Chapter 12, coming from Melv… in

I don't own Steven Universe.


Chapter 12: Fallen

The entire planet felt like it was shaking. The dirt beneath White's feet seemed to be cracking apart, breaking down.

She turned to Diopside. "What have you done?!"

Diopside smiled, wearily but with a tine of victorious satisfaction. "This whole planet… was unstable from the start. I just… helped it along… is all." She said between breaths, clearly drained of her energy. "This whole planet is gonna come apart, and when it goes… you go."

"And what about you? You'll be destroyed as well."

Diopside looked to her gemstone, situated in her arm. "After what I did… it was that was gonna happen… whether I defeated you… or not. At least this way… I'll be sure… you're gone." She finished as the gem began to splinter, her physical form now beginning to fluctuate.

"Why, why do this to other gems?" she asked.

"This isn't… about gems… it's about Diamonds." The green gem clarified.

"Diamonds are gems." White asserted.

Diopside gave a rueful smile. "Are they? That's… news to me." She said, her form wavering more rapidly as the seconds passed. "What… do you think you know… about gems… White Diamond? What are we… to you? Subjects…? Minions…? Tools…?"

"I'm responsible for the wellbeing of all gem-kind." White replied. "I look after all gems, from rubies to Diamonds."

Diopside managed a chuckle at that. "I have to wonder… do you really… believe that? Or… are you just… that blind?"

"What exactly are you getting at?" White asked.

Diopside's gem continued to splinter, more and more. "In time… you'll see… for now… at last… from Diamonds… I'm… free…" she finished slowly before her physical form faded completely and her gem shattered into pieces, growing dark and cold.

White nearly reached for the shards before another tremor made her lose her footing and she was forced to balance herself. She pulled herself back as the pieces began to scatter into the dirt and be blown away by the wind.

The elder Diamond ran over to her sister, who had been laying down in the dirt, attempting to get a breather. "Blue? Are you alright?"

Blue waved it off. "I'll be fine, what's happening?"

"That rogue gem upset this planet's tectonics. It's coming apart." White said looking around as the vibrations and the shaking was beginning to worsen. "Can you make it back to base camp?" White asked, Blue nodded. "Good get off this rock now, I'll be right behind." Blue nodded again then ran off.

White located the inert gems of her guards and used her light power to reach down and pick up them up. With that she hurried back to their landing site.

She saw Blue ordering the immediate evacuation of all gems, the equipment would have to be left behind. The drop ships were attempting take off but the constant movement had made it difficult, so the process was slower than expected.

White saw a quartz running around. "You!" she ordered, the gem came to a halt and White Diamond emptied her gems into the waiting quartzes hands. "Take these onto the ship, go!" she ordered. The quartz nodded and ran off up the boarding ramp.

Blue was running towards White when another tremor hit, sending Blue stumbling into White's arms. "White! I don't think we're gonna make it! The constant tremors are making it hard for our pilots to take off! Even if we do the planet's explosion will catch us before we can get to safety! What are we going to do?!" she shouted over the constant noise around them.

White steadied her sister. "Take charge Blue, there's something I have to do."

"What?" Blue said before White let go, running outwards away from camp. "What are you doing?!" she shouted.

White continued to run, the planet vibrated and shook more and more, but she kept her pace as she made her way back to the gorge. The elder Diamond held out her hand again and summoned her staff. She closed her eyes and took a single step out from the edge, only for her foot to plant firmly in the air on a foothold of light just big enough for her foot to fit. She took another step out and planted another foot on a light foothold, this time higher, she did this ascending upon a staircase that built itself as she went until she was a sizeable distance into the air.

White raised her staff high into the air, gripping it with both hands. The staff began to glow, softly at first, but then very brightly. She pointed it down towards the planet and white light pour from it.


Blue had evacuated the gems, waiting on the loading ramp for her sister. "My Diamond!" One of the quartzes shouted from inside the ship. "We need to leave now!"

