Gem of War

by Cowboy Alchemist

For as long as he could remember, he's always wondered about his mother. The only thing he was ever told was that she gave him her gemstone. That's why he's traveled to the small beach town of Beach City: to find answers. This is no longer just Steven's story. This is the story of Isaac Infinite, son of Onyx—the Gem of War. What will change and what will stay the same? R&R PLEASE!

24. Act Two: Chapter 8

Act 2

Chapter 8: Falling Green Skies

It's been a week since the message from Lapis came through, and things were finally calming down again. The Gems were still on edge, however, and everyday, they would go out on the beach and watch the skies for anything. Though it was usually Pearl and Garnet that did it, as Amethyst would just get bored. At night, Garnet would be on watch, while during the day, Pearl would be on watch. Isaac would come out and keep her company, and the two would just enjoy each other's company. Acting as if they were on a date.

However, as a human, he does get hungry. So, as the sun started to set over the horizon, Isaac walked over to BCFries. When he got to the window, he saw Peedee standing there behind the counter. "Hey, Peedee," he said with a friendly smile. "How's business?"

"Going good," Peedee said, throwing a towel on his shoulder after wiping down the counter. "So, what will it be?"

Fishing his wallet out of his pocket, Isaac pulled out a few dollars and placed them on the counter. "Chili fries, please."

Peedee nodded and started working on his order.

"Wait!" said a familiar voice. Isaac turned around and smiled upon seeing Steven run up to the BC Fries with his father behind him. When he got to the counter, Steven slammed his fists on the counter. "Give me the-" He was interrupted by a bag of fry bits being pushed in front of him by Peedee. "Oh, thanks!"

"Eh, I saw you guys coming," Peedee said with a smile, before handing Isaac his basket of chili fries. "Here's your fries."

"Thanks," Isaac took the basket and started eating the chili covered fries. "So, are you closing up all by yourself?

"Yeah, it's just me tonight," Peedee said.

"Wow, that's a lot of responsibility for a kid your age. Your dad must really trust you," Greg said.

Peedee was unamused. "Don't patronize me, sir."

After saying bye to the young boy and taking their food, Isaac, Steven, and Greg left Beach Citywalk Fries and walked towards the beach. "So, like I was saying, Peridot's been shooting huge robots here from space," the young hybrid told his dad. "And when you smash them, they explode into goo!" He stopped to eat a handful of bits.

"You two talking about Peridot?" Isaac asked as he stuffed his face with chili fries.

"Yeah," Greg said, looking rather worried about what was going on with his son. "That sounds scary. You know, I'm not sure if…" He paused for a moment, trying to figure out the right words to say. "Do you ever feel like this Gem stuff is too much for you?"

Steven looked at his father with a confused expression. "What are you-"

All of a sudden, the entire area suddenly rumbled as a loud noise was heard, causing Steven to trip over. The rumbling and the loud noise was so powerful that it shattered the windows of local businesses. The rumbling and sound was felt all over the small town that when it stopped, everyone looked up to the sky. Their eyes filled with shock.

Looking down at the delicious chili fries he'd just dropped on the sand, Isaac looked up and looked around. Wanting to know who ruined his fries. "What the hell was…that…?" He trailed off when he saw what was in the sky.

He remembered months ago that Homeworld sent the Redeye to Earth. But now, approaching from the atmosphere and coming towards the town was an honest to God giant green hand. It was pointing at the Temple.

"Are we…in a Star Trek episode?" He asked.

"Huh?" Greg asked as he and Steven were confused. "What do you mean?"

"Because there's a giant green hand coming towards us," Isaac said, pointing up to the hand. When Greg and Steven saw it, they were shocked as well. As he stared at it, a growing feeling started to take root in Isaac. And he had a very good idea on what this meant. "We'd better get to the Gems."

---

"The Light Cannons should be ready," Pearl reported to Garnet, looking up from the telescope. When Pearl saw the hand, she immediately called the other Gems to the beach. The three magical women gathered at the beach, observing the occurrence through a telescope. This was it. This was the moment they feared would come. Even Garnet was having a hard time keeping a level head when there was a warship hovering just a few thousand feet above them.

"Guys!" Steven shouted as he ran over to them with Greg and Isaac. "Did you see that thing in the sky?"

"It's a ship," Pearl said.

"Peridot?" Isaac asked his girlfriend.

"We don't know. We can assume it's her," she said, grasping his hand for support.

"Lapis told us she'll be coming. With advanced weapons and reinforcements," Garnet said, reminding the hybrids of the message the blue Gem sent them.

"It's happening…" Greg said softly, remembering everything that Rose had told him about her former home.

"I wanna see," Steven said, walking over and looking into the telescope. Through it, he stared in awe at the green hand pointing towards him. "Woah."

"What's our plan on stopping them?" Isaac asked Garnet.

"We're going to use the light cannons to shoot it down," Garnet said.

"Would that even work?" Isaac asked. "Those cannons are thousands of years old. That hand is a warship of an advanced civilization. They've likely updated all of their ships after the last time you saw them."

The Gems exchanged nervous glances before Pearl placed her hands on his shoulders. "We know. But this is our best option. If we can stop them from landing, we can avoid fighting these new Gems."

"We will stop them," Garnet said with resolve and firmness in her tone. She turned to her fellow Gems. "Ready the light cannons!"

Amethyst and Pearl wasted no time in doing as their leader commanded. Pulling out a control pad, she activated a lever and the Quartizine Trio appeared out from under the deck of the Beach House on a set of tracks. Next to them was a walkie-talkie tapped to the bottom of the porch. Amethyst pushed the fourth Laser Light Cannon into position on the porch.

"Steven, light them up," Garnet said, nodding to her young ward.

Steven nodded back before boldly talking into the walkie-talkie. "If every pork chop were perfect, we wouldn't have hot dogs."

As soon as Steven said that phrase through the walkie-talkie strapped near the deck, all four Light Cannons activated. Their barrels opened like blooming rose flowers, before firing in perfect unison. Four Rose-shaped, radiant, beautiful beams were fired from the weapons and danced between each other as they twirled towards the hand ship.

However, any hopes of downing the ship were dashed away when the hand opened itself into a palm. Blocked the attack as the beams slammed into it. Much to the dismay of the Gems, Isaac's concerns were valid, as the beams didn't even dirty the marble-like surface of the hand.

Looking through the telescope, Isaac watched as it continued to descend, resuming in a pointing position. "God, I hate it when I'm right," he said grimly, looking up from the telescope.

"What now?" Greg asked anxiously.

Isaac looked to Garnet. The leader of the Gems looked at her teammates. They gave her small, yet still uncertain nods. With the light cannons having failed, there was only one other option left for them. Even though they know it would likely be the last thing they do. "We'll have to take them head on," the Gem leader proclaimed, steadfast as ever. "The whole town might be in danger."

"Then the town will have to be evacuated." Isaac nodded in agreement. And then he turned to Steven. This was going to be the last place he wanted the young boy to be at. He knows that Steven would want to help, but against other Gems? Steven wasn't a fighter. He wouldn't last for a few seconds. "And that means you too, Steven."

Confused, Steven looked up at him with a frown. "What? But I want to stay and help you guys," he said with determination.

"I know, but if Peridot and Citrine are coming for a fight, then I want you as far away from that fight as possible," Isaac said. Getting down on his knee, he placed his hands on his brother's shoulders. "They're going to need you, Steven. You're able to inspire everyone around you. You inspired the Gems, you even inspired me. If anyone can get them out, it's you." Steven looked away, conflicted and dread written on his face, before Isaac gently turned him back to him. "And if anything happens to us, you're going to have to protect the people."

Steven hesitated for a moment before looking at his brother with determination. "I wouldn't fail you," he said.

"I know you wouldn't," Isaac said, before standing up. "I'm going to get to the mayor's office and get him to evacuate the town."

"Oh! There's no need for that," Steven said with a smile. Confused, Isaac turned back to him as he pulled out his phone. "Time for some…political favors!" He opened his contacts and tapped on Mayor Dewey's icon. Why he had the mayor's phone number was beyond Isaac's understanding.

---

In the Mayor's Office, Dewey was doing what he does best. Being a coward. When the giant finger appeared in the sky, pointing at him, his anxiety went through the roof and he hid himself behind the window curtains of his office. However, he came out of it when the phone started ringing. Mayor Dewey quickly picked it up and placed it to his ear. "Hello?" He asked worriedly. Except to hear the angry voice of one of the citizens.

But to his surprise, the mayor heard the voice of Steven. "Mayor Dewey! It's me, Steven Universe!"

"Universe? What's this thing in the sky?" Dewey asked, "As a politician, pointing fingers makes me very nervous." He covered the windows with the curtains

Hearing the conversation, Isaac facepalmed. Steven placed a finger to his ear and said, "Mayor Dewey, the whole town's in danger. We have to evacuate the city."

"Evacuate? Hmm. Evacuate. Could be tough. I'll need a catchy slogan."

---

As time passed, the peaceful orange colors of the sunset were replaced by a sickly shade of dull green. Now everyone was looking to the sky and the green hand coming towards their town. Isaac stared up at it, hoping that he was ready for what was coming. He's fought monsters and even sparred with the Gems. But these Gems weren't like his friends. They meant business, and they would kill him and the others if they got the chance.

As the sun disappeared over the horizon, he heard the telltale wail of MAyor Dewey's campaign van speeding through the street. However, instead of merely proclaiming the mayor's name, the siren chanted "E-VA-CU-ATE".

Dewey drove down the broadwalk and stopped behind the crowd of citizens that were already there to watch the descending hand ship. When they saw Mayor Dewey's van, the concerned people gathered around it. Mayor Dewey got out and climbed onto the roof of the van. "People!" Dewey began with a bold voice, even though it was clear through his sweating that he was nervous. "I need everyone to consider evacuation! Evacuation is something we all depend on in times of-"

Watching in worry from a distance as Mayor Dewey delivers his speech, Isaac heard footsteps behind him and turned to see the Gems hurryingly packing Greg's van with Steven's luggage. The young boy was running to the open back with a stack of books in his hands. One of the books fell out of his hands and would have landed on the ground if Isaac ain't rushed over and caught it.

Turning to Steven, he placed the book on the floor of the van and ruffled his little brother's hair, making him laugh. "Won't want you to lose one of…these…" Isaac trailed off when he saw Pearl. The white Gem, and the other magical women stopped in their tracks when he turned towards them. To his utter confusion, his visibly worried girlfriend was holding the taco backpack Steven gave him. "Is that….my luggage?"

The white Gem flinched at this question. When Greg came out with his jacket, she turned to him. Seeing this, the former rock star gave Pearl an uneasy glance. "He's gonna know eventually," he said, and the two looked at each other awkwardly.

Pearl's shoulders tense up at the idea of telling Isaac, so she turned Amethyst with a desperate look in her eyes. "Hey, he's your boyfriend! You talk to him!" The purple Gem exclaimed bitterly, crossing her arms and turning away defensively. Pearl patted Amethyst to comfort her.

"Pearl, what's going on?" Isaac asked apprehensively, with Steven wondering what was going on.

Taking in a deep breath, Pearl walked up to her boyfriend. With shame written all over her face, she somehow worked up the courage to tell him that was going on. "Isaac…you're going with Steven."

"...No," Isaac said firmly.

"Isaac, this isn't up for discussion," said Garnet, walking over to him. Her expression and tone were both solemn, yet firm.

"Garnet, you can't expect me to leave you all here," he told the three Gems admitmently. "I can fight! If these guys really are bad news, then you're going to need me."

"You're right. We do need you. But we need you with Steven," Garnet said evenly. Placing a firm hand on his shoulder. "Isaac, I know you don't want to leave us. I get that. I know that you think that we're keeping things from you and Steven. But the truth is, we rely on you the most. I need you to be the last line of defense for this planet if we're to fail. But most of all, I need you to protect Steven."

Isaac stared into Garnet's eyes, with either of them saying anything for a few seconds. Hearing sounds coming from behind, he looked back and saw the Beach City citizens were panicking and worrying in the chaos. Mr. Fryman tried to pull his son away from the shop, as Peedee clinged to the shop counter. Jenny, Sadie, and Lars looked terrified as they stared at the hand. The mayor was panicking again and had turned back one the siren.

"If anything happens, you need to be there to protect them. Like your mother once did. It's your destiny."

Isaac looked back at the Gem leader as the weight of what she wanted him to do sank in. Every single fiber of his being wanted him to stay. To stay and fight for his new family and to face whatever was about to happen. But at the same time, he wanted to protect Steven, the boy he's come to view as his little brother. A brother he would willingly die for.

