Hey guys! We're back with Steven and the gang as they just found Eilat and just saw Jasper. What will happen to all of them now you may ask? We'll find out but first, I just wanted to say the picture for this chapter was made by Kiwi. Her art work is awesome and it's always great to see it. Anyway, let's jump in and find out what happens! :D
-Luna's POV-
The moment we all saw Jasper, Amber growled and took a step towards her. Immediately, everybody grabbed her and managed to duck behind a rock wall with amber in tow. Amber struggled against all of our grips, whispering, "Let me go! I need to take her out!"
"Not yet!" I whispered. "We need to wait for an opening or else Eilat could get hurt." Amber stopped struggling, realizing what I said. She sighed and nodded. We all peeked around the corner and saw Jasper was walking towards Eilat's cage. She leaned against the side of the cage and looked inside. She smirked, "Having fun in there?"
"Leave me alone, Jasper," They all heard Eilat say. Jasper snickered, saying, "Not going to happen. Your going to help me revert these gems back to themselves."
"I've told you once, and I'll keep telling you," at this, we all could see Eilat move towards the front of the cage. They glared at Jasper and said, "I don't know what caused this corruption and I don't know how to revert it. Just because I'm known for being a strategist and being an elite gem on Homeworld, doesn't mean I have every answer."
Jasper growled and ripped one of the metal bars off the cave. Jasper grabbed Eilat's wrist and forced them out of the cave. Jasper dragged Eilat behind her as she walked over to a corrupted gem, one of the gems Steven and I saw on our mission to the north. She stood in front of the barred cave and said, "You try to escape, your instantly crushed."
Jasper let go of Eilat's hand and took a step towards the corrupted gem in the cage. Eilat glanced at us, worry written on their face. Circo, Steven, Amber, Onyx, Peridot, Amethyst and myself stayed where we were, listening to what Jasper was saying. The corrupted gem within the cage roared at Jasper but Jasper kicked the cage, saying, "Pipe down!"
We all softly gasped, watching Jasper, she looked directly at the gem, saying, "You take orders from me now! You used to be a Quartz too, didn't you? What happened to you? Tch. Disgraceful. I can't believe I've resorted to recruiting you freaks! You're almost as bad as that puny version of Circa and that Crystal runt."
Circo and Amethyst growled, Amethyst gripping her whip and Circo pulling his sword out. I glared at them, letting them know not to move. I turned back towards Jasper as she said, "Just look at you. This planet ruins everything! Well, except for me."
"Full of herself much?" I muttered. Peridot nodded, saying, "We should head back to the temple and get everybody else. The more gems the better."
Onyx nodded and I turned to look at everybody. But quickly realized that Circo and Amethyst were gone. I looked back at Steven and the others, whispering, "Circo and Amethyst are gone!"
They looked at me in shock and quickly looked around. Onyx looked up and pointed. We all followed her finger and saw Circo and Amethyst walking slowly along the side of the rock wall ledge, getting closer and closer to Jasper. I looked at Eilat, who was staring at Circo and Amethyst in shock. Jasper didn't seem to notice and I looked at her nervously. Jasper continued talking, saying, "I'll never let this planet twist me like it twisted you. Your weakness embarrasses Homeworld. You suffer because it's what you deserve! We all only get what we deserve. Right, Circa and Amethyst?!"
Circo and Amethyst lost their concentration and fell from the ledge, Circo landing on top of Amethyst. The two quickly stood up as Jasper said, annoyed, "What do you want, runts? You here for a rematch?"
"We're here to win!" Amethyst shouted. Circo nodded and Jasper chuckled, "You two were fated to lose – the moment you came out wrong and the moment you reformed yourself." She gestured to Amethyst and Circo accordingly. I gritted my teeth and looked at Steven. He nodded and we both rushed out towards Circo and Amethyst, Steven saying, "That's not true!"
"Rose and Lucine," Jasper said, looking at Steven and I. She smirked and said, " Of course. Your lackeys never stray far. And why would they? They have no place in this, or any world!"
"What do you mean?" I asked, annoyed. Jasper grinned wickedly, "Every gem is made for a purpose – to serve the order of the Diamonds. Those who cannot fit inside this order must be purged! To come out misshapen, to reshape yourself outside your purpose, and to defend this ruined, worthless planet is a disgrace!"
"This planet isn't all bad!" We all heard. We both turned and saw Onyx and Peridot stepping out from where they were. Peridot gasped and ducked behind the rock wall. Onyx was too scared to move. Jasper narrowed her eyes at them and said, "What are you two doing here?"
