Author's Note:
I want to remind you all that this chapter and the previous one need to hit 50 stars before I can bring you the next ones. I gave you three chapters in a row as part of a milestone special for reaching one thousand views on the first episode and two thousand total accumulated stars.
Thank you so much for your constant support, it really means the world to me <3.
Let's keep going.
"So, let me see if I got this straight. We have an absolutely insane Jasper who didn't attack you guys and just took Peridot?"
"Yes," Pearl replied while writing on a whiteboard, as if she were designing a high-stakes military strategy rather than outlining a deeply concerning situation.
"We were also able to dig up a little intel regarding something called 'The Cluster.' At least, that's what she called it before she got poofed."
"Yep," Amethyst added, crossing her arms as if the word meant absolutely nothing to her. "It looks like she's pretty terrified of it... though personally, I don't give a rat's ass."
Pearl shot her a look of silent disappointment, the kind a mother gives her child when they eat dirt in public, but Amethyst didn't even blink; she didn't give a single damn and was probably already thinking about a second dessert.
"To me, that sounds incredibly important. I say we should investigate a certain place... or a certain someone," Steven commented, letting the sentence drop with a hint of worry.
Everyone fell dead silent, as if the air had frozen right before a major revelation.
"There is a place," Garnet said calmly, looking around at everyone.
"Where?" we all asked at the exact same time.
"The Moon Base."
"WHAT?!" Amethyst and Pearl shrieked in unison.
Steven and Lapis couldn't have cared less—especially the latter, who at that exact moment was heavily locked into playing Minecraft, desperately trying to keep her virtual cat from dying. The cat seemed to possess a suicide instinct, hellbent on sleeping in Lapis's bed without her permission. Deeply focused, she moved the controller with the precision of a frustrated neurosurgeon.
Steven just sighed, watching Lapis play. He had personally bought her a new phone after her old one got completely flooded with Tweety Bird pictures and "good morning" chain texts that she used to spam to random strangers on Discord.
Shaking his head, he looked back at the girls, who were now staring at him as if he had the winning lottery numbers stamped right across his forehead.
"What?" Steven asked, totally confused.
"Do you think you can fetch Lion? We need to know if he can make it to the moon."
...
Steven glanced over at Lion's designated spot, where he was always sleeping... but the bed was completely empty.
"What do you guys think?" he said, his sarcasm so dry it practically crackled on its way out.
The three of them sighed in unison, as if they had already abandoned all hope before even getting started.
"Well," Steven said as he headed toward his room, his voice entirely drained and sporting a pair of dark circles that looked permanently tattooed under his eyes. "Catch ya later. I seriously need to sleep."
"Good night," the three replied. Lapis just walked right behind him, never taking her eyes off her phone, Minecraft still open. They were both going to bed... well, Steven was going to sleep. Lapis was going to be up battling her virtual cat, trying to prevent its death by feline stupidity.
The next morning, Steven cracked his eyes open with the heavy exhaustion of someone who hadn't rested a bit, only to realize there was a giant paw directly on his face.
...
...
He pushed it off with absolute resignation and dragged himself out of bed to begin his morning routine.
Train.
Eat.
Shower.
A totally serious routine...
Not. XD.
After that pathologically exhaustive routine, Steven stepped out of his room in the temple. Yeah, the temple—his mother's room, but we're not gonna call it that anymore because it makes it sound like Rose is still alive somewhere in the attic, so it's just gonna be "the temple."
Still wearing his training gear, Steven looked over at the spot where Lion usually snoozed, and his face went completely blank. Lion was lying there, completely relaxed, holding a piece of Peridot's limb enhancers between his paws like a trophy. Steven had no earthly idea how he had gotten it, and frankly, he didn't want to know.
"Where did you...? Nah, I don't wanna know. You want pizza? I bought one for you," he said, pulling a pizza out of the freezer and tossing it into the microwave.
Lion let out a soft huff and snuggled up next to him, as if they had just shared a profound intellectual conversation.
"You are such a handsome boy, you magnificent bastard. Who's a handsome boy? You are, yes you are," Steven said while petting him. Lion, completely indifferent, accepted the affection like the absolute king he was.
They stayed like that until Steven handed him the pizza. After inhaling it, Lion stared directly at him.
"What?" Steven asked, confused.
Insert majestic male lion roar here... :v
(God, I think I'm gonna have a stroke writing this crap.)
"Roar," Lion said.
"You want what? I don't understand you, you big dummy."
"Roar."
"What?"
Lion crouched down low.
"...What?"
"Roar."
"Should I get on?"
"Roar," affirmative.
"Get on my back already, you son of a gun," Steven thought as he settled onto his back.
The exact second he sat down, Lion bolted like a rocket, nearly launching him into orbit.
"Dammit, Lion! Careful, I'm an actor!"
Perched on top of Lion, Steven watched as the beast charged across the ocean, looking like Moses parting the sea by pure force of pink roars.
"Crap, and I can't even ask you where we're going, because you're just gonna give me a 'roar'."
"Roar," Lion said, perfectly flat and completely devoid of emotion.
"See? I can't have a serious conversation with you," I said, crossing my arms. Immediately after, an unexpected bump made me white-knuckle his mane like I was clinging onto an extra life in a video game. Lion kept sprinting across the water without using his portals, and I had no clue why. Right then, my phone rang.
"Huh?" I muttered doubtfully, fishing it out as best as I could while dodging ocean spray and blinding sunlight. I answered without checking the caller ID. "Hello?"
