While both fusions stared each other down, one of them spoke, her voice cracking with pure hatred.
"You bastard," Jasper's fusion muttered. "You think you're hot shit?"
Estela just floated in midair, watching her with a calmness that seemed impossible in the midst of that chaos. She didn't reply. She didn't need to. In that silence, the world rattled more than it would have with any insult.
Suddenly, massive pillars of water began to rise around Estela, forming an unbreakable circle.
Jasper immediately tensed up.
"We can talk about this, Rose..." she said, her voice laced with suppressed rage.
The pillars crashed down right in front of Jasper, and the ground split open beneath her feet, dragging her down into a colossal underwater cavern. Estela descended right after her, landing in puddles that glowed with a pink light. The sheer size of the cavern was so absurd that Jasper's immense fusion didn't even reach halfway to the ceiling.
Estela walked slowly around her enemy. She watched intently as the corruption spots spread rapidly, crawling across every inch of her skin.
"I'll have to make this quick," Estela thought. "I need Peridot intact."
Jasper spat saliva onto the ground. She glared at her Diamond's destroyer with visceral resentment. Inside her body, she could feel the three trapped Gems fighting desperately to break free. A useless effort.
"Pointless effort," she growled, dragging herself up as shards of rock fell from her titan body.
Her gaze locked onto Estela. She saw her as Rose, even while fused. She believed Estela was doing the exact same thing she was—that Rose was in the driver's seat keeping Lapis silenced, just like someone perfect should do. Was that what perfection was? Or was she just saying that to convince herself that she wasn't the corrupted one between the two of them?
Estela looked at her blankly, but soon spoke with a firm voice.
"Jasper, I'm going to give you one chance."
Jasper blinked, confused, not expecting that at all.
"You unfuse, and you get to stay out of a bubble," Estela sentenced. "Or..." She raised a mound of water as sharp as a lance. "We do this the hard way."
Jasper went silent for a second before her laughter exploded like an avalanche.
"Ha."
"Haha."
"Hahaha."
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
She laughed with utter contempt, with madness, with broken pride.
"You think you have any right over me, Rose? Are you fucking stupid?! No, worse than that."
A helmet formed on her head, and countless rocks began to float violently. Suddenly, she summoned a yellow shield and a sword, as if to mock the very weapons Estela could use.
Estela's expression turned dead serious instantly.
"You think you can beat me, Rose Quartz?!" Jasper roared. "We are four! No, it's me against you! Perfection!"
And without another word, she charged straight at Estela.
"Time to show off a little," Estela thought, feeling the energy surge through her body. It wasn't often she got the chance to come to light as a fusion, and she wasn't going to let it go to waste.
She flew straight toward Jasper, colliding with immense force. Both began to trade blows ruthlessly. Lapis would have never thought of fighting in such a direct manner, but with Steven's strength and the fusion's momentum, she could afford to act with confidence.
One.
Two.
Four.
Twenty.
A hundred.
Four hundred accumulated punches, delivering a frantic jackhammering against pure rock.
Estela reacted quickly and, seizing an opening, created a pink spike and drove it deep into Jasper's stomach. The fusion coughed up spit immediately, but far from giving up, she grabbed the sword of one of the Topazes trapped inside her body and tried to run her through. Estela summoned Steven's shield and was forced back against a wall.
The entire cave began to shake. Rocks, minerals, and even chunks of raw iron ripped from the earth came flying toward Estela.
"Dammit..." she thought as she flew to dodge them at full speed.
"I will kill you, Rose Quartz!" Jasper roared as she spun into a spiral, ramping up the power of her attacks, rolling through the inside of the cave like a stone wrecking ball. Jasper was ready to burn through absolutely everything she had left.
"If she's going all out, then it's time to give her a core memory," Estela thought, recalling the first time Steven and Jasper had faced off.
Jasper charged at her, enveloped in an aura of brute force. Estela smiled. It was a hollow, almost mocking smile. Jasper noticed it too late.