Looking to Pearl, the Gem that he's fallen in love with, Isaac walked up to her and stood in front of her. The white Gem looked back at him, tears welling up in her eyes. One tear ran down her cheek, before Isaac wiping it away as he cherished her face.

The two lovers shared a passionate kiss, where Pearl wrapped her arms around his neck as he pulled her into a hug around her waist. It was painful for the both of them to have to be separated, especially Pearl. She's just found someone that loves her as much as she loved Rose, and now she was sending him away.

Pulling away from her, Isaac placed his forehead on Pearl's gemstone. "I love you, Pearl. I promise, we'll see each other again."

Now the tears really started coming down. As she struggled not to sob, Pearl gave him a tearful smile. "I know," she said, pulling him into a tight hug. Steven joined in, with Garnet and Amethyst also joining in to the hug. Giving the hybrids their farewells, even if they were all sad about it. Their words carried the promise that they'd see them again, even though, in Isaac's heart, the likelihood of that was 50/50. But Isaac wasn't going to lose hope in seeing his friends, or the Gem he loves. This wasn't the end. This couldn't be the end, right?

As the others let go, and with a tight, fake smile, Pearl finally let go of Isaac. He kept looking at her with those gorgeous green eyes as he, Steven and Greg entered the van. Never taking his eyes off of her. Pearl stared back at him, knowing that she might not ever see those eyes again.

Returning to the porch of the house, she and the others waved halfheartedly at the boys as they drove off. She continued to watch, waving after her beloved as he and Steven waved back at her, Garnet, and Amethyst.

As soon as the vehicle was out of sight, however, the White Gem fell apart. While Garnet supported herself on the railing and Amethyst leaned on it, Pearl collapsed on the wooden floor, visibly distressed and devastated as tears flowed down from her eyes as her form trembled uncontrollably with almost visible fear of what was nearly upon them. But most of all, Pearl feared to never be able to see Isaac again. "I couldn't do it… I still couldn't just say it… Why?" She asked herself.

Her moment of self grieving and loathing was halted when Garnet placed a hand on her shoulder. "We did everything we could," she said, placing a hand on Amethyst's shoulder too. Not letting grief or dread last long, she took a deep breath and renewed her resolve. "Alright, pull it together!"

---

The van drove through the desolate streets of Beach City. The little town on the edge of the country once held hundreds of people living in their homes and working at shops. Now, there was no one. All were heading out of town to escape the danger that was coming. And our heroes were no different. Soon, they were in the middle of a convoy of other citizens in their vehicles. There were no traffic jams, no arguing. Not a collective need to get out of the town.

With no back seats, Isaac sat down on the floor on the van. He let out a small, worried sigh as he looked towards the back window of the van and at the hand for what seemed like the hundredth time. The glowing green light enveloped the world below in eerie dark shades. He hated what he was doing, but knew that he had to.

"You okay, Isaac?" The young man looked back to see Greg looking at him through the mirror.

"Just…wondering if I'll ever see Pearl again," Isaac admitted.

"Don't worry, Isaac," Steven said, looking back at his brother with a supportive smile. Even though he had his own fears about the impending future lingering in the back of his mind, the young demi-gem was still trying to look on the bright side. "Maybe when Peridot gets to Earth, she'll see how nice all the people are and she won't want to hurt anyone."

Isaac chuckled at how optimistic his friend was. Greg, on the other hand, glanced at his son and forced a smile on his face. "Just like your mother."

"Yeah?" Steven asked, looking over to his father.

"Yeah…" Greg's smile faded though. "But these other Gems aren't like both of your mothers," he said, as he started sweating nervously. The dreaded thought of Homeworld coming back made his heart beat harder. "They aren't like Garnet, Amethyst, or Pearl. They aren't gonna start caring about people now. They didn't the first time they…"

The former rockstar quickly cut himself off and stopped talking. Isaac heard this and looked up, through the mirror, he saw Greg's eyes widened and his expression showed his anxiety. As if he's stopped himself from saying something. Something he's not supposed to be saying. Standing up, Isaac moved behind the two seats and leaned down to have his head between Greg and his son. "Greg, what do you mean the first time?" He asked. "Are you saying this has happened before?"

Greg sighed, his stomach sinking as he realized that not only did Steven hear him, but also Isaac. He could tell, just by looking into his own son's eyes. He wanted to know what he knew too. This was it. The former rockstar knew there was no dancing around the truth any longer. "I mean, it was thousands of years ago! It's-it's not like I was there!" He remarked tensely. However, he stopped when Isaac and Steven glared at Greg in curiosity. "The Gems should be telling you all this stuff, but I get it. I mean, they don't want you thinking of them like that!"

"Like what?" Steven asked, getting increasingly worried and confused as Isaac. When Greg did not reply, he started to become frustrated. "Dad, like what?!"

And just like that, Greg finally lost the will to keep lying to his son. "Like aliens, Steven! Aliens who invaded Earth!

"What!?" Isaac exclaimed in shock, with his eyes widening in disbelief. The Gems had told him that they were aliens, and he knew from listening to Pearl and Garnet that Homeworld came to earth to do something bad, but they never told him what that was. But the fact that the Gems had come to invade was nothing he was prepared to hear.

"All they do is try to make up for it. They just can't forgive themselves, you understand?" Greg said as both boys stared at him. The father gripped the steering wheel tightly as he explained what he knew. "Look, they were doing something awful to the planet and your mother couldn't stand it anymore, Steven."

Isaac broke out into cold sweats as he remembered the Kindergarten and the vision he had. All those holes, Amethyst calling herself a parasite. That's when he realized what Pearl was telling him about when she said that they were doing something bad. That they were using Earth to make more Gems. Was that all just part of their plans? What other horrible things were they going to do?

"She told me that's why she had to turn on her own kind. She gave up everything just to stop what they started here and drive the invading Gems off of Earth."

In that instant, Isaac recollected the time when Pearl told him a tale in the Gem Battlefield. When she used the hologram to show Isaac Rose's vow to do whatever it took to ensure the safety of the Earth. All the horrible things he saw in his dreams, those were all Onyx's memories of the war.

"My God…It all makes sense…" Isaac said in a breathless voice, clenching his chest where his heart was. He felt it pumping in his chest harder and harder.

"So sh-she saved the world, that's good!" Steven exclaimed, still trying to convince himself that this story ended happily ever after.

"No such thing as a good war, kiddo," Greg shook his head sadly. "Gems were destroyed, and many people were killed too... In the end, your mother could only save a handful of her closest friends. If it weren't for her shield, man, I don't know…"

Isaac stepped back from the front as Greg kept talking. He didn't even hear him try to cheer up his son. The blonde man's face filled with distraught as he held his head with his hands. This was bigger than anything he thought the Gems were a part of. And now they were going to fight against those that they betrayed again. Only this time, they'll be outmatched. And that's when it hit him.

They really were going to die.

This also hit Steven, who spoke up in his own growing alarm. "We gotta go back! Turn the van around!"

"No way, the Gems don't want you going back!" Greg argued.

"Greg, do as he said!" Isaac said, rushing up to the front. "If we don't go back, they're going to die!"

"The Gems told us to get Steven away from here!" Gregy said, looking back at Isaac with a glare. "They told you to keep him safe!"

"Fine, then drop me off and I'll go back!" Isaac said, about to turn around to head to the back doors.

But Steven looked back and stopped him by yelling, "Isaac, stop! Take me with you!"

"No way," Isaac said, pointing at him. "You're getting out of town."

"I know they're just trying to protect me, but I have to protect them!" Steven urged with distress and desperation. He pulled his jack up to show his gemstone. "I have Mom's shield, they need me!"

"I need you too!" Greg retorted, unable to think about letting his only son go off to face such overwhelming danger.

"Please, Dad, what if they get hurt?" Steven cried, fearful tears welling up in his eyes. However, Greg, sweating profusely, did not reply again. His eyes glued to the road ahead as he hands locked onto the steering wheel in a vice grip. "Dad, turn around! Dad!" Steven begged his father to heed him and Isaac.

"Greg!" Isaac yelled. Greg flinched, but kept on driving. This silence only frustrated the young man, while angering Steven.

"Turn the van around, PLEASE!" Steven yelled, punching the panel of the glove compartment in front of him. There was a moment of silence before the airbag inflated all of a sudden.

Isaac yelled in shock as Steven was launched out of the van through the roof, his pink bubble fortunately forming around him as he flew into the air. Greg's van screeched to a sudden halt, blocking the flow of traffic and bringing everyone to a stop.

"STEVEN!" Isaac yelled, before kicking the back doors open and rushing out. Ditching Greg and the van as he ran to check on his brother. Luckily Steven landed safely a distance away, still encased in his bubble shield. When he reached the young Gem, he saw Steven still had tears streaming down his face. "Are you okay!?"

The bubble popped and Steven looked at the son of Onyx. "Isaac…" Steven choked out a sob as he grasped Isaac's hand when he knelt down next to him.

"Steven! Are you okay?!" Greg called out as he rushed down into the ditch.

"Y-yeah," Steven said, but was still clearly shaken.

"Yo, Greg, are you and your kid okay?" Mr. Fryman called out from the road, as several Beach City citizens began to gather around to check on Steven's safety. Showing immense concern for the young boy.

"Yeah, yeah! We're fine, we're fine." Greg assured them.

After checking over Steven, Isaac sighed in relief. "Alright, get back in the van and get him out of here," he ordered Greg before turning and started walking back towards Beach City. "I'm going to help the others."

"Isaac, STOP!" Steven yelled, earnestly and tearfully as he broke away from his father and rushed in front of Isaac. The Gem of War stopped and looked at his friend with wide eyes. "Please, take me with you. I have to go back. I have to! They don't have my shield, do you understand? They need it!"

Isaac stared at his friend with wide eyes, however, he knew that nothing he said was going to change his mind. He looked back to Greg, who was still conflicted with what he should do. However, the father sighed and nodded. Tell him to take him. However, the young man was still at a crossroads. The last thing he ever wanted was for Steven to get hurt, but he knew that the young Gem was right.

Letting out a sigh, he looked down at Steven and wiped away his tears. "Okay," he said with a smile. Steven smiled thankfully at him. Isaac then turned to Greg. "Stay with everyone and keep them safe. Now we need to figure out some way to get back to Beach City."

And then, right on cue, Lion suddenly appeared behind Steven and puffed into the back of his head. Isaac was startled at first, before seeing Lion and calming down. He and Steven looked at one another with the young boy smiling. "This'll work!"

---

And so it was, the two hybrids mounted Lion. The feline then made a beeline back to Beach City. With Steven riding in front of him, Isaac sat behind him and asked, "So, what's the plan, Steven?"

"Um…us my shield?" Steven said, unsure. "To be honest, I haven't really had time to come up with a…plan or something…"

Isaac was alarmed by this. "Oh, that's just perfect!" He yelled in anger. He then sighed and calmed down. "Alright, just stay behind me and only jump in when you have to. We don't know what these Gems are capable of, so only use your shield when necessary."

"Right!" Steven nodded as he pulled out his phone and dialed a number. "Come on, pick up…"

"Who are you calling?" Isaac asked curiously.

"I'm calling Connie." Steven said before the call went to voicemail.

"You've reached the Maheswaran residence." the recorded voice of Connie's mom said. Steven moaned in disappointment. "Please leave a message after the beep. And keep it short."

The phone beeped as Isaac raised an eyebrow. "She seems…nice?"

Steven placed the phone to his ear. "Hey, Connie, it's Steven. Just... seeing what you were up to. Don't know if you knew, but there's some crazy stuff going on with a giant space hand and we all might die, so, uh, I guess call me back when you get this and talk to you soon! Uh, bye!"

Steven hung up the phone as Isaac's face carried a deadpan expression. "Smooth," he said, before Lion roared, opening a portal. Isaac held onto Lion's mane as tight as he could before the beast jumped through it. When they came out the other side, Isaac looked up and gasped at what he was seeing.

Lion had taken Isaac and Steven onto the beach in front of the Crystal Temple, which was now completely bathed in the immensely bright and sinister glow caused by the hand. The hand ship was now a mile away from the beach, and was getting even closer. Garnet was standing next to the Fusion Opel, who stood steadfast against the warship. Pulling back the string, she aimed at the warship with her bow. A light arrow forming.

"Fire!" Garnet shouted.

Without hesitation, Opal fired her single arrow at the warship. It split into a barrage of arrows as they darted towards the hand at high speeds. However, even this attack had no effect at all. The arrows just bounced off the hull.

