Forced Fusion, Gone Right?

36: The Cluster Part Two

Whispering was heard all around him. Steven opened his eyes. All Steven saw was a dark plane, with dozens of shards, in the distance he saw...

"Labradorite?" Steven called, she didn't seem to hear him, instead she was in a conversation with a couple shards around her.

Suddenly a shard flew past him slowly, muttering the words, "want to... need to..." "you...want to? Want to what?" Steven asked. A bright light emitted from the gems. "FORM!" The shards said in unison, making Steven yelled. "Please stop!" Steven yelled, making the shards return back to their dormant dark state, still murmuring the "want to... need to..."  phrase.

"It's the cluster." Steven muttered. "Of course it is." Labradorite spoke surprisingly right next to him, making the boy jump. "What other being that you know has dozens of shards chanting the same phrase." Labradorite sassed.

"I'm talking to the cluster!?" Steven freaked out, Labradorite gave Steven a dead expression muttering a "What did I just say?"

"But how did I get inside your brain? Brains?" Steven asked as the shards began to chat again, just slightly louder, making Steven realize. "Wait! Please, don't take form!" Steven pleaded.

The shards began to glow blindly bright, repeating the word, "FORM! FORM! FORM!" Over and over before becoming quiet and dim once again.

"Perhaps, instead of forming, you could do something else?" Steven says getting a not so nice answer of "FORM!" And a bright blinding light.

"Boy, you've sure got the one trickiest mind I've ever met!" Steven comments, holding the sides of his head. "NEED FORM!" the shards growled as Steven grunted at the volume.

"TO BE WHOLE!" The shards spoke. "Whole?" Steven repeated with a slight realization. A shard floated over to Steven and another floated to Labradorite. Labradorite looked at the two shards as Steven was stuck pondering.

"Oh you're shards... you just want to find the rest of your gems..." Steven said. "But forming won't help you find the rest of yourselves!" Steven yelled to the vast space of gems. "You'll just destroy the earth!" The vast amount of shards started to repeat "no."  As if they didn't want it to happen.

"But, if you want to find other gems there are so many of you right here." Labradorite said floating over to two floating shards. "Look, shard meet shard." Labradorite spoke pushing one shard next to another with care.

"Have to..." Once shard said. "Want to..." the other spoke. "See you already have so much to talk about!" Steven encouraged. Soon the other shards began to talk with one another and the atmosphere turned bright. "This is great, you don't even need to form! You can just stay here!" Steven smiled, Labradorite was about to mention something until the cluster of shards yelled "CAN'T STOP!! HELP! HELP!"

"It's okay! If I just bubble you, you won't have to come out!" Steven said, bubbling a shard next to him. "It'll keep you safe, here look like this!" Steven said, bubbling another shard and another and another. "I'm sorry! I can't do it alone! Labradorite could you help?" Steven asked, turning beside him to see Labradorite already bubbling gems in a pastel blue bubble.

Suddenly Steven woke up. Steven opened his eyes to see Peridot infront of him, a worried look in her eyes. "Steven, wake up!" Peridot said as Steven opened his eyes.

  "It doesn't want to form!" Steven yelled. "What?" Peridot asked in confusion. "We got to put it in a bubble!" Steven shouted, "or... maybe not..." Steven jumped at the voice of Labradorite. Peridot turned to the opening screen to see the Cluster already bubbling itself.

<---->

The drill crawled out of the hole it had made, flopping down on the ground. The opening opened and the three gems fell out. Peridot and Steven quickly got up. Peridot and Steven hugged each other. "You did it!" Peridot yelled happily.

"We did it together and it was great!" Steven says before the warp pad in the distance went off. Steven immediately went running for it. Peridot looked down at Labradorite, who was still, laying face down.

"Are you okay Labby?" Labradorite only let out a groan, letting Peridot know she was still awake. Peridot walked over to the front of Labradorite's body and lifted her head to reveal a tired, half dead look on Labradorite's face. Peridot lifted Labradorite's body, helping the drowsy gem sit with her back press against the drill.

"I cannot keep pushing myself to the limit." Labradorite groaned, her chest rising up and down as she breathed unevenly, trying to catch her breath. Peridot turned and sat down as if waiting for something.

"Peri?" Labradorite asked, blinking at her position. "Get on my back, you are obviously unwell." Labradorite was slightly shocked but didn't complain. With slight difficulty, Labradorite managed to get on Peridot's back.

Peridot placed her arms under Labradorite's legs and shakily stood. Once Peridot stood fully up, she congratulated herself and snickered. Before walking over to the crystal gems. Once Peridot made it with Labradorite the gems seemed to be in the middle of a conversation.

"You look happy! Did you destroy the Cluster?" Pearl asked. "No, I talked with it." Steven smiled brightly. "What?" Pearl asked at the gems wore either shocked or confused faces.

"It doesn't want to destroy the earth. It just wants company, and it's got it now. It's like a bajillion people!" Steven smiled widely. "They'll have lots of time to get to know eachother, now that their in a bubble." Steven explained with a large smile on his face. "How on earth did you bubble that whole thing!?" Pearl yelled "We had a little help." Steven smiled.

Pearl looked over to Labradorite and how her eye drooped and her head rested against Peridot's triangular hair. "Is Labradorite going to be okay?" Pearl asked, eyeing said gem. "She is unwell yes, but Perhaps maybe some time resting could help her, I hope..." Peridot muttered tapping Labradorite's legs lightly.

[A/n: IT'S THE END OF THE CLUSTER ARC!!!!]