Onyx swallowed and Peridot came out from the wall. The two glanced at each other, before shouting, "We're....we're Crystal Gems now!"
Without saying a word, Jasper summoned her helmet and glared at Onyx and Peridot. Onyx flinched and Peridot shouted, "I'm not afraid of you! I've got metal powers! I'll show you!"
Peridot moved her hands up towards a metal pole that was sticking out from a cave a ledge above her. She concentrated on it but it wouldn't budge. Steven and I glanced nervously at one another and Amethyst groaned. Jasper glared at Onyx and said, "What? You want to try something, runt?"
Onyx flinched but summoned a dagger. She charged at Jasper, dashing past Circo, Amethyst, Steven and I. Amber came out from behind the wall and shouted, "NO!"
But it was too late. Onyx reached Jasper and, faster then any one of us could see, Jasper head butted Onyx and sent her flying into the wall. She dropped her dagger and fell to the ground, not moving. Amber rushed towards her, placing a hand on her back and checking her gem. Jasper looked around and asked, "Anybody else got something to say?"
"No! It's just us," I said. But Amethyst shouted, "Guys! Stay out of this!"
Amethyst picked up Steven and threw him back. Circo lifted an arm and a wall of fire erupted from the ground in front of me. I yelped in shock and stumbled back next to Steven. The fire died down and the two looked at Jasper. Circo gripped his sword tightly as Amethyst said, "It's just you, me and Circo, Jasper. One on two!"
She whipped her whip at Jasper, smacking her in the face. Circo charged and swung his sword, causing Jasper to barely dodge it. Amethyst took her chance to take another whip out from her gem and hit Jasper with both. Jasper flew back into the wall and I smiled as Steven said, "Go Amethyst and Circo!"
"Who's the runts now?!" Circo shouted, smirking. But Jasper got down from the wall and stared down at the two of them, unfazed. Amethyst's face faltered as she said, "You ready for more?"
She whipped Jasper again but Jasper looked back at them, again unfazed. Circo flinched and said, "Th-There's more where that came from!"
He charged but Jasper grabbed Circo's wrists and threw him back by Amethyst. Amethyst kept whipping Jasper but Jasper was not bother by her attacks. Amethyst growled and whipped her whips, causing the purple spikes to appear at the end. She looked at Circo and said, "Light them up."
He nodded and lit Amethyst's whips on fire. Amethyst took a deep breath and and jumped, spinning into a spin-dash attack. She charged at Jasper and there was an explosion of smoke. I raised an arm to brace myself from the wind and smoke. When it cleared, I looked up and saw Amethyst and Circo sitting on the ground, both coughing. They both looked up and gasped. Jasper was standing over them, with only a few scratches on her. She dusted off the dirt on her and said, "Is it sinking in yet?"
"Are you serious?!" Amethyst shouted. Circo jumped up, sword in hand. He charged but Jasper kicked him right into me. I fell forward and landed on Circo, the two of us groaning. Jasper then kicked Amethyst back and started walking towards her. I looked up and looked at Steven. "Steven! We got to do something!" I shouted. He nodded and looked up, saying, "Aim for that!"
I looked up and noticed an injector precariously hanging over Jasper and Amethyst. I opened the pouch and made a water whip, lashing out as far as I could at it. Steven's shield hit the injector the same time my whip did. I pulled the water back and Steven shouted, "Heads up!"
Amethyst and Jasper jumped back as the injector fell between them. Circo moved so quickly under me that I fell back. He started to run towards Jasper but I used my whip and grabbed his ankle, bringing him to the ground. I pulled him towards me and said, "Circo! Stop!"
To my surprise, he didn't struggle. I put the water back in my pouch and Circo sat back, dismissing his sword. He sighed, "Your right, Luna. I need to stop. I can't beat her. I'll never be strong enough to be like her. To be able to take out gems with one blow."
I curled my hands into fists and shouted, "YOUR NOTHING LIKE HER!"
Circo looked at me in shock. I looked at him, tears welling up at the corners of my eyes. "Your not strong like her. But your better then her. Your a Sunstone! A gem who is much powerful in many other ways then her! So stop trying to be her because your not. You're like me! We're both part gem who have lost everyone of our gem kind because we were powerful and believed in being different."
"Gems like us need to stick together," He said, smiling at me. I nodded and extended my hand to him. "That's why we're the best, because we look out for one another."
Circo looked at my hand and we both noticed the area growing darker. We looked up and saw that the solar eclipse was happening. I looked at Circo and, to my surprise, he jumped up and hugged me. In that moment there was a bright burst of light and everything shifted.