Isaac was shocked to see Opal's arrow, which took out hundreds of monsters, failed to stop the ship. He jumped off Lion with Steven. "Stay here!" Steven took the pink cat. "If something happens, Dad'll need a new son!"

As the two hybrids ran towards the Gems, Opal and Garnet watched helplessly as the warship increased its speed in its descent. "At least Steven and Isaac are safe…" the Gem leader muttered in a slightly defeated tone.

"Hey, guys!"

Garnet and Opal both gasped and turned around. Shocked to see both demi-gems running towards them. "Steven! Isaac!" Garnet cried out in surprise at their presence. Shocked to see Isaac and Steven's sudden arrival, Opal instantly split back into Pearl and Amethyst, throwing them back on the sand.

"You came back!" Amethyst cried, almost relieved to see the duo

"What are you doing?! Get out of here!" Pearl wailed, her eyes wide as she scrambled to stand up.

"Sorry, Pearl! But We're not leaving our friends to fight our battles for us!" Isaac yelled defiantly at her.

"Isaac, don't you get it!" Pearl yelled, grabbing his shoulder. Her eyes tearing up as she looked at him with desperation. "If they know who you are, they'll kill you!"

"It's too late! Just stay behind us!" Garnet ordered, summoning her gauntlets. The others drew their weapons, and the Crystal Gems stanced themselves as the warship finally made its landing. Isaac's gem was definitely glowing now.

Just before it landed in the water, it stood and hovered above it. The hand then turned itself over on its back, before opening itself. Its palm flattened out and extended its massive fingers. Slamming against the sandy beach and creating dust clouds that blew towards the Crystal Gems, which forced Isaac to shield himself and Steven from the sands.

Isaac looked up at the top of the hand and saw something rather strange. A comparably small, green marble, much like the probes, appeared from the palm of the warship. He, Steven, and the Gems all waited and watched tensely and anxiously as it hovered while rolling onto a finger, before reaching the tip.

"Quick!" Pearl exclaimed, summoning a roll of police tape from her gemstone. She hurriedly wrapped the tape around his right hand, not caring if the roll fell to the ground. "Hide your gem, and whatever you do, don't draw your sword!"

The orb opened up and the finger dropped down onto the beach. Revealing four figures. One of them was none other than Peridot. She walked forward with a scowl on her face and she glared down at the Crystal Gems. "That's them, all right. They're the ones who keep breaking my machine," she said to the two tallest members of her party.

The first was the cold-hearted Citrine, who glared at the Crystal Gems.

The second was someone that was completely new, but was another Quartz soldier like Citrine. Even though she appeared to be green, due to the ship, this Gem had tangerine skin with reddish-orange markings on her face and arms. She has amber eyes and plump lips. Her gemstone was located where a normal nose would be, and she has thick, beige-white-colored flowing hair. She wore a sleeveless bodysuit, similar to Peridot's, with a dark mahogany V-neck collar and a yellow diamond in the center. The torso of the bodysuit is maroon, and the legs were dark mahogany. She wore red boots with dark red toe caps.

The new Gem looked at the Crystal Gem with a bored expression. "This is it?" She huffed in a gruff tone before turning to Citrine. "You brought me all the way out here for these regrets? What? Couldn't you handle it yourself?"

Unamused Citrine looked at her from the corner of her eyes. "You know why I brought you here," she said in an even tone.

"Citrine! Jasper! They keep interfering with my work!" Peridot complained to the two.

"Quiet," Citrine told her, making the green Gem flinch in fear. She then turned to the fourth person and grabbed them. Dragging Isaac and Steven's friend Lapis out from behind her, who quickly breaks free from the elite soldier's grip. The blue Gem turned and gasped at the sight of Steven and Isaac.

"Lapis!" Steven exclaimed, with Isaac staring at her in shock as well.

"This is their base, correct, Lapis Lazuli?" Citrine asked her.

Lapis looked away in disappointment. "Yes…"

"And you're sure she's here?" Jasper asked Citrine, rolling her eyes. Unable to just stand around and do nothing, the Crystal Gems stepped forward. Ready to do whatever it took to drive the enemy away.

"You need to leave immediately!" Garnet demanded fiercely.

"Yeah, fuck off!" Amethyst growled.

"This is not a Gem-controlled planet!" Pearl exclaimed fretfully, unable to mask her terror.

Ignoring what the Crystal Gems were telling them, Citrine, Peridot and Jasper, dragging Lapis along, jump off the finger and onto the beach. The yellow Gem stood up to her full height and scanned her foes, before spotting Isaac. Glaring daggers at him, she nodded to Peridot. "Show me the video feed again."

Seemingly annoyed, Peridot formed her hands into a screen. Displaying a video on it that showed Isaac cutting the fist from the Kindergarten control room. The Crystal Gems grew increasingly fearful when it showed Isaac holding his katana, with his mother's gemstone on full display.

Looking up at the screen, Citrine looked at Isaac. "General Onyx."

"What?" Isaac's eyes widened.

"Isaac! Don't listen to her!" Garnet urged him.

"Wait, wait, wait. That's the general? The Gem of War?" Jasper asked, smiling a cruel, sadistic grin in amusement. Pointing at Isaac, who flinched. Doing this made Jasper laugh for a moment. "You're kidding me, right? She looks so weak and pathetic. What about Rose Quartz? Is she still around? I'm so looking forward to beating her into the ground!"

"Euegh…" Steven cringed in fear upon hearing this, surprised at how gleefully Jasper could talk about brutalizing his mother.

"I know that sword anywhere." Citrine said to Jasper in a growling tone. Turning back to Isaac, she stepped forward, fists clenched hard and glaring hatefully at the young man. "General Onyx, former general of all of Homeworld's army, and traitor to the Diamonds. You're to come with us to stand trial for your many war crimes."

Isaac's eyes widened. His pupils shrank as he stared at the yellow Gem in disbelief. General of Homeworld's army? But that couldn't be true. His mother was a Crystal Gem that fought alongside Rose Quartz and the others. They told him about how brave she was on the battlefield, and how she was a kind and compassionate being. Isaac looked to Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst in the hope that they would say something to debunk what Citrine was saying. That what she was saying wasn't true.

However, when he looked at them, they winched and looked away. Their expression bore not just fear and anxiety, but also shame and guilt. Their inability to look him in the eyes was enough to tell him that it was all true. And this led to an even more heartbreaking revelation.

The Crystal Gems, his mentor, his friend, and even his own lover, had been lying to him.

This revelation took Isaac aback and filled him with anger. An anger that he transferred to the Homeworld Gems, glaring at them. "And why would I go anywhere with you?" He growled, clenching his fists.

"Because if you don't, I'll wipe out your forces and take you home by force," Citrine said. "And after what you've done, it's more than what you deserve."

"Garnet, what is she talking about? Why does she keep calling Isaac a general?" Steven asked the leader of the Crystal Gems, curious and concerned.

"Steven, we'll talk about it later," Garnet told the son of her friend. There was no hiding it anymore. Not after Isaac was just told the truth.

Jasper chuckled with a sneer as she looked at Isaac, unimpressed with his appearance. "If it's really true, then I'm disappointed. Look what has become of you, general. How far the Gem of War has fallen from grace. A rat among a bunch of regrets. Some lost, defective Pearl, a puny overcooked runt, and 'his shameless display?" Jasper paused when she glanced at Steven. Looking at him with slight confusion as the kid coward behind Isaac. "What is that?"

Isaac placed his left hand in front of Steven, as the three Crystal Gems bare their weapons in preparation.

"It calls itself 'the Steven,'" Peridot said in her cold voice. "And this…General Onyx, as you call it, is 'the Isaac.'"

Isaac dropped his glare and looked at Peridot with a raised eyebrow. "Uh, it's just Isaac."

"That's what I said," Peridot told him. "The Isaac."

"Just Isaac. Where's the "the" coming from?"

"They're just humans!" Lapis exclaimed in a pleading tone. Hoping to convince them to not hurt Isaac and Steven. "They aren't a threat at all! They're not one of them!"

"I know what a human is. But why would the general turn into one?" Citrine questioned.

"Who cares. This isn't the general," Jasper said, before turning to leave. "You don't need me for this. Just blast them with the ship."

"Ugh, fine." Peridot muttered, calibrating her screen as the warship lifted up and pointed its index finger towards the Crystal Gems. Peridot drew a wide circle on her finger screen and tapped the middle of it. This activated the main cannon of the ship, which began to charge a bright light of energy on its fingertip.

"Isaac! Steven! Get out of here!" Garnet ordered the two boys.

"No!" Steven yelled out.

"Garnet, we're not leaving you here to die!" Isaac yelled, just as insistently.

"I won't let you risk your lives!" The Gem Leader argued back.

"But this is my home! And you're all my family!" Steven cried, tears forming in his eyes from the immense stress and tension of the moment. All while Steven's gem began to shine from under his shirt.

Peridot said with coldness, "Firing."

The warship fired its energy beam at them to destroy the last of the rebellious Gems. However, what Peridot, nor anyone else expected was Steven rushing out from behind Isaac and charging forward with courageous resolve. "I- I'm a Crystal Gem too!"

"STEVEN!" Isaac yelled, far too shocked to stop him as Steven jumped at the beam.

The beam caused a large explosion that blasted a large amount of sand into the air and rattled the ground. However in the explosion was a metallic sound that echoed all over the beach. When it was all settled and everything went quiet again did Jasper turn around. Her eyes widened in shock and disbelief when she saw that not only were the Crystal Gems still alive, but when the giant pink shield in front of the Crystal Gems, protecting them from the blast. And it was being formed by the small boy.

"That shield! That symbol!" Jasper gasped, visibly shocked as she spun around fully.

Isaac stared at the shield in awe. It was far more powerful and bigger than any other time Steven summoned it. The shield dispelled, folding in on itself before disappearing all together. No longer using his power, Steven collapsed onto the ground. "Steven!" Isaac exclaimed in concern and rushed over to him. Kneeling next to the boy, he placed a hand on his head. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Steven managed to tell his friend, catching his breath as he gave him a tired smile.

As Jasper stared at the young boy in disbelief, Citrine stared at Steven with wide eyes before scowling. "So, both traitors," she said.

"Now do you believe I needed an escort?" Peridot asked matter-of-factly.

"Fire a barrage! Widespread!" Jasper ordered, frenzied and outraged by what she's seeing.

Started by the sudden command, Peridot swiped a finger right across her finger screen. The hand fired a laser beam across the beach that nearly hit Steven and Isaac. Seeing the laser, Isaac pushed Steven out of the way just in time. However, the Gems weren't able to get out of the way. However, it didn't cut them. What it did do, after a delay, is cause an explosion that they were caught in. Sending the Gems flying in all directions.

Isaac and Steven landed a safe distance from the blast attack, as the smoke from the blast clears up. Isaac shook the sand off his head before looking around. Luckily Steven was still safe. However, Jasper was now standing over him.

"Rose, why do you look like that?" The orange Gem asked with disdain for him. "Why are you so weak?" She reached out to grab him, but…

SLASH!

"GAH!" Jasper yelled in pain as Isaac cut across the palm of her hand with his blade. The police tape used to cover his hand falling off in shredded pieces. Jasper regained her stand and once again looked shocked, perhaps even more so, when she saw the katana of the legendary Gem of War in the hands of the human.

"That sword…" she whispered, shocked and appalled. "...General Onyx?"

"Yeah, this is her sword. But now it's on my mind," Isaac proclaimed proudly, pointing the blade at her. "Now stay back, get back in your ship and leave this place!"

Jasper and Citrine took steps towards Isaac, but were stopped when Lapis suddenly rushed forward and placed herself in front of them. "Don't hurt him!" She demanded, spreading her arms out.

"You knew about this!" Jasper accused, glaring down at her. "You knew that the General was here and she was that…thing?!"

"I-It wasn't relevant to the mission!" the blue Gem protested.

"Mission?" Lapis gasped when Isaac asked that. She turned around and saw Isaac staring at her in disbelief. "Lapis…you said you didn't tell them anything."

"I…I…" Lapis wasn't able to come up with a response when Citrine grabbed her by the neck.

"Lapis!" Isaac yelled, only able to watch as she was thrown to the side. Landing on the sand beside Peridot.

"I'd be more focused on me!" Jasper said with a cruel smile as she approached him.

Isaac stood ready to fight her, while Steven tried crawling away, still petrified with fear to even pick himself up off the ground. However, before Isaac could attack her, Garnet pulled herself out of the sands and charged at Jasper. Running past Isaac with a look of fury.

