Chapter 2: The Return
Bismuth went off to her forge to create more weapons for the incoming attack. The Gems had little time to prepare, so they had to get cracking. "Garnet, Jasper and Peridot's ship wasn't affected by Opal's bow or the Light Cannons, what should we do?" Pearl asked. Garnet looked at Pearl, "We wait, and when it happens we do what we always do," Pearl nodded. Steven and the others soon arrived at the temple, "Hey guys, we're back!" "Steven! Did you enjoy Funland?" Pearl asked. "Yeah! My dad went on the Thunderbird and he barfed everywhere!" Connie stood next to Steven, "It was pretty gross" She added. A flash came from the temple, and Steven looked toward the temple in confusion. "Someone used the warp pad? But only we can use the warp pad…" Steven said. Bismuth walked out of the temple towards the gems. "BISMUTH!?" Steven yelled in shock. Amethyst's jaw dropped and she ran up to hug Bismuth. "Yo! Big B! You're back!" "Hehe, yeah, Garnet and Pearl thought it'd be best if I came back, and we came to an agreement, I won't shatter anyone without permission" "It's great that you're back!" Steven looked at her with discomfort. Connie, Lapis, and Peridot stood off to the side not wishing to intervene. Lapis leaned over to Peridot, "Did you know there was another Crystal Gem?" she whispered. Peridot shrugged, "It'll be good to have a Bismuth on the team." Bismuth walked over to Steven and reached out her hand, "Steven, I wanted to apologize for the trouble I caused you before, I hope we can restart and make amends" she said. Steven looked at her hand, and shook it, "Thanks Bismuth."
Bismuth gets pulled off to the side by Garnet and Pearl, Bismuth nodded and headed off to her forge. Steven walked over to Garnet and Pearl, "Guys? What's going on? You two have been acting stranger than usual…" he said with a concerned look on his face. Garnet knelt down in front of Steven, she took off her visor and looked at him. "Steven, you're 15 now, and I'm sure you can understand, there is something that is happening that we aren't ready to tell you yet, it's not that we don't trust you, it's that we are afraid of it affecting you very badly, very emotionally. We can't have that happening because we need you and your powers Steven, we need to be sure you'd be okay during this situation, all we want is for you to be okay, so please understand Steven, once we feel ready, we will tell you" Garnet said with tears slightly forming in her eyes. Steven's eyes began swelling with tears slightly too, he nodded and hugged Garnet. Pearl whispered to Garnet, and Garnet nodded, "Steven, we'd like you to try something, but first we need everyone in the bubble room," Steven nodded and everyone headed to the bubble room.
Garnet got a bubble, and handed it to Steven. "Don't pop it just yet" Garnet said. Pearl and Amethyst looked at each other and nodded, they then fused into Opal. Opal stretched her arms and whipped her bow out. "Connie, be ready to fuse with Steven after he does it," Connie nodded and got closer to Steven. Bismuth shapeshifted her hands into hammers and clashed them together, "Come on Steven, bring it! I'm ready to fight whatever this is!" Lapis stood there unfazed by what is happening, while Peridot hid behind her. "You two should fuse, it's probably best" Garnet said to Lapis and Peridot. "I'm not ready to fuse again…" Lapis said, "I'm still not prepared for fusion either" Peridot replied. "Suit yourselves then" Garnet said, "Steven, do it!" Steven popped the bubble and the gem fell to the ground, Opal charged her bow, Garnet summoned her Gauntlets, Bismuth clashed her hammers once more, and suddenly the gem began to form. Steven licked his hand and once the monster formed he put his hand against the gem. Suddenly the gem began to change, the corrupted gem became uncorrupted! It mumbled a bit, Steven and Connie fused immediately forming Stevonnie. The gem stood up and looked around, "Wha… Where am I?" she turned and looked at Lapis and Peridot. "LAPIS!" she yelled, Lapis looked on in fear, "Jasper…" she said quietly. Jasper looked around, and then looked at her hands, she chuckled, "Was the mighty Rose Quartz so desperate of something she needed my help? I'll never join you Rose! NEVER!" Stevonnie took a step forward, "Jasper, we don't want to hurt you." Bismuth clashed her hammers again, "I ain't afraid to shatter her."
Garnet walked over to Jasper, "Fusions, the lot of you are fusions… Typical Crystal Gems…" "Jasper, we need your help, and you either help us or face a possible shattering. You and Peridot failed the mission to check up on the Cluster. Before you and Lapis unfused Yellow Diamond sent a group of Ruby's to see what happened, we sent them into space without a ship after your corruption. I see that Yellow Diamond is gonna send a huge squad of Quartz soldiers, hundreds of Jasper's, Amethyst's, and many other Quartz's." "You Crystal Gems are truly a pest, you know that? What makes you think I'd help? I can just find one of those monsters and fuse with it and take you all down, starting with Peridot!" Stevonnie stepped even closer to her, "Would you really risk the corruption again? Miss 'I won't let this planet ruin me'?" "You bring that up again and I'll tear you apart limb from limb." Bismuth chuckled, "You know I could shatter or crack you easily, right? And I won't hesitate to do so" "You don't scare me you stupid hunk of metal!" Bismuth steps forward angrily, but Stevonnie stops her "She's not worth it Bismuth"
"I'll fuse with you if you agree to help…" Lapis said quietly. Jasper looked at Lapis and chuckled. "Fine, I'll help you… Only if Peridot fuses with us!" Peridot looked at Jasper, then turned to Lapis. Lapis nodded and Peridot spoke up, "F-fine…" Jasper smiled, "Good." Garnet walked over to Jasper and shook her hand, "The Ruby's really admired you, I'm sure you'd agree with me when I say we should go get the Ruby's for help," Jasper nodded, "I may be tough, but there are Jasper's way stronger than I am, we'll need as many fighters as possible." "Garnet, remember we destroyed the spaceship?" Pearl said. "We can just build another one, we're both expert builders" Peridot added. Garnet nodded, "Yes, you two get building, we're gonna need it as soon as possible." Bismuth walked off to the warp pad and warped off the her forge. Stevonnie unfused, Steven and Connie looked at each other, sighed, and hugged each other. "You gonna be okay? This is gonna be the biggest thing we've ever faced" said Steven, "Yeah, if I'm with you and the gems then I'm sure we can do it!" Steven nodded and the 2 headed off to the barn with Pearl and Peridot.
