CHAPTER 15: THE SHADOW UNDER THE HOOD

Black Pearl's sword sliced through her arm, making Pearl loose her weapon. In front of this gem, Pearl couldn't do anything… she remained motionless… a memory of an old friend blocking her from doing even the slightest movement. Black Pearl raised her sword again, ready to strike one last time. It would have been the end of the white gem… if it wasn't for a bright… green… sphere of energy… which hit Black Pearl right in her chest… making her fly towards the room's wall… Pearl turned around and saw the one who saved her life… Peridot… who was breathing deeply… her hand turned into a blaster.

"Come on! Give me a hand! We don't have time!" Peridot yelled as she held the adapter's hose in front of Pearl.

As soon as Peridot stopped talking, Pearl remained motionless, she couldn't still believe what had just happened, if it wasn't for Peridot… she would have died. But now it wasn't the moment for this kind of thoughts, right now, Peridot needed her, all of her friends needed her.

"R-right!" Pearl said as she grabbed the hose and walked towards the core.

"Now plug it into the core! There's a circular panel on it! Just move the hose towards it and it should open automatically!" Peridot said quickly as she held the glass sphere.

"Got it!" Pearl said as she reached the panel and plugged the hose into it.

"Now… we need the shard!" Peridot cried as Pearl's gem began to glow… but it suddenly stopped as they heard a loud scream.

"I got you!" The dark figure said, after she managed to catch Lapis by her leg and smashed her into the ground before throwing her towards Steven.

"Lapis!" Pearl cried as she stepped towards the injured friend.

"Pearl no! I need you here!" Peridot cried as she grasped the white gem by her shoulder.

"B-but… Amethyst is still knocked down! So is Lapis! Steven can't win against her!" Pearl said as she turned towards the young boy.

"Pearl! Steven can protect them as long as he will use his shield! We just need to charge the shard then we'll reach him!" Peridot said as Pearl remained silent for a moment, then reluctantly nodded.

"Y-you won't hurt them anymore!" Steven said as he took a step towards the towering figure.

"After all what happened… you are still alive… I'm impressed… but without your worthless friends you won't survive a minute against me…" The dark figure said as she pulled out her sword, ready to strike… she brought it down towards her enemy, but instead of a scream of pain, she felt a loud sound of metal clashing against something solid… something solid, bright and pink.

"Don't worry guys! I'll protect you!" Steven said as he looked at Amethyst and Lapis, who were just behind him on the ground, before turning towards the towering figure, as he continued to block her attacks using his shield, which became five times bigger than his normal one.

"I must admit it… you've become stronger… but you won't ever be as strong as me! Now… just… give… up! You can't win!" The dark figure screamed as she continued to hit mercilessly Steven's shield.

"You're wrong! In fact… we already did it!" Steven said as he looked past the figure towards Pearl and Peridot.

"W-what?! No!" The dark figure yelled as she realized that Pearl and Peridot were charging the shard… her servant wasn't there to stop them… and she realized that they managed to defeat her too late.

"Argh! Damn you!" She screamed as she threw at them her sword.

"Watch out!" Pearl screamed as she pushed Peridot to the ground, dodging the sword…

Pearl and Peridot watched each other for a moment, the green gem still baffled by the white's one actions, even after all what she said to her, she still wanted to protect her, but her train of thoughts was interrupted by a bright light coming from behind them. Indeed… they managed to dodge the sword… but instead of hitting them… it hit the core… which now displayed a large… bright crack. Peridot's eyes became wide as memories of what happened on Yellow Diamond's ship came back to her mind.

"T-the core has been damaged! It won't remain stable for long! We have to get out of here!" Peridot yelled as Pearl helped her up.

"We have the shard! Let's help Steven and escape before it's too late!" Pearl said as she and Peridot began to run towards the exhausted child.

"You can't hold any longer! Just die!" The dark figure screamed as she throw her sword away and began to shot a great burst of energy towards Steven's shield, which began to crack.

"G-g-guys! H-help!" Steven managed to say before he collapsed on his knees.

"Steven! Resist!" Pearl cried as she grabbed Garnet's gems up from the ground and continued to run towards the boy… but his shield would have been destroyed before she could reach him… Pearl saw how Steven's shield cracked in two before disappearing… she wouldn't have been able to save Steven… her sweet child.

"Steven!" Pearl cried stretching her arm towards him.

"DIE!" The figure cried one last time before grabbing her sword, raising it into the air and bringing it down towards Steven.

What happened next caused everyone to remain speechless… Steven was on his knees, arms covering his face, but in front of him there wasn't that dark, threatening figure anymore… instead… a slightly smaller one was standing in front of him breathing heavily, her hand still balled up into a fist. She had white, long hair and wore a multicolored bodysuit… which… right on her chest… displayed a yellow star… a strange, circular black and gray gem that looked like if it was composed of many little pieces right at its center… all of the gems watched her in disbelief… no one has ever seen her before… but one thing was certain… she had just saved Steven.

"R-R-Rose?" The mysterious gem muttered as she looked at Steven.

"Uuuh… m-my name is-" Steven tried to talk but was interrupted by a loud groan.

"A-argh… h-how did you…" The dark figure said as she stood up from the ground, still recovering from the gem's attack… but there was something different this time… her hood was pulled down…

"N-no… no no no no!" Peridot cried in dispair as she looked at her.

"What… oh… well… I hoped you'd discover about who I am later… I really wished my sister could see that horrified look on your faces too… but I guess… the death of all of you will be enough to satisfy me…" The figure said as she let her cloak fall to the ground.

"How is it possible?" Pearl muttered in disbelief.

In front of them, there was a tall gem, she was wearing a black and yellow bodysuit… her right arm was missing and her eyes looked like mirrors… the yellow gem on her chest presented a deep crack right in the middle of it and so did her face… but after all what had happened between them… how could they forget her.

"Y-Yellow Diamond…" Steven whispered in disbelief.

Hello guys! So we are back with another beautiful, incredibly exciting, well written chapter! (really modest) We hope you have liked it, the mysterious gem who saved Steven is the second character of my coworker and we'll deepen her story thorugh the next chapters... and well... now you know who the dark, threatening figure is! Yellow Diamond is back! A little busted if you want my opinion but still... she's still alive and so is her servant. However thanks again for all the reviews, favs and follows and we'll see you in the next chapters! Bye!