"Good!" Jasper said and summoned her weapon. Appearing on her head in a flash of light was an orange crash helmet with a diamond-shaped extension on the front and a visor to protect her eyes and gemstone. She used the helmet to block Garnet's punch, creating a powerful draft that pushed back Garnet, Isaac, and Steven.

Garnet quickly recovered, as Isaac and Steven landed on the ground. "STEVEN, RUN!" the Gem Leader shouted fiercely and charged at Jasper again.

"Garnet, wait!" Isaac called out to her.

Jasper smirked viciously and pulled out another weapon. It was shaped like an arrowhead-tipped tuning fork with a pale yellow oval-shaped orb suspended between the tips. "Priming Gem Destabilizer," she said as electricity rippled between the two ends. Jasper dashed at Garnet.

Garnet was about to attack her with a punch to the face, but never got the chance to do so. Not even her future vision could have seen what was coming. Jasper jabbed her in the chest with the destabilizer. Shocking the mighty Gem warrior with electricity for only a few seconds.

What happened next would haunt Isaac. He watched as her visors were split in two, as yellow currents started to spread across her body. Seeming to split her in half. And that's exactly what was happening. Garnet's physical body starts to fall apart. First it was her limbs, which slipped off her body. Pearl and Amethyst gasped watching in absolute horror upon seeing this. Isaac stared at Garnet as she fell backwards towards them, her form breaking apart every second. Time crawled on for eternity as her head fell back and she looked at Isaac with clear agony written all over her face.

And then she was gone in a puff of smoke. The two gemstones that had usually rested in her palm fell apart from each other and onto the sand. One red and one blue.

Steven stared at them in shaken disbelief, while Isaac stared with wide eyes. His best friend and mentor was just defeated right in front of his eyes. "Secure Rose Quartz, I'll deal with the general," Citrine ordered Jasper, snapping Isaac back to the battle that was still going on. She then approached Isaac, held out her arm to the side, and summoned her Kunai. The chain coiled around her arm as she gripped the knife. "You would be wise to surround, General."

Gripping his sword tightly in rage, Isaac roared and ran a full spring towards Citrine at full speed. The yellow Gem shot out her hand and launched her kunai at him. Isaac swatted it away with his sword and continued his rush towards Citrine. The kunai flew high into the air, before Citrine yanked on the chain. The dagger came flying back towards Isaac's back. Sensing this, Isaac stopped and turned around to block it. The kunai then retracted back to Citrine hand, who grabbed it. The young man whirled back around as the yellow Gem then charged at Isaac.

The two locked blades before fighting. Isaac would swing at Citrine wildly as she dodged all of his attacks. Only a few times did she block his blade. The blades of the katana and the Kunai locked as sparks flew off them. When Isaac pushed back against her, she dug her heels in the sand before swinging her free arm at hims head. Isaac jumped back from the blade-lock and jumped back to avoid the fist. However, she was expecting this and threw her Kunai at him, wrapping the chain around his torso before reeling him back. Isaac was helpless to stop her as he was sent flying towards the yellow Gem.

"You may have her sword and strength, but you're far from who you used to be." She kicked Isaac in the chest, knocking the air out of his lungs as he was sent flying across the beach. Bouncing off the sand and rolling to a stop.

"Isaac!" Steven cried out as his friend was sent flying back again. This time further away and past the other Gems. And his fear only increased when Jasper then approached him.

"I was there, you know?" Jasper began, standing over him with bitterness in her grin. "At the first war for this garbage planet. I fought against you and the Gem of War's armies. I respected the loyalty you could gain and your tactics. But this?" She scoffed, roughly grabbing and lifting Steven up by his shirt, despite his struggling. "This is sick!"

"Unhand him!" Pearl shouted as she and Amethyst charged at Jasper. Their weapons draw in an attempt to do whatever they could to save the young boy.

However, before they could land so much as a single hit on her, both Gems were halted in midair. Helplessly frozen in a pale green tracer beam created by one of Peridot's. "This is a waste of time…" she grumbled, impatiently wanting to get back to her original job.

Grunting in pain as he laid on his front, Isaac groaned in pain and looked up. Shaking the sand off his face, he turned towards Steven, and gasped when seeing that Jasper had him. "I don't get what you and Onyx are planning, Rose. But look?!" the orange Gem waved at the statue of the Temple. The same one that he's been living under for nearly all of his life. "Your base is taken. Your armies are ruined." She waved at Pearl and Amethyst, who were still being trapped inside the tractor beam. Jasper turned to face him and dispelled her crash helmet. "You have failed!"

BASH!

Isaac gasped in horror. Jasper headbutted Steven, knocking him out cold. Isaac's heart sank as he watched Steven, his little brother's body go limp in the grasp of the orange Gem.

"Heh, weakling," Jasper scoffed, dropping the boy to the ground. She then turned to Citrine. "There, I told care of–"

All of a sudden there was a massive shockwave that nearly knocked her and Citrine. They looked where it was coming from and were shocked. Lapis stared in terror, and so did Peridot, who took a step back. Still trapped in the green Gem's tractor beam, Pearl and Amethyst's face showed their own terror, however, they where also very concerned.

"Isaac…" Pearl whispered.

Isaac had unleashed his Hellfire. Just like last time, his fists, arms, shoulders, and back were set ablaze with a furious fire. His muscles and blood veins were much more prominent and his eyes were emitting a yellowing glow. Even though everything around him was green from the effects of the hand ship, Isaac's fire remained its angry orange and red colors. His hands were black, and the large black veins started to form.

Glaring hatefully at the Homeworld Gems, Isaac gritted his teeth. "I'm gonna kill you," he growled, before roaring and started charging at Jasper.

"Finally, a challenge," Jasper said, sneering and forming a helmet.

Citrine, however, said, "We can't fight her…"

"Then I'll take her on!" Jasper dashed towards Isaac.

"No!" Citrine yelled, growling in frustration when her partner wouldn't stop. With little to no choice, she rushed forward as well.

As soon as Isaac and Jasper were getting close, Isaac jumped at her and brought back his right fist. Jasper brought back her head and then swung forward. Headbutting Isaac's punch. However, despite having a powerful weapon designed for shattering Gems, Jasper was knocked backwards.

The orange Gem grunted as she landed and rolled on the beach. She could still feel the heat from the punch on her face. Yet, she still wasn't dead? Jasper didn't have time to think about it as Isaac leapt towards her to kill her. However, he was stabbed in the arm by Citrine's kunai. She yanked him away from Jasper, swinging him over her and was going to slam him down onto the ground. However, be she could, Isaac formed his sword and cut the chain before landing on the ground.

As the kunai started to heat up and sear his wound, Isaac pulled it out. He turned back to Citrine, who changed at him. Forming another kunai from the chains. Isaac charged at her too and started slashing at her. Each time he did, Citrine would deflect the katana with her dagger. After one parry, she followed it up with a punch to Isaac's face, forcing him to step back from her. That's when Citrine tried to attack him.

However, Isaac held out his arm and fired a pillar of flames at her. Knocking her away from him with severe burns. However, as she picked herself up, Citrine finally realized what Jasper had not. "This Hellfire. It's not like hers," she said, noting just how much weaker it was. "This 'Isaac' can't control it."

"That's good!" That's when Jasper came into the fray with a gleeful grin. "Because you're in my way!" She yelled, pulling out the Gem Destabilizer.

She thrusted the tip of her destabilizer straight toward the chest of Isaac. However, Isaac catches the weapon in his free hand. Shocked, Jasper growled and grunted as she tried to push against him. The familiar yellow lines appeared and traveled along his arm. Isaac winced and flinched for only a short moment, before his fire started melting the destabilizer.

"What?!" Jasper asked in surprise as it stopped working and then snapped under Isaac's grip. She was then swept off her feet by Isaac kicking her legs out from under her and then kicking her in the chest. Sending her flying away again.

Isaac was about to attack her again when he was hit in the chest by another kunai which had no chain attached to it. As he pulled it out, Isaac looked to see Citrine standing a few feet away.

And then, she disappeared into thin air.

Isaac was shocked by this and looked around. However, he couldn't find her.

Suddenly, Citrine reappeared behind him and stabbed him in the back with her dagger. Isaac cried out in pain, before grabbing her with both hands and throwing her towards the ship. Citrine recovered and skidded across the sand.

"We can't beat him!" Peridot exclaimed, frightened by how easily Isaac was beating the two elite warriors. As Jasper rushed in again to attack, Citrine knew that it was fruitless. Not even when this 'Isaac' is using only a small fraction of Onyx's power could they stop him. But they might be a way to put out that fire.

However, that moment might come sooner than she thinks. As Isaac slashed at Jasper, she used her helmet to block his attacks. "You think that you're so strong, pretender?!" Jasper yelled, grinned as Isaac's fight started to die down. "You can't even hold up Hellfire! I was hoping to come here and fight the Gem of War. To take that title for myself, but all I get is a weakling that's far from what she was during the war."

The two locked weapons, with Jasper headbutting the sword and Isaac pushing against her. "And look at you! Bleeding like an organic!" She yelled, as the orange Gem felt the fire on her face. Staring at the blood on Isaac's arm.

"You talk too much," Isaac said.

He kicked her in the stomach as hard as he could, knocking her back before throwing his katana at her. The blade stabbed into the face of the cash helmet, knocking it off her head. Isaac then charged and tackled Jasper to the ground. Isaac got on top of her and started punching her repeatedly with all his might. Pounding her into the ground and creating shockwaves that rocked the ground. Jasper reformed her helmet to protect herself, but even it could not handle the strength of Isaac's punch.

However, Isaac was starting to lose energy, as the Hellfire on his body started to die out. But that didn't matter, so long as he punished these Gems for hurting his friends. "LEAVE! MY! HOME!"

With all his might, fury, and anger, he slammed both of his fists down onto Jasper's head, breaking the crash helmet into pieces and driving Jasper's head deeper into the ground. Panting and groaning in pain, Jasper looked up at Isaac as he turned back to normal. Glaring down at her with that same fire in his eyes. The fire the general had when going into battle.

Standing up from her, Isaac looked to Peridot. When his eyes looked with hers, she froze up. Pearl and Amethyst, who were still in the tractor beam bubble, watched with bated breath. Especially Pearl, who watched her beloved start to walk towards them.

Citrine stood up to fight. Isaac lifted up his hand to summon his sword, but it was not to be. Just a few feet away from Steven's body and Garnet's gems, he collapsed to the ground.

"Isaac!" Pearl screamed, banging on the bubble as Amethyst gasped in horror.

Seeing their opponent finally defeated, Citrine dispelled her kunai and started walking towards him. "Just as I thought, this thing couldn't handle the power."

"Wait!" Lapis exclaimed, following her quickly as Peridot followed. Keeping Pearl and Amethyst where they were. "Don't hurt him!"

Jasper pulled herself out of the sand and saw Isaac's body on the ground. She grunted and stood up as Citrine approached the son of Onyx. She stared down at him as the others came up behind her. The yellow Gem looked down at the hybrid in pity.

"Great. Now that that's over with, let's go check up on the Cluster," Peridot said, eager to get back to her mission. She turned around and was about to head back to the ship when Citrine stopped her with a single word.

"No."

"No?" Peridot spun around and looked at her escort in alarm.

"The mission has changed. We're taking all the traitors back to Homeworld, now." She said, not taking her eyes off Isaac.

"What!?" Peridot yelled, along with Pearl and Amethyst. But while they said it in fear and worry, the green Gem was shocked and very upset.

"Heh, for once, I argue with you," Jasper said, before looking back to Isaac with disdain.

"Wait!" Lapis gasped, flinging herself in front of Isaac. While ashamed of being unable to do anything to stop them, she wasn't going to let them take the two Hybrids. "They're…They're not who you think they are–!"

The blue Gem was cut off when Jasper grabbed her arm and pulled her away. "That thing used Rose's Shield and this weakling used Hellfire! They have to be Rose and Onyx!" Jasper yelled at Lapis, making her flinch with how angry she was.

"Enough!" Citrine yelled, silencing everyone on the beach. The Gems, even Jasper to a degree, stared at her with shock and fear. "The Diamonds need to see this. Peridot, take the Pearl and Amethyst into the ship, throw them in a cell, and get ready to take off."

"We don't need–"

Peridot was cut off when Citrine snapped her head towards her."Do it."

With no choice but to face the warrior's wrath, Peridot turned around and walked back towards the ship. As she headed towards it, a door in the middle finger opened. Pearl started banging on the walls of the green tractor beam. Tears poured from her eyes as she cried out to Lapis. "Wait, Lapis! Don't let them hurt Steven!" She screamed, gaining Lapis' attention "You know what they'll do when the Diamonds see them! ISAAC!"