"DOMAIN EXPANSION, BITCH!" Estela yelled, instantly summoning a massive bubble that trapped them both inside.
"What the fu—!" Jasper managed to blurt out as her body was compressed. She tried to shrink her size, but with her form spiraling out of control and the other Gems trying to break free inside, she could barely maintain her balance. The bubble kept shrinking, squeezing her down as if wringing out her arrogance along with her body.
Estela noticed Jasper was hitting her limit. She didn't want to shatter any Gems. Not yet.
She decided to pop the bubble.
Both fell, returning to the cavern floor. Estela tasted a metallic tang and spat blood onto the ground. She touched her mouth, surprised.
"So this is what it feels like to be organic, huh...?" she muttered, shaking her head.
In front of her, Jasper was even more unstable. The corruption spots were spreading as if trying to devour her from the inside out.
"No more time to waste," Estela thought. She summoned water around her and shaped it into spikes as sharp as spears.
Jasper noticed and tried to force herself back together.
"ROSE QUARTZ!" she screamed in rage, as another downpour of rocks launched toward Estela.
"You're acting like a little girl throwing a tantrum for attention," Estela replied harshly, stepping onto a rock with an imposing, haughty stance—the exact same arrogant posture her Diamond once used.
That specific detail made Jasper's eyes widen like saucers, paralyzed by a memory she never wanted to see again.
"My turn," Estela declared. "And you're not getting away."
Jasper opened her eyes with unhinged fury. Without even taking a breath, she hurled even more rocks in a frantic rain, as if the ground itself had decided to murder the intruder.
"Not even the most perfect Gem can stand against us," Estela murmured with terrifying calmness.
She raised her hand.
"I am the queen of the eternal water, and you... are going to suffer."
The sea answered her voice. A titanic serpent surged from the dark puddle, formed of dense water and reinforced with sharp pink spikes that screamed Steven's presence on every edge. It was a creature that combined the best of him and the most terrifying aspects of Lapis.
"I am power," Estela roared. The serpent towered behind her, ready to strike.
She looked Jasper dead in the eye. The fusion was trembling, her pupils dilating even further, unable to look away.
"You hear my name and you can't think of anything fucking else?" Estela smiled with utter disdain. "Fine then. Here's your Rose Quartz, bitch."
Her voice boomed through the flooded cave.
"Don't be scared. I am the law of this planet. And you, Jasper, broke every single goddamn rule the second you set foot on this earth."
A dangerous smirk crossed her face.
"I am the living form, you know? The power of a Gem... carrying blood."
The entire cave shuddered. The serpent launched forward like a bolt of liquid lightning.
With a heavy thud, it slammed into Jasper, dragging her brutally. She tried to cover herself with her yellow shield, but she only managed to cushion part of the blow before being smashed against the rocks. She spat spit, snarling as the spikes pierced her with fine cuts that slowly tore her physical form apart. And with every spike, she lost more grip on the fusion.
With a simple gesture, Estela ordered the serpent to blast out of the cave. Her prey was dragged mercilessly toward the surface.
Estela followed, floating calmly behind them. In her hands, an arrow of highly compressed water was forming, reinforced with hundreds of pink spikes. It was a weapon forged to pierce through anything.
She let out a tired sigh.
"After this, I'm going to sleep a ton."
She released her hand.
The arrow shot forward.
Jasper, still being dragged, punched the serpent's head with immense force, shattering it into a thousand droplets that fell like heavy rain. She laughed hysterically.
"HAHA! Rose Quartz, your little pet couldn't handle me!"
The laughter froze in her throat when she felt something freezing cold pierce through her chest.
She looked down very slowly.
A water lance lined with pink spikes had impaled her physical torso.
She looked up at Estela, who only stared back with a hard, silent expression.
"I... I couldn't..." Jasper murmured, her voice barely a whisper. "Avenge you... my Diamond."
Her body distorted. Another voice surfaced like an echo, one that wasn't hers.