-???'s POV-
"Ugh," we said, holding our head with our hands. I opened my eyes and stumbled back in surprise. I didn't just have one pair of eyes: I had two. But the second pair of eyes made everything around me look dark except the sun. It shone softly, like a star. I closed my second set of eyes and looked down. We knew that we had fused, but we didn't look anything like Bloodstone.
First off, we were tall. A little taller than the sand stone's walls. Second, our skin was a deep midnight blue with spots all over our arms and legs. We were wearing a dark colored dress that revealed our entire back and went to our knees. We had two bands on our upper arms and one band on each of our lower arms. We looked down and saw we weren't wearing any shoes. Another thing we noticed was that as it grew darker, then bands on our arms started to glow a deep blue and the spots on our arms started to shine like stars. Our hair felt long and, looking at it, was black. We stretched our arms and looked down, seeing everybody's expressions. Jasper, Peridot, Eilat, Amber and even Onyx, who looked alright, was staring up at us. I noticed a new gem staring and smiled softly, "Why, hello there."
"Hey, your new to the party, aren't you?" The small gem asked. The gem extended it's three hands to me, saying, "We're Smoky Quartz."
I bent over and extended my one large hand and shook their three, saying, "Pleasure to meet you, Smoky. My name is Benitoite."
"Is fusion the only trick you Crystal gems have?!" Jasper shouted. I looked at Jasper with an uninterested look, saying, "Looks like someone here is rude."
"Nah, I wouldn't say she's rude," Smoky said, holding a grayish-purple yo-yo. "She just hasn't seen our tricks. Hey Jasper, ever see 'sink the dink'?"
Smoky used her yo-yo to hit Jasper, causing her to fall back to the ground. Peridot snickered and laughed, causing Jasper to growl. She spin-dashed at us and Smoky got out of the way. I took two steps to the left and allowed Jasper to hit the rock wall we had been leaning against. But she didn't stop spinning, causing the wall to crack and break all of the corrupted gem cages open. The corrupted gems jumped and started running. Jasper stopped rolling and watched his arm run off, shouting, "No! My army!"
"Take that! Then take this!" Peridot said, trying to lift the metal pole again but to no avail. Jasper looked around and noticed Eilat, looking around in confusion. Jasper sneered and ran towards Eilat. Eilat looked and started to run. But Jasper grabbed their hand. Jasper tried to pull Eilat towards them, but Eilat wouldn't budge. Jasper growled and said, "Fuse with me you-"
A black dagger hit Jasper's hand and she let go of Eilat. Amber ran at Eilat, picked them up, and jumped back towards Onyx. Amber glared at Jasper and said, "Don't ever. Touch them."
Jasper growled and heard growling. She looked over and saw one remaining corrupted gem still stuck in it's cage. She ran over to the gem and I placed a hand down on the ground. "I don't think so Jasper," I said, placing my hand over them. But they jumped out of the way before I could catch them. Jasper grabbed the corrupted gem and said, "I will not be beaten by another fusion!"
She then forced herself to fuse with the corrupted gem and two of my hands covered my mouth. This was bad; this was really bad. When Jasper finished fusing with the corrupted gem, I looked to Smoky Quartz and said, "Smoky, we have to stop her. She's going to hurt herself."
"Don't worry," Smoky said, smiling. "I'll just blow her away."
Smoky started spinning her yo-yo and started pushing the new fusion back. But they started to slowly walk forward and Smoky smirked, "It's cool if you don't like it, I've already got three huge fans."
Smoky got two more yo-yos and, with three spinning, she was able to create a tornado that picked up the fusion. I reached forward and grabbed the fusion. I cupped my hands and, focusing on their fusion, forced them apart. I held Jasper in one hand and let the corrupted gem go. I put Jasper on the ground and she watched as the corrupted gem ran off. I looked up and noticed the eclipse was almost over. I glanced at my arms and bands, noticing how the spots of light and the bands were slowly dimming. I looked down and my face dropped as blue spots and horns started growing on Jasper's arm.
"Oh gosh-" I started, but I felt myself splitting apart and suddenly, we unfused.
-Luna's POV-
I lied on the ground, my heading hurting from hitting the ground. I quickly got up and saw that everybody, except Eilat who was still being carried by Amber, was standing a distance from Jasper. I got up and rushed over just as Steven started to walk towards her. Amethyst placed a hand on his shoulder saying, "Steven, be careful."
"But this just happened. Maybe I can do something!" Steven said. He turned to Jasper and started walking closer, saying, "Jasper, it's okay. I'm here."