"We are not leaving without White Diamond!" Blue shouted back. Where was she? Blue then noticed something sliding along the ground, coming from where White had just ran off to. It was a thin wave of light that was shooting towards her like a wave. She saw as it enveloped the dirt, separating her from it and continued onwards. "No, she couldn't possibly be…" Blue turned around to the quartz. "Take off, but leave the loading ramp down!" she shouted over the engines. She looked off into the distance and could see a faint pilar of light and pointed to it. "There! Go that way and tell all the other ships to leave this planet!"

"At once, my Diamond!" she shouted back.

The lone dropship flew threw the air and Blue watched as the planet beneath the white veil was still crumbling apart. Blue kept looking out and saw the form of her sister, using her Diamond weapon to send out the wave of light.

As they drew near White looked up and saw her sister. "Blue! What are you still doing here?! Are the other ships away?!"" she shouted.

"Yes! We're the last ones!"

"Good! Then go!" White ordered.

"What are you talking about! You need to leave with us!" Blue shouted.

"I can't!" the elder Diamond shouted.

"What are you talking about?!" Her younger sister asked.

"The only thing keep this planet together right now is me! If I stop, the whole planet will explode!" White shouted as loud as she could.

"I'm not leaving without you!" Blue shouted back.

"You have to!" White ordered. "There's no time to argue! Leave!"

"I can't just leave you!" Blue pleaded.

White began to struggle as she felt the planet beneath her veil of light breaking down. She couldn't hold out much longer and at the rate the ship would escape, they were doomed all the same. She looked to her sister's pleading face to the planet and back.

She made a decision, looked to Blue, and smiled., then said something that Blue barely caught as her eyes went wide with surprise.

"Goodbye."

The eldest Diamond took a hand off her staff and quickly formed a bubble around Blue's ship, then quickly pushed if off and into space.

Blue caught herself on the loading ramp's edge and looked to the white covered planet. "NOOO!"

The planet had had enough, breaking apart and bursting through the shield, a grand explosion as the brown dust-ball had been reduced to nothing.

"WHITE DIAMOND!"


The strange creature growled at the gems as it tried to move towards them, but its massive seize had also prevented much more than a few massive, albeit clumsy, swipes at them. The roof above them creaked as the beast's back pressed up against it.

Amethyst and Flint sprang into action, deftly avoiding the colossal limbs as the purple quartz brought down her mace on its head. Only for the arms that made up the head to suddenly grab at her. Flint leaped up and cut off the protruding hands, freeing Amethyst as they jumped backwards.

"Ugh! This thing it too big!" Flint said. "No way to get a good hit in!"

The beast tried to move for them again it's back scraped against the top of the ceiling more and more, panels began to fall down.

"It's going to bring this whole place down on us!" Amethyst shouted.

Pink pointed towards the doorway. "Let's get out of here!"

"Alright Boss. " said Flint turning to leave and pointed to Amethyst. "Get those gems!"

Amethyst nodded and ran towards the glass casing, picking it up and running as the two rubies followed close behind. The creature saw them attempting to flee and reached for Pink Diamond, but she rolled out of the way as it came for her. The beast tried moving forward again but ripped through the top of the room, it was really starting to collapse now as the gem group neared the exit.

The creature's arm reached forward again but this time caught the purple quartz around the feet, causing her to trip and sending the glass container flying.

"Am!" Flint shouted turning back to help up her friend.

Pink saw Amethyst beginning to be dragged back but also saw as the glass container was about to shatter. "Flint! Catch the container!" she ordered.

Flint, in a split second looked from Amethyst and back to the glass, quickly diving for the glass and catching it before immediately throwing it to Pink Diamond. The young Diamond lurched forward as she attempted to catch the glass container, barely grasping it as it bounced between her outstretched palms. Flint had meanwhile dove for Amethyst's outstretched hand and had managed to catch it.

"Hold on!" she yelled as Amethyst tried to attack the grasping hand of the beast, to little effect. Pink quickly placed the glass container on the ground and pulled on Flint. "We got you Amethyst! Hold on!" The two rubies pulled on the back of Pink's boot in an attempt to help.

The purple quartz looked from her friends pulling her forward to the beast's great arm pulling her back. She then head a cracking sound from above, if they didn't get out of there… She summoned her mace, and smashed Flint's hand, causing the grey gem to recoil and let go. "AMETHYST!" she called out as Amethyst was dragged back into the dark.