"Thank you... Rose Quartz."
It was sincere.
A burst of light blinded the scene. Four Gems went flying in different directions.
Estela gently raised the water, catching each one before they could plunge into the sea. She held them as if they were fallen petals.
She sighed upon seeing Jasper's gem.
Without saying another word, she bubbled the four of them separately. The silence of the sea was her only answer.
She looked at her hand and noticed how the pink glow was slowly fading away. Without another word, she sent the four bubbles toward the house and flew in that same direction.
The cold breeze smacked her face as she soared forward enveloped in a beam of light, and up in the sky, she could see Lapis flying with Steven on her back, completely exhausted. Her water wings left tiny droplets that fell like light rain, drifting to the rhythm of the wind.
"You held your ground for a pretty long time, honestly," Lapis commented with a sigh of relief, as if she could finally breathe easy.
Steven didn't even reply right away. He could only let his breath out through the sheer pain he felt all the way down to his thoughts. A few seconds passed before he could manage to say anything.
"Even my thoughts hurt," he muttered, clinging to Lapis with all his strength so he wouldn't fall.
"Easy, I've got you," she replied, noticing his weight getting heavier and more limp, making sure he didn't slip even an inch.
The sky was painted in shades of orange and pink, and for a moment, neither said a word. Lapis glanced out of the corner of her eye at the way Steven was faintly glowing—that strange pink hue that still hadn't fully vanished.
"Hey, what's up with that pink style anyway?" she asked with genuine curiosity.
Steven stayed quiet for a moment, as if his brain was taking longer than usual to process words.
"No fucking clue," he answered with exhausted honesty, lacking the energy to make up some epic explanation.
Lapis let out a snort before bursting into loud laughter, breaking the tension that had gripped the air just minutes prior.
"You look good in that form anyway," she commented, looking straight ahead as if tossing it out completely naturally.
Steven just looked at her with a mix of embarrassment and resignation. He felt like he didn't even have the energy to argue.
"I look way too maricón in pink," I thought with total honesty, "but I'll take the compliment, because after all, I survived."
"What's a compliment?" Lapis asked, confused, tilting her head slightly.
...
"I need to teach you a lot of things," I added, an imaginary sweat drop rolling down my forehead.
"You think?" she shot back with a sarcastic tone, as if trying out the concept.
Pfff...
I let out another sigh while looking across the sea. The waves moved heavily, just like my muscles, and the reflection of the light on the water showed me something I couldn't ignore. The entire battle had taken up almost five hours of my time.
...
"How did I take so long?" I thought, completely bewildered, seeing how the sky already heralded the end of the evening, as if the universe itself were reminding me how slow I was at almost dying.
Arriving at the house, neither of them would notice anyone around. Lapis would point it out before Steven could even say a word. "They're not here," she'd say simply.
I would just nod sleepily and mutter for her to let them know when they got back that I was going to go look at sheep in my bed. I walked with a bit of difficulty, feeling my own spit doing its job. Lapis would watch me collapse into a deep sleep, face-planting directly onto the bed like a ragdoll. She would shake her head at the sight of such a disaster.
She would look toward the temple rooms with obvious confusion. She'd wonder if she should talk to them; maybe the Gems were already back. She'd look back at Steven, completely stiff like a deer caught on the highway.
In the end, she'd sigh, giving up. Whatever, she'd think as she walked over to the door and knocked.
After a few seconds, the door would finally slide open. Amethyst would greet her with a casual "hey girl," while tossing a tire onto one of the junk piles decorating her room. Lapis would look away by instinct and, for the sake of her own mental health, decide not to ask any questions about the mess.
She would greet her hesitantly, asking if the four of them could talk. Her gaze would inevitably drift back toward Steven, who was now snoring while his skin emitted a faint steam.
Amethyst's expression would flip instantly. She'd sprint over to him, worried. Reaching his side, she'd notice Steven's bruises, watching them heal at a remarkable speed. The steam was new, but not overly alarming. Rose used to do weird things... though she would remind herself that this wasn't Rose.