That single cry was heard by Isaac. Struggling to open his eyes, Isaac looked across from where he was and saw Steven's body on the ground. He wasn't moving.

"Remember, they're the reason you're here." Citrine told Lapis, who snapped her head toward her with frightened eyes. "And if you want your freedom so much, I'd suggest that you don't interfere." She looked up at her fellow quartz and nodded to the ship. Jasper scoffed and started dragging Lapis away.

At the same time, Isaac tried to move out to try and reach for his brother. "Steven…" he said in a weak voice.

Citrine heard this. "She's not dead. ...Not yet."

"No…" Isaac grunted in despair. The young man closed his eyes from the pain as he turned his head towards the green colored night sky. Opening them again, he saw Citrine looking down upon him.

"I warned you, General," she said in her cold tone. "I gave you a choice. And you chose to fight. Even though I'm disappointed with your fighting style, I can admire that decision."

"Fuck... you... monster."

"No, I'm not a monster. I'm a soldier, like you, General." With that last statement, Citrine knocked him up with a single punch to the face.

---

When Isaac opened his eyes, he was standing in the middle of a battlefield. Or, at the very least, the aftermath of a battle.

He was standing in the middle of a salt plan that had turned red in the glow of the setting sun. All around him were craters from artillery bombardment, shattered weapons that were either complete or broken, and even some destroyed vehicles. However, what horrified Isaac the most were the thousands of shattered Gem shards that were scattered across the plains.

Isaac looked down and gasped when he saw he was holding two of his katana's. But not only that.

His arms were not his own. They were completely a dark gray color, with Fingerless armor gauntlets. His clothes were different too. It was like he was wearing armor.

"Hello, General."

Isaac looked up and turned around. No one was there. He looked to his left and still nothing. "Hello? Is someone there?!"

"General Onyx."

"Huh?"

Isaac turned around and to his shock, the world around him had changed. He was not standing in a dark room, where two towering people were looking down at him. The one on the left's body was rigid, while the other one on the right was more rounded. He could only see their silhouettes from the light that's shining down on them. However, he could see one had a yellow diamond on her chest, and the other one had a blue diamond on her chest.

"So you say that you have overwhelming feelings of anger and a need for revenge against Rose Quartz?" asked the yellow one.

"More than you know," Isaac said, without even thinking. What was he saying? Why would he say that?

Suddenly he was back on the battlefield again. But this time, he was standing in front of Pearl, but she was so much different. Pearl's outfit was a translucent top, with the top-half pink and the bottom-half teal, with short pink leggings, and orange boots. Her hair resembled what it looked like currently, except longer.

"Pearl!" Isaac exclaimed, happy to see her. However, he saw that she was glaring at him with hatefulness he never saw from her.

"I WON'T LET YOU TOUCH HER!" Pearl screamed, charing at Isaac with her saber.

"Wait, wait!" Isaac yelled, trying to stop her. However, his body wasn't responding to him.

He cut down Pearl, and her gemstone landed on the ground.

"PEARL!" Isaac yelled in horror after just having poofed his own girlfriend. Dropping his weapon, he grabbed his head. "What… What have I…What am I…?"

"...general of all of Homeworld's army…."

"I…" Isaac stopped. He lowered his arms to his side. That's right. That's what Citrine called him. He saw how Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl looked away from him. They've lied to him. "I wasn't a Crystal Gem…"

"Don't listen to her, Isaac!"

"Huh?"

"You're not a Crystal Gem, and you'll never be one of us." Garnet said, appearing in front of him.

Startled, Isaac stepped back from her. "Garnet, what… What's going on?!" He yelled at her with a glare. "Why didn't you tell the truth!?"

"Why would she?" said Rose Quartz, appearing behind him. Isaac swiftly turned and cut her down. But not with his sword, but with Rose's saber. Shattering her and destroying the leader of the Crystal Gems. He looked down and stared at the remains of Rose's gemstone, laying on the grass.

"General Onyx…"

Onyx stared down at the shards with widened eyes.

"Isaac… ISAAC!"

And that's when everything went black.

….

…

…

…

…

…

…

But then, there was singing.

Isaac abruptly woke up when he heard that singing. Letting out a sharp gasp as he flew his eyes open. That's when the pain throughout most of his body kicked in. It persisted as he slowly sat up and saw his gem was still glowing like before. Knowing that he was in danger, he took in his surroundings.

Placing his hand on the ground, he was a little startled by how smooth it was. Looking around, he saw that he was inside of a small room with green metallic walls. However, one of those was a yellow forcefield.

Still disoriented, he rubbed his face, gesting to make sense of the situation. But that's when he remembered everything that happened. The ship, the Gems from Homeworld, the Gems being captured, and of course, his fight with Citrine and Jasper, and Steven being hurt. It became clear what was going on.

"STEVEN!" He yelled, jumping to his feet. He knows that he's been taken prisoner on their hand ship, Meaning that he and the others were onboard too. "Pearl? Amethyst? PEARL!"

In that moment, he then recalled Garnet being poofed into two gems. "Garnet!" he gasped when the scarring memory played in his head. Taking a moment to calm himself, Isaac took in a deep breath to steal his nerves. He stood up and approached the yellow force field as it hummed with electricity.

Looking outside of it, Isaac saw that he was inside of a prison block containing rows of cells fortified with Gem-destabilizing force fields. Outside of it, he heard the sounds of incoherent shouting, along with grunts and bitter cries.

Scowling, Isaac reached out his hand towards the barrier. Cautious about touching it, he stopped just an inch away from it. He then worked up the courage to touch it with his finger. Expecting a very shock, he was surprised when only felt a small, painless buzzing sensation. However, his finger did go through the barrier.

"Hm." He hummed, pulling his finger back. Surprised that his hand didn't bounce off the force field. If they didn't want prisoners to leave, why make such a weak force field. Isaac then tried his entire hand. Just like before, it seemed to clip through completely as if it was a sheet of running water.

Looking at his hand, Isaac could see yellow currents starting to run across his arm. "This is freaky," Isaac said to himself.

Seeing no ill effect from touching the barrier, Isaac decided to do something risky. He pushed himself through the force field, yellow currents running all around his body, as the buzzing feeling was felt through his body. Finally, he passed through, unscathed.

After taking a moment to shake himself from the odd feeling, Isaac saw the currents go away. "I'm…I'm out!" He exclaimed, looking around at the prison block. He saw there were two more cells that were occupied, if the force field being up were anything to go off of. Not wasting any time, he ran towards the first one and looked into it.

"Steven!" Isaac gasped when he saw his friend. He was laying on the ground, not moving. Isaac quickly rushed into the cell, passing through the barrier like before and knelt down next to his brother. He rolled Steven on his back, flinching when he saw his left eye was bruised. "Steven."

Shaking him by his shoulder, Isaac watched as Steven groaned and his eyes slowly started opening. "...I-Isaac?"

"Steven!" Isaac quickly scooped up the boy and embraced him in a tight hug? Steven did that same, tearing up as he held onto Isaac. "Oh God, my little brother… I thought I lost you," Isaac said, shedding a few tears of relief and joy.

"It's okay, Isaac. You're here now." Steven said, pulling away from his brother to give him that supportive smile that he always gave him. The young boy then looked around in confusion. "Where is here?"

"We're on the ship. I…I couldn't stop them." Isaac lowered his head in shame over being unable to hold his own power together and save the others.

"It's okay, Isaac." Steven said, placing his hand on his brother's shoulder. However, Steven gasped and grabbed him by both shoulders. "Wait, where are the others?! Where are Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl?!"

"I don't know. But we need to get out of here, and find them," Isaac said, gently taking his hands off. The two then heard the sounds of the last person in the block grunting and swearing to themselves. "There's another person on this block. It could be one of them."

Isaac stood up and helped Steven. He then turned towards the force field and walked up to it. He was about to pass through when Steven asked, "Isaac? Why did Citrine call your mom General?"

Isaac paused and looked back at him. With his left eye barely open, Steven stared at him with confusion. "I… Steven the Gems…" How was he going to tell him what he thought? That the Gems lied to him, and that his mother was a Homeworld general? It wasn't something that could be easily explained to a boy so young, nor could he tell him because even he didn't know the truth. "Doesn't matter. All I care about now is getting all of us off this ship."

And so with that settled, Isaac went through the force field and motioned for Steven to follow. The young hybrid decided to jump through it, which he did and made it out. Isaac and Steven high-fived and then ran to the last cell in the block. They were hoping to find Amethyst, Pearl, or Garnet. However, who they found was someone else.

Inside the cell was a Gem they've never seen before. She had bright scarlet skin, burgundy irises, and dark burgundy, dark red eyes, and square-shaped hair. She was noticeably shorter than Steven and had a thick build. Her gemstone was located in the palm of her left hand. Her clothes consisted of a maroon and brown tank top and a matching maroon headband tied around her hair. Her ensemble also included mid-thigh burgundy shorts, and short, pointed maroon boots similar to Amethyst's.

Isaac and Steven stared in confusion while the Gem was hunched over against the wall, her head buried in her hands as she trembled and let out a low, almost agonizing groan. The two boys looked at each other and then back to the Gem. Isaac then stepped forward and knelt down.

"Uh... hello? Are... you okay?" He asked, causing the new Gem to get startled and look at the hybrid in alarm. Isaac quickly held up his hands. "Whoa, whoa, easy. I'm not gonna hurt you."

The red Gem's eyes were wide and frantic as she pressed herself against the wall, pants heavily for a moment. Then, when she was done, she slammed her fist on the cell wall in frustration, causing Steven to lose his footing. "Great! This is just perfect!" the Gem yelled.

Confused and worried, Isaac tried to reach out to the Gem again. "Uh, do you need any help?"

"No!" She snapped at him with an indignant scowl, though she was quick to retract that statement. "I mean— Don't look at me! Just... go away." With that, she turned away and curled up. Hand on her head as a further sign of distress.

Isaac frowned and stood up. "Alright. Rot in there for all I care," he said, standing up and began to walk away. He didn't have time to deal with a Gem with a bad attitude when he had friends to find. Steven glanced between Isaac and the Gem before opting to go with his brother.

"Hey, wait!" The two hybrids stopped when the red Gem called out to them. She was on her feet and looking at them with wide eyes. "You're both out! How did you get past the field?"

"Past it? We just went through it." Isaac said, reaching out his hand towards the barrier, much to the red Gem's alarm.

"Wait! No-no-no-no-no, wait!" She tried to warn him before seeing Isaac's hand seamlessly phase through the field, with the yellow currents pouring down his arm. "It's... okay?" She questioned before Isaac pulled out his hand. The red Gem tried touching the force field, only for her hand to get deformed, forcing her to quickly retract in pain. Ah! Nugh!" She cried in pain, before looking at the hybrids with suspicion. "What's going on?"

"Huh, must not work on humans." Isaac said, looking at his hand.

Their conversation was brought to a halt when the singing he heard when he woke up was heard again. Steven and the red Gem start looking around.

"Somebody's singing…" Steven mused curiously.

"Sapphire," whispered the red Gem.

"Who?" Isaac asked.

"Let me out of here!" the red Gem suddenly shouted at Isaac. "Please! I need to find Sapphire!"

"Is she your friend?" Steven asked worriedly. "I'm looking for my friends, too."

Ignoring that statement, the red Gem started to panic. "She's all alone! I need to find her!" She exclaimed.

"Don't worry, we'll find our friends," Steven said, reassuring her with a daring smile. Without wasting any more time, Steven steps into the force field and holds out his arm, creating a hole through the force field for the red Gem to go through.

With no hesitation, the red Gem slid under Steven's arm, her expression hardened as she began to run off on her own. "Hey! Wait!" Isaac called after her. He and Steven chased her, exiting the hallway through a door. The red Gem stopped and looked around. Her hands flew to her head as she closed her eyes. Isaac looked at her, seeing that she was trying to concentrate on something.

"Hey, my name's Steven, by the way, and this Isaac," Steven said, trying to learn more about the Gem. "What's yours?"

"Quiet!" the red Gem sharply snapped with loud, almost pained groans as she tried to focus. "Ugh! I can't see!" She stopped to look around when the singing was heard again. There was no real way of knowing where it was coming from, but the red Gem decided to take action and choose a path. "This way!"

She ran off again, with Isaac and Steven following her. As they ran, Isaac looked up and noted the bizarre the ship's interior was. It was mostly winding, green-tinted hallways with strange yellow tubes running parallel along the ceiling.

