Chapter 16: Garnet
Her eye, that one large eye like a Cyclops with three pupils—a single large one in the center with two on either side of it—trailing with blood red veins that pulse with rage, stare down angrily at the puny boy below. Her chest throbs, breathing in and out. Thick, sticky saliva pools from the Chevron pattern on her chest, colored like the star pattern on her bodysuit. Her shoulder guards are the same, with the added addition of a single protruding spike on both of them. She's covered in thick black fur that doesn't even give a hint of her once brown skin. Her afro has obscured her face, still in that iconic square shape. It only leaves that one giant eye showing. She supports herself with her enormous gauntlets that act as her arms and legs; her actual legs are limply dangling behind her horizontally, suspended in the air, unable to due their duty as body supporters. Their connected to the waist that decrescendos from the chest. Her gems are concealed under her thick fingers. This is going to be difficult, Steven assumes, staring up at Garnet, scared for his young life. She towers over him like a skyscraper!—Relative to him, of course; she's only about ten feet tall and he's so tiny, even compared to her normal height.
Steven knows, without second thought, that he's going to needs his mother's sword for this battle. His shield won't be enough. It's only a shield, a defense. But even the most impregnable of defenses will fall eventually, and Steven cannot afford that.
"Lion, I need the sword!" Steven shouts. Lion looks at him and shakes his head. Realizing what that means, Steven looks towards the beach. He must have left the sword there after his fight with Pearl! This is bad. He looks back to Garnet. A fist is raised in the air, ready to strike. And it does. It hits the pier, shattering the wood where Steven once stood, now riding on the back of Lion with its quick thinking. They head towards the beach. Lion jumps into the ocean water, and like before when he took Steven and Connie to Rose's place somewhere in that cave, he strides atop the water, defying every law of physics again. Steven is sitting backwards on the pink animal. He watches the pier collapse under Garnet's berserk rage. That entire part of the pier falls, the rides, the arcade, the hotdog stand, everything. It is now the ocean's property. Mr. Happy isn't going to be too happy with this.
Garnet explodes, releasing herself from underneath the pile of rubble and debris from the destroyed pier. She searches for Steven and Lion and easily finds them running across the water towards the temple. She wildly jumps high into the air, her limp legs flailing in the air. Like a meteor, she impacts the ground, a crater forming beneath her. She jumps again, only to get out of the hole she made, and gallops across the sand. The earth shakes with every step she takes.
Steven sees Garnet keeping up with Lion. They should be safe for now since they're in the water and she's on land. Steven sees his sword in the distance. Lion sees it too and he roars open a portal. They enter it.
Garnet has stopped in the distance. They see that as they exit the portal. Steven rushes to the sword and picks it up. He summons his shield.
"GARNET!" Steven shouts, trying to get the corrupted Gem's attention. He does and Garnet charges towards them. Garnet's chest opens and it bellows a roar. The sound pushes the saliva from the mouth and sand away. Steven holds his shield up in front of him to sound the blast of sound. He slowly slides on the sand a couple inches before it all stops. Steven stands up, puffing his chest out. He screams back, though it's not as powerful as Garnet's roar. Compared to it, his roar is like a pathetic kitten's mewl.
Steven charges at Garnet, shield braced in front of him. His legs carry him as fast as they can. Garnet charges too, ramming her fists into the ground as she goes. When they near each other, Steven slides like a baseball player. He rolls to a standing position behind Garnet and brings down his sword on one of her gauntlets. It makes a dent, but that's all it does. Garnet turns her head, the three-puplied eye staring at him. Garnet opens her palm and slaps Steven away. He flies across the beach. Garnet dashes past him and slaps him away again. He's incredibly fast in spite of her size. Steven bounces off the sand like a rock skipping across the surface of water. Garnet leapt into the air after smacking him away and comes down onto Steven. Lion jumps in front between him and the falling Gem and bellows his supersonic roar, knocking Garnet to her back. She thrashes from side to side, legs flailing witlessly in the air trying to get a feel for the ground. She can't pick herself up, her only flaw.
Lion licks Steven's face. His eyes open, his lungs inflating with a large amount of air entering them. He stands up and sees Garnet struggling to get up. Her gems are showing! He can save her!
"I'm coming, Garnet!" Steven hollers. He runs towards the roaring Gem, keeping his shield and sword with him as a precautionary. Steven climbs on top Garnet's hand and goes to her Gem. It's the triangle faceted one. Steven's gem glows immediately and vines of rose thorns attack Garnet's right side, mummifying her. But it's only the right side, and she has two gems.
Garnet's chest opens, showing the pointy tongue whipping about. She stabs her free hand into the ground and picks herself up. Her right hand is barely able to support her, what with it going under de-corruption. Steven falls down, letting go of his weapons. He looks up at Garnet. She's trying to pull off the rose vines from her body, but they don't budge. Steven, after gathering his shield and sword, hurries to Garnet. Her eye catches Steven running towards her. We he's close enough, he hits the ground with an open palm. Steven rolls out of the way. He quickly recovers. Garnet slowly moves towards him. The rose thorns are hindering her movements. Steven throws his shield into Garnet's eyes. The shield impales Garnet's single eye. She hollers a terrifyingly unholy roar, filled with pain. Purple blood spills out from the damaged eye. Garnet falls over, rolling around in the sand, trying to reach for the object lodged in her eye.
Garnet slams her hand onto the ground. The rose thorns have spread across her body. They've reached her shoulder blades and have currently restricted her movements. Steven takes this chance and runs over to Garnet. Her gem is showing. He climbs her arm and scurries across her palm up to the gem.
"I'm here now Garnet," Steven says."I'm here." Steven's gem glows. The rose thorns exit it and they mummify the other half of Garnet's body, leaving only the gem showing. She shrinks back to her normal size, albeit slower than the others. Her corruption was the worst. As soon as Steven's feet touch the ground again, the rose thorns crumble away, leaving Garnet's body in a pile of dust. Her three eyes are closed. She looks so peaceful lying there on the sand. She explodes in a cloud of white vapor. Steven collects Garnets gems.
But before he can stuff them in his back pocket, Amazonite grabs Steven by his hair and slams him into the ground. "You should have taken my deal, boy," she sneers, rubbing his face in the sand. "I am a Gem of my word and I would have left. But your self-righteous personality couldn't see that. You done goofed." Amazonite summons the thing he looked at meteors with Connie with. "Why did I find this Galaxy Mirror in your temple? These are to summon the Diamond Armada. Were you trying to bring them here?" Amazonite digs in Steven's back pocket and steals Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl's gem.
"Don't….hurt them…" Steven says, his voice muffled by the sand.
"I won't," reassure Amazonite, but I can't say they're going to live much longer. Amazonite raises Steven in the air, still by his hair. He looks around for Lion. He's near the Temple, lying on his sand. Steven's eyes widen in fear. "The animal isn't dead. I have no reason to kill it. I'm going to contact a ship from the homeworld and I will leave this planet. Then, when we come back, this planet will finally fall under our control. And you'll can do nothing but watch. Goodbye, Steven." Amazonite throws Steven in the air and roundhouse kicks him away. Steven flies into the cliff and falls onto the sand, unconscious, again.