"The whole world burning." he said that as the fire burned between them. Meat he'd caught for them was put on the stick above the fire, nearly cooked. She licked her lips. "Kinda like that beast you torched up yesterday when you were trying to hunt."

She adjusted her fur coverings as she looked down slightly ashamed.

"They were strong and fast and durable, like the mightiest of mighty beasts, but they looked so much like us that I was afraid. Demons, that's what they were.

As she stared into the fire, the flickering flames started to seem like distorted faces to her.

"They took some of ours and those poor souls never came back." he said sadly as he turned the meat. She briefly considered just eating the cooked half now and letting him cook his part and eat it later.

"Did they like where they took them." she said. He ignored her.

This was a formality. Every night he told that story and after the second time it had become boring so she teased him. Yet she never got a reaction. He always had that distant look when he told his tale.

"Angry and frustrated we fought back. With our combined might, 8 of us total, the other 20 keeping us safe from the others, we killed a demon and we fled. We made one mistake though. We took her remains.

"A celebration was in order for our victory and that's when they got us. The chief, she entrusted the stone to me, told me to run, not let them have what they want."

Oh here comes the gross part. She held her bicep. The stone there throbbed in pain and she screamed in agony.

"I escaped them. One day later the demon took form from the stone. She fell me to the ground and took off. By that time I knew how to fight them. Due to my comrades' experience. I shot her in the back with my spear as she ran confused.

"She did not appear for days, but I was angry at her, at them, for the disappearance of my people, the death of my comrades, so I scratched it, the remains of her, this gem you now have."

She clutched her bicep and tears of pain ran down her cheeks. She heated her skin, evaporating them. She hated when he saw her cry. It was pathetic.

"After two days of scratching in my off time, she appeared, barely, she had trouble keeping herself there, her words were duller than the way the others spoke. This scratching of the gem, it had definitely hurt her.

"She pleaded me to stop but I didn't, I hit it, bit it, logged it and so forth, everything that wouldn't leave a mark but would make her scream in agony.

"Then I did stuff to her. Shameful stuff. She hated it and that alone made me love it. Some time later she was gone and you were there, wailing your head off."

"Pretty romantic, dad. My friends from the nearby village's parents ain't got nothing on you." she grinned as the pain subdued. Oh how she wished that guy hadn't traumatized whatever was in the gem so much, or at least not bring it up every night.

"Come on, let's train, if you can't beat me, you can't beat those damn demons."

By the time he deemed her 'ready', way later than when she felt ready, the demons were gone.

So she decided to take matters into her own hands. She was way stronger than human and demon. Humanity's only hope.

Pink reoriented herself so that she was falling towards the person who called out to her.

It was the announcer!

"Eeeeeeeh?!" Pink said with shock.

And fire was shooting out of her feet, which she was using to fly!

"Eeeeeeeh?!" Pink said with surprise.

"Gotcha. Tell you what, we kill the white thing, I give you the planet."

"Eeeeeeeh?!" Pink said with wonder.

"Every other contestant is dead or MIA except for you and D.E. Athra, so it's only fair for you two to fight it out."

"Eeeeeeeh?!" Pink said with her attention focused at the ground. Hovering was getting kinda boring.

"That's it!" the announcer yelled. Now that Pink paid attention she wasn't smiling. So scary!

Well not really. Like that inferior thing scared her all that much. What species was she even? Whatever, who cares, without that smile she's not even cute. Come on drop her or whatever so she can get to business with that black-toothed mama's girl.

"You don't care about the other contestants?"

"Not for realz no. I've known one of them for what? An hour?"

"The tourists and inhabitants?" the announcer asked.

"They'll mostly live. D.E.'s just sowing a bit of chaos."

The announcer clenched her teeth.

"If only I'd predicted that White Death was with White Diamond. Stupid me. I don't know what's worse. Giving the prize to you or your sister." she glared at Pink, "If you say 'eeeeh' again I'm dropping you."

Pink opened her mouth and the announcer put her palm over it.

"Don't be so quick to rush off and face that thing. I think we both know it's stronger than you are and without a strategy you'll be in shards in no time." the announcer explained.

"Maybe if you get the whole crowd to cheer for me I can win against all odds!" Pink said sweetly, trying to gently tug free of the announcer's grip.

"I say we fuse." she said abruptly, eyes focused on the ground.

"Pft." the little sound escaped Pink's lips. It escalated into full blown laughter that raised to the heavens. Her body wriggled around as it tried to escape the bounds that held it, but the announcer didn't let go, not even for a second.

"But you're not a gem, you stupid inferior!" she spat the words into the announcer's face.

Without saying a word, she chomped on her sleeve and pulled her head back sharply, revealing the dull ruby gem on her bicep.

A grin spread across Pink's face. She met the announcer's level gaze with her excited one.

"So very interesting, announcer," she touched one of the stickers on her face with a finger, one of the ones shaped like hearts. "You made my heart skip just now. I can't let that go unpunished."

Pink lunged. The announcer tried to pull back but a pink arm was holding her tightly by the forearm.

A pink tongue caressed the old beaten ruby, making the announcer wince at the contact.

It started glowing as it healed and the announcer's breathing became sharp, hungry as she stared down at the gem with bewilderment.

"Raze us up, announcer, so we can raze the skies. So we can raze this whole planet with our fusion. There are a few souvenir stalls here worth protecting after all. And I'm sure Pearl is waiting in her seat like I told her to."

The flames shooting from the announcer's feet grew more intense. To an insane degree. Sweat was running down her skin. Genuine laughter escaped her mouth as tears evaporated from her cheeks.

As they circled each other in the sky, surrounded by a torrent of flames, their gems glowed and their physical forms started to merge, Pink understood. For the first time, the existence she was fusing with, Zogi, discovered what it was like not to be in pain.

Pink chuckled at this information as they both became one. After all now that it left her, all this pain had to go to somebody else.