"How many more Gems are trapped here?" Isaac asked the red Gem, hoping that she could at least provide him with some kind of information.

"Don't know. Don't care," the Gem replied.

"Well I care!" Isaac snapped at her.

The red Gem slid to a stop, however, when the singing stopped. This seemed to alarmed her quite a bit. "She stopped singing…" she murmured, before yelling. "Sapphire!"

As she called out for her missing partner, Isaac noticed a wide window to his left and looked out it. His eyes widened as he looked upon earth and the endly inky blackness of space. Stars filled every direction he looked, with the moon orbiting around his planet. It was truly amazing, yet also truly terrifying.

"I always wanted to go to space, but…never thought it would be like this," he said to no one in particular.

"Isaac, come on!" Steven called to him. Isaac turned to see him and the red Gem were running off again. So the blonde man turned away from the window and followed after them. Easily catching up to the pair. The three of them kept running until coming to a cell in a dead-end hall. The force field was activated, and there was a Gem in it.

At first, the red Gem came to a grinding halt as she let out a relieved gasp upon seeing the Gem. However, excitement turned to disappointment when she saw who it really was. "Oh, it's just you…"

Isaac and Steven looked towards Gem inside the prison and immediately recognized the teardrop shaped gemstone on her back. "Lapis!" Steven exclaimed with a bright smile.

The Gem turns around, revealing to indeed be Lapis Lazuli. "Steven?" she asked, both surprised and oddly dismayed to see not only him, but the other hybrid. "Isaac!?"

Isaac and Steven rushed over to her, with Isaac sliding on his knees in front of the barrier. The red Gem started pacing fervently behind them. "Hang on! We're gonna get you out of there!" Isaac proclaimed, reaching for the force field.

However, Lapis abruptly backed away from him and exclaimed fearfully, "Stop!"

"It's okay," Isaac said, "I can—"

"No!" Lapis yelled at him, startling Isaac. "I don't want your help. Things are bad enough as it is. I've already made too much trouble…." She turned away, unable to even meet Isaac's concerned gaze out of her guilt. Fighting back the tears, Lapis continued. "Once we get back to Homeworld, they're going to decide what to do with us."

"Ugghhh...! I don't have time for this!" The red Gem yelled angrily and ran away to continue her search.

"Hey, wait!" Steven called after her.

"Steven, go after her!" Isaac instructed. "I'll get Lapis out of here."

"Right!" Steven nodded and ran off after the other Gem. Isaac turned back to get Lapis, but she stopped him before he could do anything.

"Isaac, whatever you're doing, just stop," Lapis cautioned him fretfully. "If we do everything they say, they might go easy on us."

"Are you kidding me?!" Isaac exclaimed, shocked and appalled by her suggestion. "After what they did to my friends? To you?"

"That's why we can't fight them." Lapis insisted.

"That's why we have to fight them." Isaac argued with bold resolve.

"You don't think I tried doing that!?" the blue Gem snapped at him with tears in her eyes. Isaac was surprised by this as she looked away from him again. "When I sent you that message, I tried to fight back. I tried to escape. To prevent all of this from happening. And look where it got me. Right back to being a prisoner. They said they'd let me go free if I told them everything I knew. I didn't…. I didn't think they hurt you…."

Isaac silently stared at her with deep sympathy as Lapis turned away and curled up. Pulling her legs to her chest morosely as she sat against the wall. "I'm sorry I led them to you, Isaac, but there are things going on that you don't understand," she said with her hair covering her eyes.

As he stared at her, Isaac desperately wanted to do something to help her. To reassure her that there was still hope. But how could he, after everything she's gone through? In the end, he sighed and stood up.

"I'll come back for you, Lapis," he said with confidence, giving the gloomy Gem a kind smile. "I will not leave you here."

Lapis said nothing as Isaac ran off, leaving her behind in her dark cell with her thoughts. Knowing full well what's going to happen when they get back to Homeworld. Her fate was more than certain, after making fools out of the Gem elites and conspiring with the rebels and the infamous Gem of War. She knew that Isaac was going to rescue his friends, but even if he didn't come back for her, that's more than okay for Lapis. She could have just wished to have spent more time with him and Steven. The only real people she cared about.

---

Isaac set out running down the hallway to try and find Steven and the red Gem. But there was no telling where he was going. All the hallways and corridors looked the same. However, he paused when the singing started again. Listening to the voice once more, Isaac was more than certain it was louder than before. He must be close to Sapphire.

Pinpointing the direction it was coming from, Isaac ran towards another part of the warship. Sure enough, as he hurriedly made his way towards the voice, the song grew louder and louder. He was certain he would find her in the prison block at the end of the hallway he was going down.

However, before he could make it, he heard a door opening and halted on his spot when three storming footsteps started coming his way. Heading towards the same place that he was at. Isaac hides against a wall, covering his glowing gemstone with his hand. Staying just out of sight of the Homeworld Gems' detection as they walked right past him.

"We can't leave yet, Citrine!" Protested Peridot as she trailed just behind Jasper.

"I've heard you," said Citrine in her cold, methodical voice. The group stopped in front of the sealed off cell that the song was coming from. "But the mission has changed."

"But the whole point of coming here was to check on the Cluster! Not to take prisoners!" She pressed, but stopped when Jasper suddenly punched the wall beside the cell.

"Stop singing!" She yelled fiercely at Sapphire. The orange Gem turned around to address Peridot. "Rose Quartz and Onyx take priority, above everything else!"

"B-But… what's so important about those two over the Cluster?" Peridot countered, forcing herself to be brazen towards the Gem warrior. Isaac's expression turned to confusion. "Yellow Diamond has been waiting for thousands of years for it to be ready–"

"I don't care!" Jasper yelled at her, making Peridot back away in fear.

"Stand down, Jasper!" Citrine growled.

"I don't take orders from you–AGH!" Jasper was cut off when Citrine grabbed her by the neck and slammed her against the wall. Lifting her off the ground as she strangled her comrade with one hand. Jasper tried to break free, but Citrine's iron grip would not let go.

"Do you really want to test that statement?" She asked, glaring at Jasper, who stopped struggling and looked away with a pissed off expression. The yellow Gem turned to a now-frightened Peridot. "Do understand, Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG, that your mission to come to this planet might have been approved by Yellow Diamond, but I'm still in charge of its success. Onyx and Rose have changed everything. Get back to the bridge and set a course for Homeworld. Am I clear?"

Peridot nodded frantically.

"And you…" she turned back to Jasper, who looked at her from the corner of her eyes. "Get your head together."

Jasper stared at her before looking away again. "Whatever." Citrine dropped her to the ground and walked off. Rubbing her neck, Jasper growled and frustration and hatred for the yellow Gem before marching away to tend to her wounded pride. Leaving a disgruntled Peridot alone in the cell block with Sapphire.

Isaac pushed himself back against the corridor when she turned around and walked his way. He remained hidden as Peridot sulked by it. "'Go to earth,' they said. 'It'll be easy,' they said," she huffed sarcastically, beyond exasperated with how her mission was ending up.

Once she had left, Isaac sighed in relief before peeking out of the corner. He then saw the Gem known as Sapphire in the cell.

She was a slender Gem, who was slightly taller than Ruby. She had periwinkle blue skin, prominent lips, and her hair was pale blue, long, and wavy, with bangs covering the top half of her face, along with her eyes. Her facial structure oddly resembled Garnet's. Her gemstone is in the palm of her right hand. Sapphire wore a floor-length gown with white, rounded, puffy sleeves, a navy top with a blue pinafore, and a blue skirt with several frilly layers in several blue shades resembling an open geode. She also wore white elbow-length evening gloves.

The elegant, almost regal and mysterious Gem looked around to ensure it was safe. Once she knew it was, she then started singing again while placing her hands together.

Seeing no other Gems around, Isaac ran over to her cell and knelt down in front of her. Sapphire stopped singing as he spoke to her. "Hey, you have a really beautiful voice, but you should probably stop before Jasper comes back," Isaac said with a smile. "Are you Sapphire?"

"You escaped…" Sapphire said, sounding surprised to see him. Isaac smiled and reached his hand out and pasted it through the force field. "Of course…"

Following in the footsteps of Steven, Isaac stepped into the force field and used his arms to create a gap in it that would allow for Sapphire to leave. "Oh God, this is really weird!" He said in a shakily voice.

Sapphire stepped through underneath Isaac's arms. "Thank you, Isaac."

"You're... welcome!" Isaac said, stepping away from the force field. He then looked at her in confusion. "How do you know my name?"

"Sapphire!" yelled the voice of the red Gem. And by how loud she was, she was definitely close.

"Come on!" Sapphire grabs Isaac's hand. Before he could react, Sapphire suddenly bolted forward and ran at incredible speed. She was going so fast that she was essentially pulling the blonde hybrid along as the halls flew by in a blur.

Sapphire suddenly came to a halt at a doorway, with Isaac stopping along with her, even though he was rather disoriented from having traveled so fast. The room they had entered was a large atrium located at the palm of the ship connecting areas in the ship's five fingers. The atrium had a skylight and a symbol with three overlapping triangles on the floor: one blue, one yellow, and one white.

"What the hell!?" Isaac yelled at her, but Sapphire didn't answer. Her focus instead was on the red Gem, who just so happened to step into the room from the other side. Following behind her was Steven, who was somewhat breathless after chasing after her.

When the red Gem saw Sapphire, she gasped in surprise. "Sapphire!" She shouted with a huge smile of relief on her face.

"Ruby!" Sapphire exclaimed, just as overjoyed to see her.

Sapphire and Ruby run towards each other, meeting in the center of the room. The two ended up ramming into each other and embracing each other. Wrapping their arms tightly around each other in a desperate hug that they refused to break with as they passionately kissed each other. Steven and Isaac walked into the room and stood next to each other, watching the couple.

Eventually, the two broke apart their hug, but did not dare break physical contact with each other. Not wanting to be separated again. "Did they hurt you?" Ruby asked, gently caressing her lover's cheek.

"No, no, I'm okay. Did they hurt you?" Sapphire asked, placing her hand on top of Ruby's.

"Who cares!?" Ruby laughed joyfully as she started tearing up.

"I do!" Sapphire exclaimed with a bright smile.

Sapphire kisses Ruby's tears away, which Isaac found to be cute. He'll have to remember that if Pearl ever cries again. In their moment of happiness, Ruby picked up Sapphire and started spinning her around. The pair laughed and twirled around together in joy. And that's when something amazing happened. In their loose, ecstatic, love-fueled dance, they started to glow in bright harmony and their forms started to merge. Isaac and Steven watched as their laughter and bodies merged together into an amorphous white blob of light. And it was from that fusion that a questionably family figure would emerge.

Garnet.

Isaac and Steven stared at her in stunned shock as she landed in front of him, happy to be herself again. Garnet continued to wear the same bodysuit, but with a different color scheme and pattern. As opposed to crimson and black, her bodysuit became more colorful. Her right half was covered in a midnight stocking, and her left was covered in a dark orchid stocking. Her skin tone also changed, now a soft cerise color rather than red. The star on her top's color also changed - instead of a pink star with a magenta outline, it became an amaranth-colored star with a soft-pink outline. Her hair was changed from black to dark-purple and became shorter and smaller than before. Her shoulder pads were pear-like instead of cube-like, and both were a dark orchid color as well as her arms and gloves.

"Steven! Isaac! Thank you!" She exclaimed, smiling as big as she could.

Steven gasped. "Garnet! You're a fusion!?"

Garnet nodded with an awkward chuckle. "Aw, I'm sorry. We didn't want you meeting us here like this."

"Well, did I make a good first impression?" Steven asked her.

"Oh Steven." Garnet carefully placed her hand on Steven's cheek. "We already love you." She said to him sincerely, making him smile. Garnet then looked to Isaac, who stared at her with a seemingly blank expression. "We love you too…"

When she reached out to do the same she did with Steven, Isaac backed away. His expression turned into a light frown. This action surprised Garnet and Steven, with the Gem Leader standing up with a worried expression.

"Isaac?"

Working up the courage, Isaac looked at her with a hurt expression. "Garnet, why didn't you tell me the truth about mom?"

This surprised Garnet. However, she realized it was only fair of him to ask her that. Citrine told him what she's been hiding from the hybrid. What they've all been hiding from him. Things Rose would have wanted to keep hidden from him.

"Isaac…"

"Where are they!?" Their conversation was brought to a sudden stop when the three of them heard the outraged shouting of Jasper.

"It's Jasper." Garnet growled out her name as she clenched her fists.

