White Diamond's P.O.V

It all comes to me in flashes.

Steven promising he'll be back.

Steven leaving the arena with determination in his eyes.

The time going by and him not returning.

Blue and Yellow looking scared and worried.

The tournament ending and all three of us going to look for him.

Black Geode meeting us in the Palace and telling us that she dealt with him.

Anger surging through me upon hearing this, leading to me attacking her.

And then, blackness.

Gasping, I wake up from my unconscious state, looking down at myself to see that I'm all in one piece. Sitting up from my place on the hard floor, I scan my surroundings and feel a sense of dread creep inside me. Walls surround me on nearly all sides except for this energy field located behind me that prevents any gem from walking through it. The room is also rather small, even for my regular size, with only a couple feet of space on either side of me. Standing up, and stumbling as I do so, I walk over to the field and try to see where I'm being kept. But unfortunately, all I see is more cells like the one I'm in and none of them contain Blue or Yellow either, which causes me to sigh in defeat and sink to the floor with my back against the adjacent wall. I pull my legs to my chest and rest my chin on top of my knees, wondering just how quickly things went wrong. I also begin to feel something that I haven't ever felt before. Helplessness. Being all alone in a place that has me trapped with almost no way out and has made it so that I have no idea where I am at all. With what Black Geode is capable of, I almost feel like it's pointless to still hope that things can still turn out well. I'd wager that it's her that stuck me in this cell and that she did so because she's obviously caught on to what we've been trying to hide from her. Sighing once more, I feel my gaze wander around my cell until it stops on something laying on the floor over in the corner, something that jolts me with surprise and fear.

"Steven?!"  I exclaim, shrinking down and rushing over to his limp form. 

Black Geode had made it sound like she killed him, but maybe she was just lying to get a rise out of me and the other Diamonds. I pull him into my lap and caress his face, his eyes closed and his expression emotionless.

"Steven....?"  I say again, sadness and anxious racing in me at the fact that he hasn't responded, "Answer me, please, Steven!".

I lightly shake him, but that still elicits no response from him. I then put the side of my head to his chest and listen for his heartbeat, since Steven has told me before that it's the sign that a human is living or not. I hear no sound coming from his chest, panic rising fast. My head jerks around the room in search of something to help, but the room is entirely empty. I'm getting more and more scared by the minute, not knowing what I'm supposed to do in this situation. I try pushing on his chest to see if that will start the heartbeat again, but that doesn't do anything. I try giving him air by way of pressing our lips together, but that also does nothing. At this point, I'm full on hyperventilating.

"Wake up, Steven!!! WAKE UP!!"  I nearly shout, shaking him even more with tears coming out of my eyes,"You promised me that you would come back, now come back to me! I can't lose you!".

Steven remains still, no moving a muscle or making a sound. The realization then settles in and I break down sobbing, falling to the floor. He was dead. Steven was dead. And it was at this moment that I felt like Black Geode really had won. She could've destroyed Homeworld, made me do a million atrocities over the span of an eternity, and even shatter me, but that wouldn't even come close to the pain that she's caused me now. Because she just took the one person I've grown to cherish, treasure, and love away from me forever. I curl up in a ball and continue sobbing, not ever wanting to stop. I don't know how long I laid there and I didn't care. I felt like an absolute failure. I failed to protect the one I loved and now my planet is certainly on the brink of eternal doom. My hands then move on their own and bring Steven's body over to where I am, my eyes raining down tears on him as I glance down while crying. Lifting up his shirt, I see that his gem is still intact, not that it means that much anymore. But, I sadly touch my gem against his, as sort of an informal kiss, anyway before I pull back and roll over onto my side, misery resuming it's cruel hold on me.

What I apparently didn't see, though, was that a short time later, a pink glow emanates from Steven's gem and Steven himself begins to move. But what does grab my attention is the sound of somebody sitting up and the mixture of hacking and coughing coming from behind me. My sobbing pauses, a tiny sliver of hope presenting itself as I turn over and feel my breath catch as I see Steven on his hands and knees, making painful noises like the ones I just heard. After these noises subside, he calms down and looks over, our gazes finally meeting.

"White?" Steven croaks.

