Rhea could only scream as Zirconia capriciously grabbed onto her and then began to inject herself into every artery and every vein of her body. The poor Minoan girl was helpless to stop the rock-like intruder; she tried with all her might to punch, kick, claw and spit at this monster but all her efforts were for naught. Soon, she found herself a zombie-like shell of her former self.
"Rhea, no..." her mother whimpered as she looked on in terror and fear.
"Rhea, yes!" Zirconia retorted. She then screeched, "There can be only one!"
With that said, she snatched Rhea from off the ground and flew off to find the rest of the humans. As she sojourned high in the sky throughout Crete, she couldn't help but look through all the empty houses of the poor and the elegant palaces of the rich. It displeased her to know there was a noticeable absence of humans as far as she could see. Finally, after a couple hours, she lowered herself and her victim down to the ground and shifted her eyes in every direction possible. Rhea could only follow the notion as her mind was intricately synced with her master's. They definitely didn't see anybody around.
"Fire!" a particularly masculine voice suddenly shouted behind them.
Not long after, someone shot an arrow right at Zirconia, but Rhea threw her arm in the way and the arrowhead dug into her skin and muscles. The young Minoan girl's brain was too frazzled and warped by the previous trauma to ignore this kind of pain, so she screamed again only a bit louder this time.
"Wait, don't shoot anymore!" another, more feminine voice cried out. "She's got a hostage!"
"My Goddess, you're right!" a third voice responded. "What do we do now?"
"Well, first of all, we need to get Rhea away from her," said the woman named Gaea. "And then we're going to attack her and hopefully find a weak spot. She can't have all this power and not still have one somehow."
"You have a point, Gaea," interjected the man known as Didikase. "I bet even the goddesses themselves would be most vulnerable somewhere, so why not her as well? I'm even willing to bet that rock on her chest is where we should strike." He pointed to Zirconia's gem (which managed to stand out the most despite the blinding aura) as he said this.
"That's it!" Gaea exclaimed in astonishment. "You just might've found it!"
"Wait a minute," yet another voice pitched in. "I thought Rose made it clear that we were not to kill her."
"She did, little Kubaba," Gaea answered him. "But then this Zirconia woman had to come along and warp poor Rhea's mind. Do you honestly expect us to stand by and let her infect the rest of us?"
"Well, no, but..."
"Exactly. We have to kill her now!"
"At least do something about Rhea first!"
"That too!"
Now Gaea was pulling back the arrow on the string of her bow, as did everybody else. They did so ever so slightly with the most miniscule of movements in the nimble fingers and elastic wrists, waiting with the comparable intensity of a Nile crocodile stalking its prey underwater. Nobody, not even the afflicted girl, moved a muscle; this went on for several minutes, by the way. Finally, one of Didikase's fingers slipped and he accidentally released the arrow into the air and heading right down into Zirconia's head. Before it could strike her down, however, Zirconia shut her eyes and the arrow fell right down to the ground without so much as even a thud; when that was taken care of, she then gave her would-be killer such an intense stare that it literally froze him into position.
Everyone who witnessed this display of telekinesis was baffled. They had no idea she was that powerful; in fact, they felt like they were in a bad dream that they desperately needed to wake up from.
"Didikase, can you hear us?" Gaea asked the immobile man.
No words came out of his mouth. He was stuck kneeling backwards while holding his bow in one hand and nothing in the other; he couldn't even speak or shut his eyes, but he could still think.
While the bewildered and unafflicted humans scratched their hands about what had just happened, Zirconia used that opportunity to attack and assimilate them just as she'd done with Rhea. Before long, everyone except Didikase was a mindless drone in the blonde Gem's army.
"Rose, Rose!" Pearl screamed as she ran to her superior.
"What's the matter, Pearl?" the pink-haired Gem asked her milky-white-skinned friend out of concern.
"The humans we sent out to find Zirconia still haven't come back!"
"Do you know what happened to them?"
"No, I don't. I was hoping they'd be done by now."
"Oh, dear. We have to find them before-"
But before Rose could finish her sentence, she heard a deafening bang outside her door. There was no doubt in her mind that it came from Zirconia, but when she looked out to take a peek, she noticed the zombie-like humans grouped behind the blonde Gem.
"Oh," Rose murmured. "I guess I spoke too soon."