"Hi Steven!" Connie answered, brimming with energy, sounding almost like she was mid-workout.
"Hey, Connie," I said, ducking past a seagull that seemed to be seeking a personal vendetta against me. The absolute jerk of a bird kept diving at me repeatedly. "Stupid-ass bird," I growled, hurling a rock at it that I had tucked away on Lion. The bird shot me one final, deeply offended glare and flapped away as if it were going to hold a lifelong grudge.
"What's going on?" Connie asked through the phone, clearly worried by my background battle noises.
"Nothing," I said, eyeing the sky suspiciously to make sure the feathered menace wasn't planning a counterattack. "Just... I don't know, you know? Lion is currently carrying me to find the One Piece or some crap."
"The One what?" Connie asked, entirely lost.
"References, Connie. Pop culture references," I said with an absurd amount of pride.
"Well, I hope those references help you with whatever it is you're doing," she replied, not understanding a single bit of it.
"Oh yeah," I said, a thought hitting me like my brain was a computer running on high latency. "How's your trip to Spain going?" I raised a curious eyebrow while the sea seemed to applaud around us.
"It's going great! Being an exchange student is amazing. I never realized how many opportunities I missed out on just because of my shyness."
"I am so incredibly happy to hear that," I said, genuinely thrilled. Steven had backed Connie up immensely, encouraging her to break out of her shell. That push had led her to make great friends and land massive opportunities. Knowledge is power, as the wise men say... or the internet, whatever.
"I hope everything goes well with wherever Lion is taking you. I have to run, I have Calculus now."
"Calculus?" I asked, practically feeling a giant question mark materialize over my forehead.
"I'm in the advanced placement class!" she replied happily.
"Ah, gotcha," I said, sporting an invisible chibi face.
"Anyway, take care. Love you!" Connie said before abruptly hanging up.
"Didn't even let me say goodbye," I muttered, shooting a quick text to her dad and to Lapis—who was the only Gem with an actual phone number. Yep, the only one who owned a phone. And also owned hundreds of Tweety Bird pictures and 'good morning' graphics, but that's a story for another day.
In the distance, I spotted an island that appeared to possess a certain beauty—though it was pure illusion; it was practically destroyed, looking like it had been chewed up by a hurricane and spat back out. I let out an incredulous whisper while looking down at Lion, who merely responded with a simple nod.
I cursed myself mentally for not bringing the others along, and without wasting a single second, I started firing off desperate text messages. The moment we touched down, I hopped off Lion, but he instantly ripped open a portal and vanished, acting like he had zero responsibility for my survival. I managed to call him a few choice words in my head, but an explosion cut my verbal swearing short. I threw my guard up, floating high into the sky to avoid any sneak attacks, and once I gained some altitude, I froze completely.
Jasper was standing right below me, holding Peridot's gemstone along with two others sealed in bubbles. She snapped her gaze up, locking eyes with me with a disgusting grin, and without a moment's hesitation, she popped Peridot's bubble, forcing her gem to open its eyes in sheer terror. I lunged downward to stop whatever she was planning, but it was already too late.
Peridot's gem began to glow to reform her physical body, but Jasper leaped straight into the light, merging with it until they became one. For a split second, I saw Peridot trying to claw her way out, but the light absorbed her entirely.
A crushing blow slammed directly into my stomach. I coughed up blood as if my body had decided to stop cooperating with me. I went flying through the air, throwing curses at the Lion who had dropped me off here. I healed the wound by spitting on myself, though the agony lingered as if someone had rammed a scorching manhole cover right through my torso. I looked up, and fear turned my blood to ice.
Towering before me was a colossal fusion, at least fifty feet tall, looking down at me with pure arrogance. Her voice boomed, accusing me as if I were Rose Quartz herself, and she announced my death with a confidence as absurd as her very existence.
I could only offer a sincere, deeply respectful "holy shit" as I summoned my shield. I barely managed to dodge the next strike, which came at a speed I could only describe as fundamentally unfair. I leaped up to hover, but something dropped on me from above. I lost my flight, brought up my shield, and took a hit that slammed me into the dirt with a deafening crash.
A massive cloud of smoke masked the impact zone. The fusion smirked with pure malice, but suddenly, her expression warped. She began talking to herself, arguing. One voice demanded silence, while another pleaded, screaming that she didn't want to be fused. Her face distorted as if she were trying to split apart but couldn't. One side was weeping, while the other smiled maniacally, fueled by an ancient, twisted obsession.
I hid among the trees while the fusion fought against herself. I used the window to apply more healing spit, muttering that my luck was absolute garbage. The fusion threatened Peridot, swearing that the moment they returned to Homeworld, she would request her harvesting for being defective. Then she burst into a manic fit of laughter that rattled the entire island.
I whispered to myself that she was losing her mind, though I honestly didn't know if I was talking about her or myself. Finally, she decided that if the other Gem was useless, she deserved a name of her own. She discarded various ideas with childish arrogance until she picked one, screaming it out with absurd enthusiasm.
She proclaimed herself Chrysocolla, repeating it with pride, and the moment she materialized her helmet, she started tearing the island apart even further. I wondered if my terrible luck could get any worse, and I received my answer the exact instant her voice echoed, locking onto my position.
She screamed that she had found me.
I responded with the most realistic word available given the circumstances.
"Fuck."
End of Chapter 47.
Fun Fact: Connie will be on her astral study-abroad trip for a month and change. Leave any questions in the comments!