The entire structure began to collapse and Pink was left with no choice. She grabbed Flint around the waist and scoped up the rubies in her other arm, giving the glass container to one of them, and ran down the hall as they beast bellowed behind them.

Yellow Diamond looked around herself as she felt the vibrations from below. She could feel the contraption loosen its grip and attempted to pull her arm out. The ceiling was beginning to collapse and the wall was crumbling was not enough. Yellow began to gather all the energy she had left, her hand surged with electricity and in one swift moment, she released it.

Pink heard an explosion coming from upstairs and the facility was falling down and apart faster and faster. The young Diamond reached the elevator shaft, putting down the gems and ripped off the roof of the elevator. Pink grabbed the gems again and jumped up as hard as she could. She burst through the roof as the building collapsed behind them.

The youngest Diamond placed the gems on the ground. Flint collapsed on the ground and the rubies stood nearby, one still holding the glass container.

The grey gem turned on her Diamond. "You left Amethyst behind! You left Yellow Diamond behind!"

Pink looked down to Flint. "You think I wanted to?!" she asked. "The whole place was collapsing! We barely got out of there!"

"Don't give me that! You should have done something! You're a Diamond!" Flint retorted. The rubies just glanced at each other in confusion, they didn't know what to make of what they were seeing, no one talked to a Diamond this way, it was surreal.

Pink took a breath. "I know you're upset, and I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do."

Flint said nothing only gripped her Fists and relaxed them over and over. Pink cast her eyes downward, seeming sorrowful of the event. "I'm so sorry." She whispered, causing Flint to deeply sigh and run her hand through her hair.

The two rubies exchanged looks again and then one of them noticed something on the ground. "Hey! Look there!"

The group turned to look where the ruby was pointing. A pile of gems was piled up in the grass, Flint walked over to inspect them. She held one up, these they're our troops from the forest. She looked down on the pile quickly give them a once over. "None of them have been shattered, not even a scratch." She turned to the ruby with nothing in her hands. "Hey, take these back to our camp and be quick about it."

"Be sure to have troops sent back as well." Diamond added before they ran off.

Pink looked back down the shaft, now collapsed and filled with dirt. "I promise you Flint, we'll find her. Both Amethyst and Yellow. We'll dig and dig until we do."

They stood in silence for a while, mournfully looking down the hole.

The ground beneath them then began to tremble. Pink look to Flint and then down to the ground. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me…"

The creature then burst free from the ground, sending waves of dirt in all directions as it freed itself.

GAAAYAAAGHH!

Flint was ready for some payback, jumping right into action with her sword. It attempted to slam her to the ground with its paw but the grey gem leapt over it and ran up its arm, slashing all the way. It howled in pain and knocked her away.

Pink attempted to hold one of its arms down but was knocked away by the other. She needed a better way to fight back. Her mind quickly flashed back to the root…

She shot her arm forward, a single command to everything she could feel.

"Bind."

Vines from the forest shot down and roots from beneath began to quickly form all around the beast, restraining it as it fought back ferociously, getting even more angry and, now free having room to become even bigger.

Flint picked herself off the ground. "How are we supposed to fight this?"

"However we can." Came the distinct mature voice that Pink recognized very well. She turned to the beast's hole in the ground, seeing Yellow Diamond walking up and already looking exhausted.

"How long can you hold that thing?" she asked.

Pink watched as the beast fought back furiously against the binding. "I think only a minute more."

"Good, that's plenty of time." Yellow said raising an arm to the sky, Pink saw her other one looked scuffed and bruised, what had happened?

CRACK-A-BOOM

Pink looked skyward to see the clouds above start to darken even more, the wind began to howl loudly and the rain picked up. Pink looked to her elder sister and watched as she seemed to be controlling the clouds above them, moving her hand in a circular motion. Sparks danced on Yellow's fingers, faster and faster, the bolts also became thicker and sparked closer together. Finally with a flash of electricity a straight sword appeared in her hand.

