AAN: hello this is the fourth or of the Grand jewel AU that sees Connie as kidnapped and turned to a weapon that originated during these facememes. For a glossary of this AU, please check the endnotes, thank you.
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Steven.no,' Connie thought, watching with horrified wide eyes and shrunken pupils as the light from Steven's eyes paled before his body falling forward onto the ground.
As she took a step toward him, a pink beast landed between the two startling the ex-weapon. She watched as the beast stood protective over Steven's body, snarling as if ready to attack if she dared move near him.
"I..." she blinked, trying to find the words as a tear ran down her right eye. Seeing the Beast step forward caused her pause as she lifted her right arm to her breast height and held her left mid-length, fear over Steven's condition taking more control over her than the protective animal. Her brows creased the middle of her head as she tried to speak again.
"I have to get to Steven, please... let me by." She pleaded to this four-leg guardian who kept his guard up. She cautiously took a few steps to her fallen hero. The eyes of the beast trained on her as she moved cautiously.
Despite her anxiety, the feeling of familiarity she had for the beast, the same one she had when she 'met' Steven, ached in her heart.
She sighed when it seemed that the pink beast would not stop her.
Kneeling to his fallen form, Connie wiped her eyes as she inspected him. Her hand gently graced his nape, scanning the feel for any discrepancies. "The way he lost consciousness, the fading of his eyes and the dead drop..." she was too aware of what transpired.
She slipped her fingers under his collar, and that was where she felt it.
A tiny bulge of skin and a small pin.
"Poison." She whispered, pulling the pinout and sniffing it,
Her face grew cold, her demeanor steel, as she tried to find the culprit. She knew they were still around, but the night breeze made it hard for her to sniff them out.
*poit*
Her attention was broken by the slight sound that perked her ears, and she felt the beast push her down onto her back, snarling behind Steven at empty space. Turning to the statue, she saw something fall, twinkling in the natural blue moonlight.
A pin.
'They're hiding their scent.' Connie acknowledged looking as Lion seemed to search, sniffing the air as he did so while guarding them. "Hey.." she called for the beast. "Pink Lion...?"
The lion turned to her, his eyes still darting back and forth.
"We need to get Steven some help." She spoke calmly, despite being worried sick.
As she sat up, her eyes caught it. A silent, unnatural bending of grass. As if it was being parted or moved through, and it was heading towards them.
Climbing to a kneel and wiping off her shorts. She allowed some inner distraught to show on her face, "We have to go, Steven...."
She paused mid-sentence and swung her left fist in a wild hook. Fueled by rage, love, and the shards embedded on her back.
"KOOFFAGG-HUH-HAUH!"
"Bingo." Connie darkly taunted as she felt her fist caving into something fleshly and began grinding it in, "was that sternum, I think that was your sternum..which would put your cloak mask..."
-Krush!-
The sound of metal and machinery being shattered broke the tranquility of the field as Connie's knuckles tore through face, mask, and illusion; revealing a boy, a bit younger than Connie, wholly covered in a bodysuit made of silver scales, with a tube connecting it to the now destroyed face mask, a tactical harness that held many pins and bottles of a clear liquid. He now also sported a caved-in chest cavity near his heart and a jawless mouth. She took the rest of the mask off and stared into the pale, freckled face boy with gray eyes that showed no emotion.
"You're a stone...." She stated, taking five of the pins, pulling the top of his suit, and jamming them into his throat.
"Is this the antidote?" She pointed to the bottles, getting the slightest affirmation by his eyes darting in the direction. "Guessing you still didn't go through a full conversion, or how ever you stones are created, yet...It seems you're hella durable, though. Explain the gear and tactics, and the reason you have not tried to take me out, despite being close...or maybe the force and ease of your jaw leaving your body and your chest breaking put you into a state of shock?" She didn't stall any longer, taking the bottles before she delivered one more strike straight to his heart, letting him expire on her fist.
She felt a little sadness, 'he was one of their victims as well after all,' she conceded as she walked to the edge and tossed the corpse into the waves below, a sea burial of sorts.
Now, she could not relax and be emotional as she turned to rush to Steven's side again, only to pause at the scene.
Steven already draped upon Lion, still unconscious but visibly breathing, with a pink water-like portal behind the two. She was further surprised to see the Lion ducked down slightly towards her as if waiting for her to mount.
She had to bat her eyes, feeling them moisten again as the familiarity of the scene struck her at full force.
She climbed behind Steven, propping him up in a lean against her frame as she held him protectively.
"Let's go, Lion. To the fountain." She commanded gently, almost maternally.
As they leaped through the portal, she couldn't help but think about the ease of both her action to the would-be assassin and words she spoke just now.
How both felt instinctive...How they both were calling of the present and past. The contrasting duality and the question of which one was the real one?
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Grand jewel directory

Chapter 39: Connie 8f
Chapter 21: C3 Steven and G9 Connie
Chapter 46: Connie C4 and Steven H8