Chapter 15: Amethyst

The sun has set. Steven comes to, hurting all over with burns on his skin. He's been unconscious for hours. There is only silence in the air, save for the whispering ocean. Pearl's Gem lies near him in the sand, out of reach, but not too far away. Lion is hunched over the boy, looking at him with an unreadable face. Steven opens his mouth to speak, but all that comes out is a small wheeze. He clenches his throat, worried. The boy clears his throat—and it hurts—and tries to speak again.

"Ugh…" he groans, putting a hand on his head. He sees the burn marks on his skin, all of them red, wrinkling his skin and covered in sand. Steven gasps, remembering Pearl's corrupted form shrinking back to her regular self. Those rose thorns came out of his gem. I did that? Steven stuggles to stand. His legs are a bit wobbly at first but he gets the hang of walking again. Pearl's Gem isn't too far away from him, but he sees Amazonite walking towards it. Even though his legs hurt like the Dickens, he runs to her gem. Like a baseball player trying to get to home base, he leaps and skids across the sand with hands outstretched, desperately reaching for Pearl's gem. He grabs it, and holds it up. He smiles and kisses it.

Amazonite's boots stops in front of his head. Steven looks up. Amazonite has a scowl on her face, arms crossed. "So you actually defeated her, huh?" She says. "I wasn't expecting you to survive, not even for a minute. But somehow you did, and I respect you for it, you mutt."

"What do you want from me?" Steven asks, getting up from the stand. He puts Pearl's gem in his back pocket. He starts licking his wounds so they can heal.

"Let's make a deal," Amazonite says. Steven doesn't reply so she just takes his silence as a yes. "If you can bring back the other two's gems before sunrise, then I'll leave this planet and tell the Diamond Authority those three aren't on this planet anymore—or about you. But if you don't, I will. Deal?"

"I'm getting my family whether I make the deal or not," Steven attacks. "Making a deal with you makes it sound like they're objects, which they're not. They're my family, and I'm not letting you have them, Amazonite. Get out of my way." Steven walks forward, wounds healed. Lion follows behind him, growling at Amazonite as he passes her. Steven's gem glows and he summons his shield. It's almost like he's perfected the power.

Steven mounts Lion and they ride into the city.

(Beach City…)

Beach City is in ruins. The Big Donut statue has fallen. The windows have been smashed through with giant rocks having been hurtled through them. Lars and Sadie are nowhere to be seen. Hopefully they've fled the scene and went to the suburban areas of the city to their parents. Fish Stew Pizza has been utterly destroyed. Nanafua, Kiki and Jenny look through the rubble frantically as Kofi was still inside in shop when Garnet smashed it. Their clothes have been torn and tattered. Their hair is a mess and they're covered in scratches and cut, Jenny bleeding from her leg.

"I CAN'T FIND HIM!" Jenny screams with tears pouring down her eyes as she tears to the rubble of the shop with distress. She claws at the rubble with Kiki. Their tears don't stop. Nanafua has been sitting back, so to speak. Her old bones can't move heavy stuff like that, so inside, she's been walking around trying to listen for the moans of her son. She too is worried about his safety.

"Daddy!" Kiki cries. Jenny goes to where Kiki is digging. She's found an arm, though broken. Jenny and Nanafua help dig Kofi out from the piles of wood. He's barely breathing, thank goodness he's still alive. Nanafua listens for his heartbeat. It's fading.

Steven walks up to them. He gets off of Lion, sets his shield down, and runs to the Pizza family. He doesn't even need to ask what happened to the shop: Garnet destroyed it…again. As he nears, Jenny and Kiki look at the young Gem with disgust. They don't see him as a friend anymore. His friends turned into some sort of beast and started attacking the city. How do they know he's not going to do the same and finish the job? How can they even trust him? He's a monster just like them.

"What do you want, Steven," Jenny snarls.

"I-I want to help," Steven says. "I can heal him." He licks his hand and shows it to them.

"And what is that gonna do?" Kiki attacks.

"I just said I was going to heal him," Steven walks forward. Jenny steps in front of her family, arms out to the side.

"I'm not letting you near them, you freak!" Jenny shouts. "You and your magical friends destroyed the entire town! How can we even begin to trust you?!"

Nanafua puts a hand on Jenny's side. "Steven is a good boy," she says. "Just let him do what he says he's going to do."

Jenny takes in a deep breath and moves out of Steven's way. Steven goes over to Kofi and kneels down. He slaps his hand on his chest, and all he can do is wait. After several seconds, Kofi takes in a breath of life and starts coughing. He sits up, Kiki surprised, Nanafua and Jenny looking at Steven and Kofi with amazed expressions. It actually worked! Jenny screams. She and Kiki hug their father like they've never hugged him before, happy he's alive and not dying.

"Good job, Steven," Nanafua says, like she knew it was going to work the entire time. "What are you going to do now?"

"I have to find Amethyst and Garnet and save them," Steven says, touching Pearl's gem in his behind pocket. "And rescue as many people as I can in the process."

