"It'll be alright, dollface. I gotcha."
You crooned gently to the apprehensive spinel who hugging your arm, silently gazing up at you, smiling contently. Once you reached the staircase you motion spinel to wait as you stretched your neck down to address the awaiting inhabitants. Steven, who was laying on the couch almost instantly shot up. "(Name)! You've come back!" He sounded incredibly relieved as he smiled up at you. "Did you manage to-?" You cut him off with a nod. "I sure did!" You look over and nod at her, and with a smile, she nods back, allowing you to lead her to the platform to reveal herself. "ta-da!"
almost, the gems immediately take defense, summoning their weapons, with the exception of the amnesiac garnet who innocently asks; "spinel! did you change your hair?" In a reflexive manner, you put an arm in front of her defensively. "Hey now, hey now, everything's fine!" Steven stepped in, his own hands up in defense. "Y-yeah! Spinel got her memories back, but she won't hurt us now." Suddenly connie bursts in with that pink lion, unsheathing her sword, up and ready. "I'm here! where's the-" her eyes flick to you, and she suddenly looked curiously confused. "Who's that?" Steven stood in front of you and spinel. "everything's chill!" after a moment's tension the air settles. with a huff of relief, he turns to spinel. however, he flicks his eyes to you, expectantly. you nod, rubbing her shoulder. "Well? You ready, shug?" you ask, smiling excitedly, squeezing her hand. she chuckles offering a soft squeeze and nods.
"let's go!"
~~~~~~~~~~
Back at the injector sight, it has reached critical condition. the dreaded pink poison has now began to overflow from the grown and everything around it was dead and grey. spinel approached the injector, you stood back, beside garnet and the others.
She back at you for a moment, prompting a nod and wink from you. looking back up and the mechanism, she coils her pinkie into the shape of a cone and with a deep breath, blew into her fist, forming that same foghorn like noise from earlier that morning. you watched in awe as the object dislodges itself from the earth and raise into the air and close up, becoming dormant once.
"Fantastic! you did it!" you exclaimed, bouncing up and down in excitement, making your ears and hat bounce with you. she giggles, blushing lightly at your praise as steven approached her. "Thanks, spinel." Steven breaths, shaking her hand. "Aw gee... heh.. what are friends for?" He then quickly turns away from her, shifting his attention to garnet, who had suddenly started playing with your "ear" tufts.
"Now all we need are garnet's memories and my powers back and we can regain our happily ever after." You blinked, slightly taken aback by how quickly he shifted his attention. That's ons determined child... "What could work for garnet? something about fusion.. something about love..."
"But what about me?"
you glance at spinel, who looked quite hurt. "Is that all you needed me for? to turn off my injector?" Steven looked startled. "No. well... sorta... but-" spinel broke into his sentence, now sounding slightly unnerved. "well, now what? I-I-I did what you wanted. that's it?" Upon seeing her start to tremble, A sudden sense of dread began to rise up on you. Oh no... he's triggered something.. "well. yeah we can just... forget this whole thing ever happened." You looked at the boy, your face equivalent to a facepalm. "Steven..!" he looked back at you with a clueless 'what'? Shrug, not noticing the betrayed look spinel wore. "How are you gonna forget with me around? I'm the source of all your problems." she said, sanity slowly starting to unravel from anxiousness. "What's your plan for me, huh? you gonna put me somewhere? gonna leave me? somewhere? YOU GONNA LEAVE ME ALONE!?" You gaped at her, almost terrified, but sympathetic all the same.
"Spinel, baby-!" you exclaimed, trying to run to her, only to find that garnet still gripped your arm. "Em, could ya please let go a me there for a moment, hun?" You tugged impatiently at her grip, your "ears" flattening in anxiety, which only made her more intrigued as she smiled somewhat childishly, taking hold of your fluffy tuft. "How do you do that?"
You grunted anxiously, watching with worried eyes as Steven tries to approach her, reaching with a consoling hand, only be smacked back, and have the rejuvenator come into view, in which the other gems flee from. All except for you, stuck in the amnesiac garnet's arm. "Ooh, what's this?" She bends down and picks up the weapon, making you struggle harder in her grip. "No, Garnet!" You gasped, trying to reach for it, but she kept waving it around, so you couldn't catch it. "Don't you dare-!" She presses the button with her thumb, which promptly activates the weapon, just as steven snatched it away. Spinel looked bewildered and wide eyed. "Why do you.. have that..?" Steven, now realizing her mind breakage staggered for a reason for its presence. "I-I was just carrying it! I didn't have anywhere else to put it!" Oh no...
Spinel stood there for a moment. "we can just forget this ever happened..." she repeated, a chilling edge in her voice. "You mean... I can forget this ever happened!" you stared at her, as she started cackling maniacally, a wave of terror washing over you. "Wow! WHAT A PLAN! I turn off the injector, and then the moment my back is turned, BAM! PRESTO! CHANGE-O! PROBLEM SOLVED! well think again!" you watched her with terror as her pinkie reformed into a cone "you're not getting rid of me that easy!" you jumped. "SPINEL, NO--!" that dreaded foghorn sounded yet again, and just like that, the massive injectior reinserted itself into the planet's crust. you stared in horror as it resumed injecting it's contents into the earth's crust, knocking him into one of the crevices. "Steven! Spinel!" You struggled in garnet's tight hug as she tried to process what had transpired. "What happened?" She absentmindedly asked, holding you like a child would to a plush, still fiddling with your "ear" tuft. "Please let go a me, sweetie!"