"Rose..." Jasper growled. Steven stepped closer and said, "I'm not Rose, I'm Steven, I just wanna try and heal you." Steven licked his hand and reached it out towards Jasper. But Jasper growled and slashed her corrupted claw at Steven. He fell back and we all shouted, "STEVEN!"
Steven got up and looked down at his shirt, seeing he only had a tear. Amethyst charged forward but Steven stopped her, saying, "Stop!"
Jasper chuckled, saying, "I see how you do it now Rose, you want Gems after they're worthless, you wait until after they've lost, because when you're at the bottom, you'll follow anyone. That makes you feel like less of a failure."
We all stepped towards Steven, ready to fight if needed. Jasper looked Peridot, saying, "Hah! Just look at this one! You've stripped her of everything! Her limb enhancers, her status, her dignity."
"I still have one of those things," Peridot said, raising an eyebrow. Jasper growled, "How can you side with Rose Quartz?! Why? Why protect this useless shell of a planet?"
Peridot blinked but smiled, "It's not a shell, there's so much life. Living here, that's what I'm doing! I'm living here! I've been learning new things about myself all the time! Like how I can make metal do my bidding!"
To somewhat prove her point, the metal pole from up on the ledge fell over and onto the ground behind us. Peridot sighed and said, "The point being Earth can set you free."
Jasper looked at the ground as she said, "Earth is a prison. I got out because I'm better than this place."
"It's getting worse," Circo said, hand over his gem. He was right; the corruption had spread up her other arm and more spot and horns appeared. Jasper looked up and said, "I only came back to finish you three off."
"Try not to move," I said, raising my hands, gesturing her to stay still. But she stood up, looming over all of us. She pointed her finger at Steven, saying, "You can't manipulate me, Rose Quartz!"
"He's not manipulating you!" I shouted at Jasper. "He's trying to help you!"
"Help...? Help?! I've been fighting from the second I broke free of the Earth's crust, because of what YOU three did to my colony! Because of what YOU three did to my planet! Because of what YOU three did to my Diamond!" Jasper shouted, slamming her clawed fist into the ground. Steven blinked and asked, "Yellow diamond?"
Jasper stepped back in shock, shouting, "Wha... My Diamond! Your Diamond! PINK DIAMOND!!!" Jasper shouted as the corruption consumed her. There was a moment of silence before corrupted Jasper looked up, horns replacing where her eyes should've been. Jasper charged and Peridot quickly moved her arms, the metal pole sailing over all of our heads. It stabbed Jasper square in the chest, causing her to fall back. She poofed and her gem fell to the ground, all of us staring at it. We looked at Peridot, shock that she actually did that.
"You're...welcome!" Peridot said, smiling. Amethyst knelt down in front of Jasper gem. She sighed and said, "C'mere sis." She formed a pink bubble around it and sent the gem back to the temple. Steven walked over to her and Amethyst leaned her head against Steven's shoulder, the two staring up into the sky. I sighed and glanced at Eilat, who was still being held by Amber. They cleared their throat and said, "Amber, could you put me down now?"
Amber blinked, realizing she was still holding Eilat. "Oh! Yeah, sure," She said, quickly putting them down. I smiled and Onyx started to giggle. Amber glared down at her but that didn't stop her. I sighed; things...were going to be okay.
We all returned to the warp pad and warped back to the barn. As we walked along, Peridot was talking to Steven and Amethyst about their fusion. Amber, Onyx and Eilat looked at Circo and I, Amber saying, "I never thought I would be able to see Benitoite again."
"What....is Benitoite?" I asked. Eilat smiled, "Benitoite is a fusion that sun and moonstones create during a lunar or solar eclipse. Depending on the eclipse, depends on whose personality comes out more. For a solar, it's the sunstone's. For lunar, it's the moonstone's."
"You sure know a lot for someone whose never really seen a traditional fusion," Amber said. Eilat laughed nervously, "I might've read some illegal texts about the moonstones and sunstones at some point."
"But....that personality," Circo said, looking at his hands. "That wasn't anything like one of us."
"Yeah," Onyx said. "It sounded more like Circa."
Circo and I stopped and looked at Onyx. But the three gems behind us stopped too, and they were looking past us. Circo and I turned around and understood quickly what they were looking at. In front of us, Lapis had bubbled the five rubies who had come to Earth earlier. Pearl and Garnet stood nearby, looking at us with worried expressions.
"Oh boy," I muttered, glancing at everybody.
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Oh dear. Things aren't over yet. Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I'll try to update ASAP :)