"That sounds like what a superhero might say. Are you one?"

"No, I'm a Gem."

"That counts too," Nanafua chuckles. "We got it from here, Steven. You go do your thing."

"Alright, I'll come back later." Steven walks off back to Lion and continues his ride across the city.

Later on, he's at the entrance of Beach City Funland. Slowly, he enters the now abandoned junkyard of destroyed rides. The sight of the once newly fixed teacup ride makes him a tad bit nauseous. Steven and Lion perambulate through the broken and mangled rides, Lion stepping over shards of glass and whatnot tying not to get impaled. Steven sneezes. He feels tingly all over, and itchy. There's something falling around him. Steven looks up at the Ferris wheel that's been broken halfway through the pier.

It's Amethyst.

She's scratching herself with her leg. Amethyst looks down, staring down at Steven. Her eyes are glowing purple in the darkness. Steven can only see a little bit in the darkness of the moonlight while amethyst has the full advantage over him. Cats can see in the dark. Amethyst doesn't really do anything. She only goes to sleep after looking at him. Steven thinks this is going to be easy.

Lion's head shoots up and he moves out of the way of Amethyst's white tail. She shape-shifted it the Ferris wheel unnoticed by Steven or Lion. Lion skids several feet away from Amethyst's tail. Her tail dimly glows as it shape-shifts. Amethyst's tail shoots towards Lion and boy again, this time taking a bite at them. The tail has a mouth filled with rows of sharp teeth. Lion makes a run for it down the pier with Amethyst's tail chasing right after him and Steven. Lion zigzags around the piles of destroyed rides and buildings to try and lose the chomping tail, but it doesn't work. The pier bursts from underneath. Another tail appears with the same chomping mouth, only drooling and shivering with anticipated hunger. It fires towards the Steven and Lion. The boy quickly raises his hands. His defensive bubble forms around him. The tail smashes itself into it. Amethyst cries out in pain from the distance.

The cat monster that is Amethyst leaps off her resting place from the Ferris wheel and walks towards Steven and Lion, still in the bubble. She looms over the bubble, the moon shadowing her face. Those glaring purple eyes stare down at him. Amethyst raises a paw, claws out. She scratches it, thinking it'll pop, but to no avail. She tries the other paw, still nothing. She nudges the bubble, it slightly rolls. The corrupted gem mewls with glee as she's found her new play thing.

She dances around the bubble, pawing it playfully. Steven and Lion are getting thrown around inside of it. Amethyst rolls onto her back, grabs the bubble and start tossing it in the air and catching it with her feet. Her eyes shoot the bubble a glance and she throws it high in the air. Amethyst then turns over again. The fur on her body begins to stand up and harden. They become sharp and hard like spikes. Amethyst is going to pop the bubble and skewer them like a shish kabob! Steven screams as he comes down, seeing what she's about to do.

Steven's bubble falls right on top of her. But instead of popping, the bubble crushes Amethyst. Her hairs relax themselves as she falls unconscious. Steven's bubble finally pops. He trots over to Amethyst and tries to push her on her back. Her gem is on her chest and she's so heavy to push. Lion rams his head into her. She flips over. Her gem isn't on her chest!

Wait, yes it is. It's covered by all of her fur. Steven climbs on top of Amethyst. He treads through the thick white fur like a bed of snow. He has to lift his feet high for every step he takes, and it's tiring. He feels something hard underneath his feet as he reaches the center of Amethyst's chest. It's her gem! Now, the question to ask is how did he save Pearl with those rose thorns?

"Come on…" he groans, holding his belly, "…wooorrrkk." Steven rubs his gem on Amethyst's gem. Nothing happens.

Steven starts getting worried. Maybe that was a one-time-only thing. Maybe he can't save Amethyst like Pearl. But then that means he can't save Garnet. Steven sits down, cross-legged, and lowers his head. All of those time he's been with Amethyst, having fun, being on the run, and even getting in trouble together. Those were good times they've shared, and now, maybe, they can never have them again.

The boy's gem glows. Vines upon vines of rose thorns exits Steven's gem attacks Amethyst. They cover her body like a mummy, leaving only her gem showing. The purple gem shrinks rapidly, devolving back to her original, short stature. After they've done their work, the rose thorns crumble and break off of Amethyst, revealing her unconscious, but uncorrupted body in the moonlight. She explodes in an eruption of white vapor. Steven grabs her gem and stuffs it in his back pocket.

That's two down and one to go. Now he has to find Garnet. That should be too hard—

Lion's ear shoot up. He hears a noise that Steven can't. Lion takes the boy by his shirt and throws him on his backside. He starts running as fast as possible.

"Whoa, Lion! What's happening!" Steven hears a roar. It sounds like it's coming all around them, no definite direction from its source. Them something crashes into the pier with a giant fist.

It's Garnet, staring down at Steven and Lion with her one, giant bulging eye filled with rage.