She either didn't hear or ignored you as she wanders over to the edge, where you just barely hear the exchange between steven and spinel.
"I wasn't going to wipe your memories, spinel!" Steven's desperate voice came, before spinel's furious voice scoffed. "You expect me to believe that you want me like THIS!?"
You gulped nervously. Back off the rails, again..
"Steven!" Garnet called down to the teen. "Why are you fighting?" She asked innocently, not grasping what's truly going on. "Aren't we all friends?" You stretch your head to get a look at the two, just in time to see spinel looking at you both with a twisted grin. "Looks like we've still got an audience!" She observed, her deranged gaze flickering between you both. "How about a front row seat?" She suddenly lashes her arm out towards you, forcibly pulling you both towards her and coiling her arm tightly around you, keeping you both in place. You grunted at the pressure and struggled intensely while garnet remained startled, but clueless. "Garnet! (Name)!"
"Ya know, it's pretty twisted, but I'm flattered you liked the old me;" she suddenly directed her gaze at you, a wistful yet twisted glint in her eyes. "Innocent... loving... stupid..." her voice flattened at the last word before gesturing to you both. "If that's your thing, why don't ya leave her like this and keep this one?" She flicked her hand against your ear making you flinch. "Stupid!? You the one bein' stupid, dollface!" You retorted, your cheeks burning in anger and hurt. "if you could just-"
"SHUT UP!" She thwacks you upside the face with a free hand, before pressing her forehead into yours. "I shoulda known you were fooling with me..." she growled, making your eyes widen. "That sappy talk back at the garden... I knew it was too good to be true.." a hurt expression took over your face. "How could ya think that, sweetcheeks?" Your voice sounded genuinely hurt. "Shug, your just-"
she grabs you harshly by the collar and pulls you into her face. "JUST QUIT IT WITH THE PET NAMES, WOULD YA!? THE JIG IS UP!" she snarls, nose to nose with you, her pupils small and ringed in deranged anger. A disgusted expression then crosses her face. "To think... I actually liked and trusted you..." you felt hot tears prick your eyes at her words, hurt she'd think of it this way. "Spinel-" she suddenly slaps you upside your face, forcing you to shut yourself up. "JUST CAN IT, TOON TRAMP!"
"Let them go, spinel!" He growls threateningly, pointing the weapon at the pink gem who lets out a bitter cackle. "I must say, I'm quite impressed! You're protective of both your real friends and your pathetic toys!" she snarls bitterly at you, causing a whimper of hurt from you. A toy... "and yet, you're so careless of your fake ones..." She jabbed a finger hard into your brow, eliciting a grunt of pain from you. "Stop it!!" Steven's nerves start break as she manhandled you and garnet. Spinel appeared to be taking delight in this. "Then stop me!" She challenged. "You wanna attack me. Just admit! Or better yet... TRY IT!"
"NO!!"
"WHY NOT!?"
"BECAUSE THAT'S NOT THE TRUTH!"
In a burst of rage, he brings the rejuvenator down onto his knee, breaking the dreaded thing once and for all and for all. Despite your position, you sighed in much relief, letting your head drop in. Good riddance with that thing...
"The truth."
Your ear tufts perked up, startled by garnet's calm voice from behind you. Huh-? You were suddenly broken from spinel's grip, making you stagger back into steven, who helped you regain your footing as he watched the suddenly calm garnet slowly begin to recollect herself. "I've known hardships and confusion.." she states, making your ears perk. "But love can live through it all... If you face the truth together!" A bright light engulfed her body as the final piece of her settled in, making you smile and clap. "Her final piece!"
Spinel, horrified at this realization tried to protest. "No... stop! Don't you dare-!" She tried to chuck a Boulder at her, but being the strong fusion of love she is, she easily breaks it a mere punch.
With everyone back into order, everyone rejoices in garnet's revival, much to the fury of spinel, who tries to attack them. This time, it's them with the upper hand, as they work together to protect the still vulnerable steven and evade her attacks... all whilst singing about the true kinda love. During this, your eyes flashed as you looked up at the top of the injector... an idea flashed in your eyes. Wait... a sec... you clapped a hand to steven's shoulder, giving you his startled attention.
"Imma bout to go try somethin' on this here injector, kid." You said, your eyes focused on the top of the injector. "Now, before I do, though, let me give you a little hint to regain them fancy powers of yers in case it don't work." You stretched your neck, so you were up to steven's ear and whispered; "it involves a change." When you pulled away, he had the look of total confusion. "Think about it! It's something everyone's done." You stepped back and put your hand upto your forehead into a salute. "Good luck, champ!"
In a split second, you bounce onto the leg of the injector, ignoring the questioning protests of steven as you stood on the injector leg's metal joint looking at your hand then to the injector top. You squinted, as you thought back to what spinel did with her hand... you then smack your hand into your forehead at a realization.
"...Of course!"
With another powerful bounce, you leapt onto the injector's top, taking a moment to survey the devastating destruction of your surroundings, before looking at your hand again. "Why didn't I think of this before?" You questioned yourself, coiling a pinkie finger into a cone like shape, similar to spinel's, only smaller. "Woulda spared a lot of damage..." you winced, before sighing. "Well, no more messin' around now..." your muttered taking a deep breath. Time to end this once and for-
"Not so fast, dollface."