Yellow continued to wave the sword in the air and the cloud rumbled louder and became darker. The elder Diamond turned to her sister. "Get away from here now!"

Pink didn't need to be told twice, picking up Flint again and managing to run behind a tree, watching as Yellow brought her sword down.

CREAAAAACKKK-A-BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Light from the sky shot down with a devastating force upon the creature. The sound was deafening, the light, blinding and even from behind the thick tree Pink could feel much of the impact from the blow.

Pink and Flint got from behind the tree to see what had happened. The entire area was scorched now, the faces of all the trees in the area were a coal black. She saw her sister standing relatively unharmed, having blocked most of the blast a patch of grass behind her remained untouched. The young Diamond then turned to the beast, only to see it scorched to its core. Its skin was blackened and the root and vine restraining it had been reduced to cinders or near enough as they blackened and crumbled away. Electricity still danced upon the beast's skin even as it stood motionless, before falling over on its face and in a massive poof, becoming no more.

Yellow dropped her sword and it bounced off the ground once before fading out of existence. Pink quickly rushed to her sister's side as she began to fall over, catching her before she hit the ground, supporting her by putting a shoulder under her sister's arm. "Yellow…" she said. "That was amazing."

Yellow gave a small, weak smile to her sister. "It… was nothing…" she said weakly. "Also, there's… something back there… that's yours…" she said pointing to the beast's hole.

Flint widened her eyes at this remark and immediately bounded over to it, looking down into the hole and looking overcome with simultaneous and equal amounts of shock and joy.

Amethyst weakly walked out from the hole and gave a small wave to Flint as she stared in silent disbelief. "Hey."

The grey gem embraced her roughly and the purple quartz returned the embrace, tears welled up inside Flint's eyes. "I thought you we lost you."

Amethyst gave a toothy grin, tears also beginning to form in her own eyes. "Can't get rid of me that easily."

Just then troops started pouring in from the tree line, looking over the damage with astonishment. One of them, an agate, stepped up and addressed the two Diamonds. "My, Diamonds, what happened?"

Yellow got off from Pink's shoulder, attempting to look as refined and authoritative as she could, despite her clearly haggard appearance. "Pack everything up, it's time to leave this planet." She ordered.

The agate nodded, turning to give orders to the rest of the gem s gathered. "You heard her! Move out!" With that the gems left to do their duty.

Once they left, Yellow allowed herself to sag, she was exhausted, more so then she had been in thousands of years. Pink rushed forward to catch her sister again but Yellow waved her off. "I'll be fine Pink. I just… need some time…" with that she slowly walked off towards the base camp.

The young Diamond watched her sister leave before looking to where the creature had fallen. She walked over to the crater left by the beast's impact with the ground and saw something shining on the ground. Pink picked it from the ground and looked at it curiously, it wasn't like anything she'd ever seen. She'd been expecting some sort of giant gem to have spawned the creature, but she was only half right. What she held now was a ball of clustered gems that had somehow been stuck together, it was the size of her fist. It was the largest "gem" she'd ever seen. She bubbled it before making her way over to Flint and Amethyst.

The grey and purple quartzes broke their embrace as Pink neared, carrying the gem. Flint pointed to it. "Is that…?"

The young Diamond nodded. "Yes."

"It's giant." Amethyst said looking at the stone. "And why does it look so…"

"Strange?" Pink finished as Amethyst nodded. "I don't know, but we're going to find out."


Meanwhile near the system's sun…


The captain of the sleek ship wiped her brow. The payload was finally ready to be deployed properly. She initiated the launch sequence and the payload shot from out the ship and into the sun's core. She quickly typed coordinates into her ship's navigation computer and sped off into hyperspace.


Pink walked back and saw her sister watching over the gems packing up their equipment. Yellow turned to her youngest sister and saw the object Pink was carrying. "Is that it?" she asked. Pink nodded and Yellow turned to look at one of the gems packing up. "You!" she said, the gem, a peridot, stopped in her tracks and looked to Yellow Diamond. "Take this to my R&D station in my ship." She said pointing to the gem cluster.