"We have to tell the others!" Pearl exclaimed anxiously.
They did just that. Now the remaining Minoans were more prepared than ever to fight and they looked it as well. Many of the Gems, including those who weren't a part of Rose's circle, had volunteered to partake in this fight to the death as well, some more eager than others. Khaidarkanite and a Chlorastrolite (who happened to be a perma-fusion) had even gone so far as to summon their weapons in advance; moreover, it seemed as though those two Gems in particular had engaged in war before.
"Charge!" Khaidarkanite screeched.
She and Chlorastrolite dove into the small group of mind-controlled humans head-on with their weapons in tow; their first attacks were somewhat successful but neither Gaea nor Rhea were phased by it at all.
"Oh, come on!" Chlorastrolite yelled out in frustration. "Why didn't it work?"
"I don't know," Khaidarkanite answered while slightly winded. "But we gotta keep at it. Let's go!"
The rest followed suit and before long, pretty much all the combatting humans were given a brutal beatdown that involved being thrown back by about five feet, receiving fractures in their arms and legs, having teeth knocked out, and most of all receiving wounds that may as well have been mortal. Rose was horrified by what she was seeing; how could they've missed the point she'd been trying to make about not killing their enemy? How could they just ignore her like this? She felt like she'd failed an extremely vital mission and she couldn't stand it. In her mind, there was only one thing she could do now: consult the Pantheon once again. She started to run off.
"Hey!" Amethyst called out to her. "Where you going, Rose? Rose!"
"Why have you come to us?" Malachite asked the curly-haired visitor.
"The humans and Gems are fighting against Zirconia, Malachite," she answered him. "They appear fully intent on killing her despite what I'd said."
The winged green eye widened with genuine shock. "They didn't listen to you?"
"I'm afraid not. Besides, she seems too powerful to defeat by any conventional means. Please, O Great and Powerful Malachite, please tell me what I must do to conquer her."
Suddenly, Malachite grew solemn. "There is... one thing you could do to defeat her, but it's rather unorthodox of me to suggest it."
"What is it? You can tell me."
The floating green eye sighed. "All right, dear Rose Quartz. What I'm suggesting is totally untested and highly dangerous, even for someone as powerful as St. Hyalophane..."
"Yes?"
"Some of us could give you each of our godly abilities in order to help you. Normally, we would not do this under any circumstances whatsoever but because we are dealing with a Gem wearing a god's clothes, we will gladly give you- and especially you -at least a half each of our powers because we know you will never once think to abuse them for yourself."
"Really?"
"Really. Amber, Sphene Titanite, Pumice, Granite, come over here."
The orangish-yellow Gem goddess, her leafy-green plant goddess companion, a creamy white Gem god with numerous large pores across their body, and a mottled gray Gem all stepped forward and stood beside Malachite.
"Alright, Rose," Malachite began. "This is it. Now you must keep in mind that once they transfer their collective power over to you, you will most likely keep your half indefinitely and perhaps even transfer them to your own children should you decide to have any. Ready?"
"Yeah, I'm ready." Rose said.
Pumice and Granite walked up to her first and then proceeded to grab each of her wrists. Sphene Titanite and Amber then approached her from the front and rear; without a moment of hesitation, they embraced her both ways and all four deities began transferrance. During all this, Rose couldn't help but feel like she was physically incapable of breathing and so decided to wildly pant repeatedly. It was actually quite exhiliarating having this happen to her, actually, but at the same time she couldn't help but think that maybe her gem would crack and splinter apart in the process.
But before she knew it, it was finally over.
"How do you feel now?" Malachite asked her sweetly.
"Pretty good, actually," Rose responded breathlessly. "But I must ask: is the transferrance have permanent effects on them?"
"I'm glad you asked. No, they're gods so their powers should regenrate on their own. Now go! You have a Gem to conquer!"
"I will, Malachite! Thank you!"
A/N: I think I might have a stalker on my hands. You've probably come across her a few times, right? She just posted a "fanfic" listing pretty much all the information she could dig up on me. I can't help but feel that she might try to dox me next and try to drive me and a few others to suicide; she's already done that with a girl named Sayaka and she doesn't seem to give two shits about it either. Please, please help me! I don't know what else to do! I've tried everything: a petition, a video, a Tumblr post. I don't want her to win.