She'd quickly look for some washcloths and start placing them on Steven. Lapis, still by the door and completely baffled, would ask what she was doing.
Amethyst would glance at her over her shoulder. She'd explain that this was something Pearl did all the time whenever Steven got sick or hurt, though he barely even noticed it anymore since he had stopped getting sick altogether. Lapis would nod slowly, processing the information.
She'd mention that getting sick was a human thing. Amethyst would reassure her, saying yeah, it wasn't contagious for Gems... or at least she hoped not.
Lapis would sigh and finally step closer to help out however she could.
After several minutes where neither said a word, I finally heard Amethyst break the silence.
"What happened?" she asked, looking at Lapis.
She just let out a tired sigh.
"He ran into Jasper," she answered.
Amethyst exploded with a massive "WHAT!", but immediately slapped a hand over her mouth when she saw I was still sleeping. I just snored louder, as if I knew exactly how to ruin the dramatic timing.
"How?" she asked next in a tight whisper that basically meant explain it to me, goddammit.
Lapis sighed again and began to recount everything.
One epic explanation later...
Amethyst didn't say a single word through the whole explanation. She just stood there with a look of total confusion when Lapis mentioned my pink form and the way I had talked. Still, you could tell she calmed down seeing that Lapis had been with me the entire time.
"So they're already in the temple?" she finally asked after hearing how they had stored the four gems.
"Yeah," Lapis replied, letting herself sink into the couch.
"I'll explain what I can to the girls, I think I caught every detail. Either way, we're going to confirm if the four gems actually made it to the temple," Amethyst said with that what the fuck happened during the hours we were gone face.
Lapis just answered with a "yeah" while letting out another long sigh.
"Hey," she said after a few seconds.
"Yeah?" Amethyst answered with confusion, as if asking is there something else?
"Not at all," Lapis said quickly.
She went quiet for a moment before adding, "Well... about the fusion..." and she started fidgeting with her fingers, nervous.
I saw Amethyst look at her with immediate understanding.
"The power, right?" she said in a tone of someone who already knows exactly where this is going.
"Yeah," Lapis replied, looking away, acting shy.
"It's normal," Amethyst said. "But don't try to force it. Fusion is a delicate thing, and even more so when it comes to Steven." She said this while looking at me sleep with an expression of intense focus that was absurd for someone who was snoring.
"Steven isn't a fan of forcing fusions, though he's open to them if they're necessary. I think the one he's fused with the most is Connie, but she's away on a trip right now."
Lapis nodded with a bit of frustration.
"Do you think he'll ask me to fuse with him again?" she finally asked.
Amethyst burst out laughing.
"Of all the shit you went through today, that's what you're worried about?"
She gave her a few slaps on the back, making Lapis flinch from the sudden contact.
"Just follow your instincts. Tell the truth. Being blunt is the best way to go, especially with Steven. The worst he can say is no. Just like Pearl, who rejected him a ton of times."
Amethyst laughed again, remembering that.
Lapis just ended up smiling.
"Thanks," she finally said.
"Don't mention it," Amethyst replied. Then she looked toward my room and added with dead seriousness, "Get ready for a crazy Pearl coming to nurse Steven."
I just nodded with three imaginary sweat drops running down the back of my neck as I watched Amethyst walk away. She waved a casual goodbye and headed into the temple rooms like nothing had happened.
I was left alone in the living room, taking a deep breath, and turned my gaze toward Steven. He was fast asleep on the couch, but his expression left me frozen. His face was tense, as if he were concentrating on something massive, and he also looked angry. I didn't understand how he could look so serious even inside a dream.
I felt the scene grow more intense the longer I watched him. It was as if my own perspective was creeping closer and closer to his head, trying to discover what was happening inside his mind.
Why was Steven angry while he slept?
Why could he look so determined even while dreaming?
The clue was right there, glaringly obvious and dark.
Black fingernails.
End of Chapter 49.