"What are we gonna do?!" Steven exclaimed with a frightened expression.

Isaac thought for a moment, before turning to the young Gem. "Steven, find the others and get to the control bridge," he ordered him, taking charge of the situation.

"But I don't know where they are," Steven said. He knew where Lapis was, but the others will be harder to find. But this was solved by Garnet. The Gem Leader kissed Steven's forehead, and he let out a gasp as his mind was given a vision that guided him down the halls of the hand ship to where Amethyst and Pearl were being held. "Future vision...!"

Garnet stood up and turned to Isaac. "Isaac, go with Steven," she said.

"Sorry, but that's not happening," Isaac said, summoning his sword.

"Isaac, it's too dangerous." Garnet argued.

"They wanted the Gem of War, well I'm going to give them what they want," Isaac told her with determination. "Steven, get going. We'll meet up with you once we've taken care of Jasper and Citrine."

Steven nodded and ran off to complete his mission. He left just in time, as Jasper then entered the room and Garnet turned to face her. Citrine then entered from the other way and Isaac turned to face her.

"Oh great. You're both out?" Jasper grumbled in disgust and disdain for Garnet. "And you're fused again?"

Garnet and Isaac were back to take as they faced both opponents. "Once again, you stand to fight. I should expect nothing else for you, general," Citrine said with a hint of admiration in her cold voice. "But you know how futile this fight is, don't you? Once the Diamonds know that you're alive, there's nothing that's going to stop them from destroying you."

"Then we'll just make sure they don't know about me," Isaac said, getting into a fighting stance with Garnet doing the same.

As she faced the fusion sneered in amusement. "Why would you even bother fusing again? Fusion is just a cheap tactic to make weak Gems stronger. Quit embarrassing yourselves! I've seen what you really are."

Garnet simply chucked at this. "No, you haven't," she said with a smirk, summoning her visors on her face. Her shades, instead of pale-orange and white, became a soft-pink and pale-blue.

Citrine and Jasper looked over the two Crystal Gems at each other and nodded. They then started circling around them. Jasper pulled out a Gem Destabilizer, as Citrine summoned her chained kunai. Isaac and Garnet took defensive stances.

The fight truly began as Jasper charged towards Garnet and Citrine launched her kunai at Isaac.

"Switch!" Isaac yelled.

In an instant, Isaac and Garnet swapped positions. Isaac used his sword to destroy the Gem Destabilizer with a single slash of his sword. Garnet summoned her gauntlets and swatted the kunai away in midair. This surprised the Homeworld Gems. Jasper then growled and tried to punch Isaac, but the young man fluently dodged it with ease.

Citrine charged in and rushed Garnet. Attacking her with slashing attacks that Garnet either dodged or deflected with her gauntlets. Both combatants were equal in strength, yet Garnet found herself having to be careful with Citrine lightning fast speed. Isaac jumped back as Jasper tried to punch him again, before slashing her with his sword. This enraged her and she started throwing wild, angry, uncalculated punches that Isaac continuously avoided.

"Switch!" Garnet shouted.

In an instant, Isaac jumped over Jasper and Garnet flipped back, avoiding another slash. As Garnet turned around and came down towards Jasper, the orange Gem summoned her helmet. Isaac raised his sword as he came towards Citrine, who grabbed her chain.

Isaac and Garnet attacked the duo at the same time, with the Homeworld Gems blocking their attack.

---

Pearl sat in her cell with her back against the wall. Amethyst was in the cell next to her, both Gems were dejected and resigned themselves to their fates. Pearl was the most depressed, realizing that she wasn't even going to see Isaac again. If the Diamonds thought he was Onyx, they weren't going to spare him, nor Steven. How she wishes to be in his arms again.

"Guys!"

Pearl gasped when she heard the familiar voice of Rose's son. Turning her head to look outside the cell, she was shocked to see Steven running to her and Amethyst. "Steven?!" She exclaimed.

"You're here!" Amethyst happily said.

"Where's Isaac?" Pearl asked anxiously, worried what Citrine might be doing to him. "Is he safe?"

"He's fine. He stayed behind to fight Citrine and Jasper," Steven said, trying to reassure her. However, this had the opposite effect.

"ALONE?!" Pearl shouted.

"No, no, no!" Steven quickly said, waving his hands in front of himself after realizing his mistake. "He's with Garnet. He told me to get you two and get to the control room."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Amethyst punched her palm. Ready to get out and get payback.

And so, Steven used his ability to slip through the energy field to get Pearl and Amethyst out of their cells. With the two Gems with him, the three of them followed Isaac's orders and rushed to the bridge. Upon arriving, they find Peridot inside, seated at the control panel.

"It's about time. We're ready to…" Peridot turned around, expecting to see her escort. However, the green Gem let out an appalled gasp when she saw the prisoners. "What the-!?"

She quickly pulled a Gem Destabilizer from the console and prepared to attack. However, Steven, knowing that it wouldn't work on him, rushed forward. Peridot swung the weapon at him, only for Steven to quickly grapple the Gem Stabilizer. The only thing he suffered were the yellow currents on his arms. Peridot gasped seeing that she was unable to be poof him. Giving Pearl and Amethyst the opening to subdue her.

---

At the same time, the battle in the atrium raged on. Both Garnet and Jasper threw blows back and forth, while Isaac and Citrine clashed swords at incredible speed. Pearl's training is working wonders for him. However, he was no match for the yellow Gem's defenses. Using her chain to block his sword, Citrine proved to be a challenge for the new Gem of War. But Isaac's smaller size was his biggest advantage against her.

After being blocked again, Isaac quickly summoned another sword and slashed across Citrine's chest. Citrine grunted in pain, backing away from him while holding her chest. The cut was deep, but not enough to poof her. She growled and started swinging her chained kunai at him like a wipe.

Garnet landed a few punches on Jasper's face, but the orange Gem grabbed her arm and flailed her onto the ground, sending her crashing to the floor and cracking it. Garnet picked herself up to face Jasper charging at her.

---

"Don't touch that!" ordered Peridot, struggling to wriggle free from Amethyst's whip, which was retraining her. However, she wasn't going anywhere, as the purple Gem was keeping her under her boot. She scowled at Pearl who was standing at the controls of the ship. "You clods don't know what you're doing!"

"You got this, Pearl!" Amethyst encouraged her fellow Gem.

"Okay, ship. Turn us around!" Pearl said, thrusting her hands into the ship's control panel. She gasped as her eyes flashed in awe with data flowing through her. At the same time, Steven glanced at the ship's surveillance and saw Garnet and Isaac still fighting against Isaac and Jasper.

---

Isaac was jumping and rolling out of the way of the chained kunai as it ripped apart the floor. At the same time, Garnet struggled to hold Jasper back as the orange Gem pushed her across the floor with her battle helmet.

Garnet was able to break the deadlock by punching Jasper's stomach, sending her flying up to the glass ceiling. But the orange Gem wasn't out of the fight yet. Her body instantly charged with electrical energy as she curled up into a rapidly spinning ball for a moment before she launched herself at Garnet. Slamming into Garnet while the Gem leader blocked the blunt of the attack with her gauntlets. However, the force of the attack caused them to break through the floor. Resulting in Isaac falling through the hole with them.

They continued to fall through several floors before they plowed into the engine room. Isaac landed hard on the floor, but wasn't dead, surprisingly. He groaned in pain as he rolled on his front and looked around his new surroundings. The engine room contained a spherical green engine in one of the walls. Dozens of small tubes protruded from the engine and branched off into all parts of the ship. These tubes could be seen clearly on hallway ceilings.

"You okay, Garnet?" He asked, groaning in pain as he picked himself up.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Garnet said, getting up. However, her future vision suddenly alarmed her. "Look out!"

Isaac looked up to see Citrine diving towards him. He quickly rolled out of the way before the yellow Gem could crush his head like a melon with her foot. Both he and Garnet got back up, with the Gem leader facing Jasper, who cruelly smirked, and Isaac facing Citrine, who remained stoic.

"Once I beat this freak, I'm coming for you, Onyx," Jasper said with a menacing grin. "I've been wanting that title of yours for a long time."

"That is, if you can beat us," Garnet said, referring to herself as she summoned her gauntlets. Isaac summoned his sword, prepared to finish this fight once and for all. And so it continued.

Isaac blocked all of Citrine's stabs and slashes as Garnet beat back Jasper's thrusts. However, during one block, Isaac was delivered a brutal kick to the chest. Sending him flying back onto the ground. He jumped back to his feet before Citrine could wipe at him with her kunai. Jumping back to his feet, he swiped at her head, but Citrine dodged them with ease. Isaac then rushed at the yellow Gem, but she was ready for any attack he came at her with.

But she wasn't ready for Isaac shouting, "Switch!"

Isaac slid under Citrine's legs, nearly tripping the Gem, before Garnet punched her in the back. Sending her flying back as Isaac rushed at Jasper. Seeing his opportunity, as the orange Gem was too stunned to react, Isaac jumped in, formed his sword into a war hammer, and bashed it into the side of Jasper's head. Breaking the visors of her helmet.

He jumped back and reformed his sword. Smirking in amusement at her fury. "Are you sure that's all you can do?" He asked mockingly. "I was hoping for more of a fight."

This made her really mad and she madly charged at him with another spin-dash. But Isaac dodged out of the way as Jasper crashed into the wall. Resulting in an explosion from the collision.

"Jasper, control yourself!" Citrine shouted as she dodged Garnet's punches. "You'll damage the ship!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Jasper shouted and threw herself back at Isaac again. Isaac jumped over her and watched as Jasper started spin-dashing around the room. Looking back at the engine, Isaac suddenly had an idea.

"Hey, Jasper! You want to be the new Gem of War? You're going to have to kill the first, and only one!" He said, throwing his arms out in a mocking way.

Jasper roared in fury and charged at Isaac t in full force. Isaac, however, made his sword disappear and caught Jasper's head-on attack by grabbing her squarely by the helmet. Stopping her right in her tracks.

"And by the way, it's not general," he said, smirking at her enraged face. "It's Isaac. Isaac Infinite!"

Isaac hurled Jasper at the ship's power source. The results were immediate. Jasper was painfully shocked by the electricity before the core overflowed and caused it to explode that knocked Isaac, Garnet, and even Citrine over. The explosion jerks the entire ship as it tore a massive hole in the ship. Causing Steven, Peridot, Amethyst, and Pearl to stumble and jostle, with the green Gem being released from under the purple one's foot.

In the engine room, Isaac was nearly sucked out into space if it wasn't for Garnet. With her strength, she pulled him towards the doorway. "We've got to get off the ship!" She yelled, closing the door behind her.

"Get the others off the ship!" Isaac said before running off down the hall. "I've got to get Lapis!"

---

No longer trapped under Amethyst, Peridot, still tied up, crawled away in the chaos. She then hit her head against the floor, which caused a lime and electric-green spherical escape pod with a window located at the front to form around her. Amethyst tried to stop her, but failed when Peridot sank into the floor. The rapidly-descending ship then flinged the escape pad back onto Earth.

Steven, Amethyst, and Pearl watched out the window as the ship continued its freefall. But Peridot would have to wait for another day, because right now, they were still inside a ship that was tearing itself apart. At that moment, Garnet enters the control bridge.

"Garnet!" Steven, Amethyst, and Pearl gasped in surprise. Relieved to see her.

"This ship is going down!" She yelled.

"What about Isaac?" Steven asked, not seeing his brother come in with her.

"Don't worry, he's going after Lapis," Garnet said.

---

As the ship continued to fall towards the earth, Isaac ran as fast as he could towards Lapis's cell. But it wasn't easy. The ship was violently lurching and shaking as it reentered the atmosphere. However, he was able to reach the hallway she was in.

Looking down the hallway, he saw Lapis was still curled up inside her cell, forlorn and dejected.

"Lapis!" Isaac called out to her. Hearing her name, Lapis looked up and saw him.

She gasped in shock. "Isaac!?"

Isaac smiled and was about to run to her when the roof over his head was ripped away. The air inside the hallway was sucked out of the ship, with Isaac being lifted up and then pulled out of the falling ship.

"ISAAC!" Lapis screamed when seeing her friend being pulled up.

Outside, Isaac was nearly away if it wasn't for his sword. He summoned the weapon and stabbed it into the hull of the ship. Looking around, Isaac saw that he was on the palm of the hand. The sun was starting to rise over the horizon, and the ship was heading straight for the hill the temple was carved into.

Seeing no other opinion Isaac let go of the ship and started falling towards the sea. Using his magic, he conjured his gray bubble just as the once mighty warship crash-landed on the hill of the Crystal Temple, its thumb sliding off and onto the sand. He watched as the entire ship detonated in a massive explosion, just as his bubble hit the water.