"As you say, my Diamond." She answered back, holding out her hands. Pink looked to Yellow Diamond for a moment before placing the gem upon the little peridot's back. She struggled for a moment before straightening up and carrying it onto the ship, the bubble looking massive in her small hands.

Yellow turned to her sister. "Maybe now we can get some clue as to what these rogue gems are up to, exactly."

Amethyst then seemed to remember something. "That reminds me…" she said reaching into her pocket and pulling out a smooth black stone and held it up for the Diamonds to see.

Yellow peered down at it. "Is that...?"

Pink's face brightened. "Amethyst, that's amazing!"

The purple quartz blushed and sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. Yellow reached down and plucked the small black stone from her hand. "I'll be sure to see to this one, myself."

"I want to be there too, I have some questions for her." Pink said, the elder Diamond looked to her sister and gave a single nod.

Just then, the light from the sun began to brighten gradually, everyone looked to the sky as this happened. Pink gave a look of confusion. "What is that?"

Yellow's eyes narrowed before suddenly widening. She pushed her younger sister to the ground and clapped her hands together, electricity dancing between her palms. She then quickly aimed them at the air and electricity shot out and rained form the sky, creating an electric dome field.

"Yellow, what are you-?" Pink began until she felt a massive wave of electricity pass over them. Yellow then ceased her dome and for a minute nothing seemed to have happened. But then she looked to the sky, dropships that had been fully functioning and in the air began to drop from the sky. Some in the higher atmosphere even began to burn up as they reentered it.

The most of the drop ships landed a good distance away Yellow turned to one of the quartzes who'd been standing around. "You!" she ordered. "Get me communications now! I want to know the status of our ships."

"Right away, my Diamond." She responded.

Pink looked towards the sky then to her sister. "What was that?"

"A massive solar flare." Yellow explained. "I could feel the massive electrical field before it got here and managed to negate its effect on this ship." She said motioning to their own much more massive conventional ship. "But those other ships, their systems were destroyed. And without those…" she clenched her fist. "That was supposed to happen a year from now, how did it happen so early?"

The quartz from before then showed up, saluting. "My Diamond! We've lost communications with all ships in this system."

Yellow sighed. "I was afraid of that. Have recovery teams sent out to salvage the ships and survivors that crashed here." She ordered.

"We should try and contact White and Blue, we could use their help." Pink added.

Yellow nodded. "Hopefully their luck's been significantly better than ours."


The sleek ship dropped from hyperspace again. The captain pinched the bridge of her nose and pressed a few buttons on her communications console. The red face of her friend, Zircon. "Diopside is gone and I think Onyx is too." Spinel said, sadness evident in her voice. "It's just you and me now. They'll be closing in on us now, scuttle your facility and take what you can then meet back up with me." The red gem nodded and communications were cut.


Blue and her ships searched around the asteroid field that was once a planet with fervor. White had managed to save all the ships, but as for herself…

They had been at this for hours now, the chunks were many and the field that had once been a planet was now massive, it was like looking for a single stone on an entire beach. "My Diamond…" one of the quartzes began as she approached Blue. "It may be that… there's simply nothing to-"

Blue glared at the gem and she instantly silenced. "We stop when we find White Diamond, not before."

"I think we have something!" one of the gems at the scanner announced.

"Where?" Blue asked.

"Just a little father." She said, pointing to one of the massive former-planet chunks on screen. "There's something behind that."

The ship quickly maneuvered and Blue stood from her seat as she beheld what appeared on screen. "No…" she said a single tear escaping her eye.


Yellow and Pink stood in the communications room, waiting on the return call from their sister. Finally, they were able to get a signal through and Blue's visage was instantly shown to the two of them.

"Blue!" pink said, relieved. "I am so glad to see you safe."

Blue smiled, small and wearily to her younger sister. "As am I to see you safe, my sister." She replied.

"Blue, we need you to hurry over to our system, most of our ships have been critically damaged and we need your help." Yellow said.

Blue nodded on screen. "I'm on my way, there's something the both of you need to see." She said before looking to her side, where inside a suspended field of light, a large white gem bobbed up and down.


Done. There you go. Please review.