anything.

Whatever the case may be, they had a fight to win. Stevonnie offered to be in front as they jumped at the Lillim Pearl at an immense height, throwing their shield at Lillim Pearls disgusting face. As expected, the myriad of tentacles caught it, allowing Stevonnie to pull their sword into a forward slice, only for another tentacle to grab their leg. Howlite jumped and sliced it, setting them free. There were many more disgusting tentacles to deal with it seemed. They fell to the ground as they summoned another shield in time to protect themselves from being slapped down.

Stevonnie kept at it, as Malachite had enough with dealing with Peridot and continued to fight on. Malachite grabbed a hold of a few slimy ones and dragged Lillim Pearl to them. Stevonnie kept hearing Pink Steven's suggestion at the fusion again, though Stevonnie still couldn't understand why, piling in reason but the why always came back. They kept trying to slice over and over again, but for every one they cut, more grew in their place. This wasn't working.

They caught Peridot who was accidentally flung off Malachite, by the hand and tried to empower them once more. They jumped over to Malachite. Maybe they needed a hand too. They pressed their hand against their body as they closed their eyes, charging them as well with Connie's Aura. Malachite reacted with a gaped mouth, then looked at Stevonnie as they stood back. Peridot approached as Malachite picked her up. Lets hope this works.

Malachite took Peridot up to Jaspers gem as the smaller gem rested her own against it. They started to glow, the old foretell of prefusion. Stevonnie right back as Malachite got even bigger. Their head became five massive spikes. Once the glow disappeared, Stevonnie could see a gold brown shaded combination before them that had Peridots visor. It had the design of a Tiger with a bulky, muscle torso with a star on the chest inside a red square. Stevonnie could see from their formed snout that had Jaspers gem on the nose, Peridot's on the forehead. The legs actually looked like legs instead of hands, though the feet became paws and another pair of arms poked out from the torso with the same thickness and curvature as the top pair, with similar stripes like Jaspers design, except with claws at the end of her fingers. They looked animalistic from Stevonnie's perspective. Just like an actual tigers. They roared, revealing their sharp teeth.

Tiger Iron...Stevonnie heard Pink Steven say.

She looked towards the lava before them and pulled their hand into a fist, as a blob of lava formed into a sphere at their command as she chuckled.

To say that Howlite was shocked was an understatement. They needed a little bit of encouragement, that was all.

Their first instinct was to throw the lava at Lillim Pearl, who shrieked in pain from the intense, burning heat. Their next agenda was taking advantage of the ample amounts they had right beside them. They summoned multiple ingot sized samples and shot they towards their foe an intense rate. Lillim Pearl tried to deflect, but a few managed to hit her head.

Interesting. Howlite's suggestion was to bring her closer to the pit as the pair of them went behind her. Lillim Pearl predictably, turned around and continued her assault unabated. Stevonnie kept at her with dodges, blocks and swipes, while Howlite kept up her aggressive spins to both avoid getting hit and to cut with absolute fury. They pushed the Lillim Pearl slowly, as Stevonnie could see at the corner of their eye that Tiger Iron began to dip themselves into the lava, summoning ginormous lava wings that were akin a classic western style dragons. They waited until the other fusion pushed Lillim Pearl towards.

"NOW!" Stevonnie called out.

Tiger then wrapped her two sets of arms around her and squeeze her tightly. Stevonnie and Howlite kept their hacks with the same speed and vigor. Tiger then began to pull her in the lava itself. Lillim Pearl left off a horrible scream that rattled the whole cavern as more stalactites fell from above. Stevonnie stood back on the ground alongside Howlite as they put their shield above them and enlarged it enough to cover them both.

"Stevonnie, clear the way." Howlite told them.

The Diamond Fusion nodded. Once the shaking stopped, they jumped up and put all their effort into slicing as many tentacles as they could at a tremendous speed. Forward, diagonal, horizontal. Over and over again to leave the trail to Howlite.

They looked up as Howlite defused back into Snow Quartz and Dori, whom both jumped ahead of them and bit into the very tentacle blocking Black Pearls gem. Snow Quartz, with all her grace and poise measured with the look of determination on her face as Stevonnie watched her cling on the monsters chest. Her eyes and her gem started to glow with a great intensity as she screamed into it.

The Lillim Pearl shrieked even louder as they flailed around in pain, enough for the form to freeze on sight. Tiger Iron then let go of her as she summoned Jaspers crash helmet. Snow and Dori jumped back to where Stevonnie was as Tiger pulled her head back and smashed the Lillim Gems form to pieces with might crash like thunder echoing around the cavern as Stevonnie summoed their shield to cover three of them.

Black Pearls gem remained unharmed as Tiger put it into a bubble and migrated themselves back to solid land.