As rubble and debris of all shapes and sizes poured over the surrounding area, Isaac popped his bubble, plunging his body into the icy cold water of the beach. Extremely worried about the others, he started swimming back to shore.

The beach was now littered with broken pieces of the ship, with green fire dotting around the pieces. When Isaac came back to shore, he was panting exhaustion before he felt something breathing on his head. He looked up and saw none other than Lion. The pink cat had seen the ship crash and wasted no time running down to find his master, only to find Isaac. "Hey, buddy," Isaac said, petting his head. Isaac then stood up and looked around. "Alright, we've got to find Steven and the others."

No sooner did he say that, Lion rushed over to a cluster of debris. He unleashed a powerful sonic roar that blew away the rubble, unraveling the Crystal Gems inside Steven's bubble shield.

"Guys!" Isaac yelled, running over to them.

No longer under the rubble, Steven dropped the bubble. He then looked up and saw Isaac running towards him and the others. "Isaac! You're okay!" He said jumping up and running to him. However, when another member of the team saw him, she bolted at him at high speeds.

"Isaac!" Pearl cried tearfully, jumping into Isaac's arms. Caught off guard, Isaac twirled around with Pearl before stopping. She then jumped up, wrapped her arms and legs around him and pulled him into an almost bruising kiss that Isaac certainly returned. They pulled away and Isaac set Pearl back down as Steven came and hugged the young man. Amethyst joined in on the fun, hugging him as well while Garnet walked over and gave both hybrids a small smile.

"Nice one," she said, placing a hand on Steven's head.

Steven gasped and let go of Isaac as he remembered what had happened on the ship earlier. "Oh my gosh! I can't believe you're a fusion all the time!" He exclaimed excitedly.

"You met Ruby and Sapphire?!" Amethyst asked in surprise.

"Oh no! We were going to introduce you. Garnet, your plan!" Pearl replied dejectedly.

"We were waiting for your birthday," explained Garnet.

"We can still do it! I'll just pretend I didn't know!" Steven offered an alternative.

Isaac warmly laughed at him, certainly glad that the experience they went through hadn't diminished his spirit. However, he looked at Garnet. The Gem leader's smile dropped when she turned to him as saw his scowl. Taking off her visors, she stared into his eyes with a guilt-filled expression. An expression that was shared by the other Gems.

"Were you going to wait for my birthday to tell me?" Isaac asked sarcastically.

"Isaac," she began, her tone gentle. "I know you have a lot of questions, and I know that we haven't been truthful with you, but I want you to know that it was to–"

Garnet was suddenly cut off when a hand emerged from the rubble, breaking the moment. This startled the others, who turned to see none other than Jasper bursting out from the burning wreckage of the ship, panting heavily. Disheveled and injured from her fight with Isaac and Garnet, she limbed forward before falling to her knees.

It went from bad to worse when a piece of debris was lifted off the ground and thrown to the side. It was Citrine, also looking worse for wear. The yellow Gem glared at Isaac and the Gem, before looking around at the wreckage of the ship.

"Unfortunate," she said in a hiss.

As for her brutish companion, Jasper looked up and glared at the Gems and hybrid with all her hatred. "Don't think you've won," she growled in a threatening tone, scowling at Garnet and Isaac. "You only beat me 'cause you had that fusion!"

Citrine walked over to her partner, without taking her eyes off Isaac and his friends. "The mission is a failure," she said. "Protocol states that we are to report to Homeworld immediately."

"What?!" Jasper yelled furiously, jumping to her feet. "We can't just run away!"

"We're without a ship and outnumbered."

"Then fuse with me!"

Citrine turned to her in shock and disgust. "What?"

"You heard me!" Jasper exclaimed with almost vicious glee. "If we fuse together, we can beat them!"

"You are out of line, Jasper," Citrine growled, turning her body to fully face Jasper. "We are far beyond our borders. We're down a teammate, and now we're outnumbered. As team leader of this mission, you'll follow my orders and do as I say. Is that clear–"

All of a sudden, Jasper punched Citrine, sending her flying back into the rubble. "I'm done taking orders from a Citrine!" the orange Gem screamed in fury. "I don't need you! If I had someone to fuse with I'd–" Jasper paused her ranting when another pile of rubble started to move.

From it emerged Lapis, before she fell onto her knees, exhausted.

"Lapis!" Isaac exclaimed.

"I-Isaac?" Lapis gasped, her eyes widening when she glanced over to him. However, her relief turned to fear upon seeing Jasper was still alive and was rushing at her. She then attempted to fly away, but Jasper quickly grabbed her leg.

"Come here, brat!" Jasper snarled, pulling Lapis back down and kept her in a right grip by holding up her wrist. "Aw, don't fly off so soon."

"Lapis!" Steven cried and tried to run over to Lapis, but Amethyst stopped him.

"Put her down, Jasper!" Isaac yelled in anger, but Pearl stopped him from going any further by grabbing his shoulder.

Jasper ignored the hybrids as she held the water Gem up to her face. "Lapis, listen, fuse with me!" she said with a sinister sneer.

"W-What?!" Lapis asked, completely taken off guard by such a request.

"How long did they keep you trapped here on this miserable hunk of rock?" Jasper asked, dropping Lapis onto the ground. The blue Gem looked up at Isaac and Steven as the Crystal Gems hubbled around them. "These Gems, they're traitors to their Homeworld. They kept you prisoner. They used you. This is your chance to take revenge!"

Steven, whose expression was awash with great terror and dress. Lapis then noticed Isaac and how he looked at her. His expression was will with desperation. A desperation he only ever felt a few times in his life as he looked beggingly at her.

"Come on, just say yes." Jasper purred with a smirk of pure evil.

"Lapis, don't do it!" Steven shouted fearfully, as Amethyst was having to hold him back.

It was the same thing with Isaac, whose hand was being held by her. She anchored herself to the beach to keep him from going any further. "Lapis, please, don't do this," he began with a soft voice while he pleaded with her. "Lapis, I'm sorry for what happened to you. I know my apology wouldn't make for the Gems keeping you in that mirror, or for you becoming a prisoner of Homeworld, but you can't go with her. Please, come with us. It's not too late to make the right choice."

After his speech to her, Lapis pondered for a moment on her own. Both hybrids, the first real friends she's ever known, stared at her in fear of what she'd do. She looked at Isaac with wide, sad eyes. Lapis took in a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment.

"I'm sorry, Isaac."

Isaac's heart sank when he heard those words.

Lapis opened her eyes again for a moment as she hardened her resolve. Refusing to look at Isaac, knowing that it would make her turn back, Lapis then turned, and with a cold expression, offered her hand to Jasper.

Jasper grinned in a sinister, insidious way and grabbed Lapis' hand.

"Noooooo!" Steven shouted in horror, while Isaac remained silent. Gripping Pearl's hand as tight as he could, the blonde could only watch as Jasper and Lapis performed a fusion dance together, ending with the orange Gem gently dipping the water Gem. Both of their gemstones started to glow as Jasper turned her head to Isaac. A cruel, sadistic grin showed on her face as she believed she finally won against the Gem of War.

The two beings begin to fuse into a blob of white light. Emerging from the rubble, Citrine watched as the blob grew larger and grew multiple pairs of arms. Before long, the fusion was complete and the light went away. Revealing its true form to the frightened Crystal Gems.

This fusion was unlike anything Isaac had ever seen. It was colossal, possessing six arms, of which the lower four function as the legs. She had four eyes with light green irises and pointed teeth. Her first set of eyes functions as eyebrows. Her wavy, pale-green hair, styled in a star-like shape, was a mixture of Lapis' short bob-like hair and the wild, frizzy hair of Jasper'. Her skin was turquoise with dark green stripes, and its pattern was similar to Jasper's. She had two torsos joined, similar to a Centaur. Her upper torso and arms are longer and more slender while her lower torso and four limbs are more muscular. The upper half of her outfit, which was a deep-green and greenish-black stretched halter top, had a pattern like Lapis' suit with a neckline like Jasper's while its lower half was a greenish-black "uniform" similar to Jasper's with a V-neck "collar" that connected to form a Yellow Diamond insignia, serving as a waistband for her upper torso.

Opening her eyes, the fusion grinned sadistically at the frightened Crystal Gems. "Yes! YES!" She said, her voice sounding similar to Jasper's. "This is power! Try and beat me now, Gem of War! You're no match for… Malachite!"

Malachite started cackling menacingly as she raised her arm, summoning a water arm from the ocean. Ready to attack the Crystal Gems and finally destroy them. Isaac summoned his sword to fight back, which made Malachite laugh even more. She moved her arm to bring it down and attack.

However, before she could, the water arm suddenly grabbed Malachite's waist and turned into a shackle, with chains that were still connected to the ocean.

"Huh?" She exclaimed in surprise at this. Before Malachite had time to react, another column of water reached out of the water and grabbed her other wrist, becoming another shackle. "What!?" She gasped, her lower eyes widened with alarm, especially when a set of water chains shot out and wrapped around her torso and neck.

Lowering his sword, Isaac watched alongside the Gems as Malachite groaned in discomfort, struggling to break free. They had no idea what was going on, especially as the water chains started pulling the rogue fusion towards the sea. Malachite again tried to pull away from the chains, but it was futile.

"What are you doing?!" Malachite asked herself hotly in Jasper's voice. However, that voice changed as Lapis's lighter voice took over. Speaking just as fiercely, she said, "I'm done being everyone's prisoner. Now you're my prisoner! And I'm never letting you GO!" She shouted as two more water arms grabbed Malachite's lower hide legs and started pulling her into the ocean.

Malachite kept groaning in distress as she was dragged across the sands of the shore. Her proving to be unbreakable despite her struggling. As Malachite's body entered into the water, Jasper desperately tried to unfuse from Lapis, but the water Gem refused to let her go. Lapis was going to keep Jasper a prison inside of their fusion.

"Lapis!" Steven called over the unstable fusion as he and the group ran to the shore. The Crystal Gems were completely dumbfounded, as Isaac shouted to his friend.

"Lapis, don't do this!" He yelled to her, reaching out his arm to her.

For a moment, Malachite stopped struggling as her head remained above the water. Through the fusion, Lapis stared at him. "I'm sorry, Isaac. You and Steven saved me once before. It's time I return the favor," she said grunting as Jasper kept trying to fight back. Lapis returned to the task at hand and talked to her other half. "What do you say, Jasper? Let's stay on this miserable planet... TOGETHER!"

And just like that Malachite disappeared into the ocean as her head slipped beneath the surface.

No one said anything as the green fires burned all around them. Making the wreckage from the hand ship glow. The Crystal Gems stared at where Malachite's last position was in shock. The moment was only broken when Garnet put her shades back on and said, "Yikes. They are really bad for each other."

"Indeed," said Citrine, calming walking to the shore, keeping her distance away from the Crystal Gems. She stared out at the ocean with a disappointed and disgusted expression.

"You." Isaac hissed in fury, turning to the yellow and black Gem. He stood ready to attack her for what she's done and her involvement in causing Malachite.

Citrine looked at him with her cold expression. She made no attempt to summon her weapon. No moves to attack the exhausted Gem. Citrine only gave them one final cryptic message. "Let me be clear. This is far from over."

And then, with an ability that none of the veteran Crystal Gems saw, Citrine disappeared into thin air.

After witnessing their deadly enemy turn invisible, the group remained quiet. "So…that's it?" Steven asked with a somewhat hopeful grin. "We won, right?... Right?"

No one agreed with him. After her boyfriend made his sword disappear, Pearl grabbed onto Isaac's arm gently, her expression downcast. Amethyst turned back to the sea, unsure of how to even react to Malachite. Garnet looked down slightly, troubled by Citrine's abilities and the fact that they now had two Homeworld Gems on the loose on Earth, and a rogue and extremely unstable fusion in the ocean.

Grasping Pearl's hand and interlocking their fingers, Isaac just stood in silence. His brain used what little energy he had left to come to terms with everything that had just happened in the last few hours. Nothing was real anymore. What was supposed to be him learning about his Gem heritage turned into him learning of an even bigger plot going on. Everything he was told about his mother was now being called into question after learning about the lies he's been told. And now, he just lost a friend to a monster.

Everything Isaac knew had changed, and now he had to adapt a new way of life that he was not prepared for.

"No," Isaac said in a somber tone. "I think we're just getting started."

A new war might have just begun.

End of Act 2

---

Thank you very much for reading, Gem of War will return.