I knock him onto his back out of joy as I surge forward and wrap him in a hug, the tears of sadness now replaced with happy tears. By some miracle, some stroke of luck, Steven isn't dead anymore! Thank the stars and so much more! I then don't hesitate to connect our lips and feel the rush of relief enter my system, especially since I feel him returning the action. But, even after the kiss ends, I don't let him out of my grasp, keeping him on my lap, which he appears to be plenty fine with anyway. Letting myself vent, I stroke his hair and let my thoughts out so he can hear what I was thinking.

"You have no idea how relieved I am to see that you're alive, Steven. I thought for sure that you were gone and that I was going to be stuck here forever with your body being a constant reminder of how I failed to protect the one I cared about above all others. I was terrified, more than I had ever been before, and I wasn't sure what to do to try and save you. Love really can be torture sometimes. It makes you so happy when you're with that special somebody, but it also makes you wish for death when that someone is dead or near death themselves. From now on, I'm not letting you out of my sight in any situation. No exceptions, no anything. Non-negotiable" I say. 

Steven coughs and nuzzles into my stomach.

"But, what happened to you? Where are we? And where are Blue and Yellow?" He asks, looking a bit weary.

"Well.....what happened was that the fighting event continued on for hours and hours. You didn't come back and Blue, Yellow, and I were getting very, very, worried that something had gone wrong with you tailing Black Geode. Once the event concluded, we left the arena and went to the Palace, finding Black Geode there along with a massive hole in the ground and the Palace itself looking all sorts of black in some areas. I figured that there was no point in trying to be nice and civil with her anymore, so I outright demanded to know where you were. She merely chuckled and said that she 'dealt' with you. That set all of us off, electricity sparking around Yellow and a dangerous aura surrounding Blue. I attacked her first, even though I knew I couldn't easily beat her. With all this misty blackness surrounding her, Black Geode just slapped me across the face and sent me to the floor, which is where I blacked out. Next thing I know, I wake up in this cell and have no clue what happened to Blue or Yellow or even where I'm at. If I had to guess, though, Black Geode did the same thing to them as she did to me, so they must be their own cells around here somewhere, wherever 'here' is"  I explain.

"Wait, a cell?" Steven asks, sitting up and looking over at the energy field holding us in.

"Yes, a cell"  I clarify, looking over at the field with him, "It has an energy field covering the only entrance, which doesn't do us any favors of trying to escape".

"I...wouldn't say that" Steven suddenly grins.

"What? What do you mean?"  I frown, confused at his cryptic response.

"Well, I think now might be a good time to tell you that a number of years ago, a Jasper, a Peridot, and a Lapis Lazuli came to my planet in Yellow's armship and took me and the Crystal Gems hostage. We were kept in cells just like this and were ultimately able to escape. The trick is, though, that only I can squeeze through these energy fields because they were designed to hold in gems, not partial gem/partial human captives. Since I'm part human, I was able to get through and deactivate the field from the outside. So, I'll just do it again this time, let you out, and we can go find Yellow and Blue" Steven tells me.

"Very fascinating. And how fortunate that is, my love"  I smile.

"So, should I let us out?" He inquires, looking actually excited and eager at being able to help in a situation that only he can fix.

"Yes, but before we go, I want to know what happened with you and Black Geode,"  I answer. Steven bites his lip and looks down.

"It's quite a story, let me tell you. I stuck close, but not too close, to her and followed her wherever she went. At first, I thought she was going to the Palace, but she took a detour and went down to the lower levels of Homeworld. I had my suspicions that what she was doing aligned perfectly with what Blue had told me about her activities the previous night. And I kept following her, which, indeed, led me right to the machine. But, to my surprise, she didn't activate it or really do anything with it besides running her hand over it and saying that 'things will be back to the way they used to' or something like that. Black Geode then left and actually did go up and into the Palace. I did my best to remain hidden throughout all of this and slipped in behind her as she closed the Palace doors, which definitely seemed sketchy to me. But I must've not been careful enough, because she called out to me by name. I stepped out and she said a whole bunch of things like how she was going to kill every last gem on this planet and start over with a fresh batch of Homeworld gems and how she was going to make sure that you, Blue, and Yellow would learn your places. She then caused a massive hole to appear in the floor, one that we both fell down, more so me than her. The cavern we landed in must've been an older throne room of sorts because the floor was completely smooth and polished, the only exception being this rock formation in the center that housed her throne, which she told me was made up of the shards of all the gems she ever killed. Black Geode sat down on the throne and I tried my best to stand my ground against her, though she said that she discerned from my words that I was the one who started this whole big change. She said a bit more and then that black fog stuff she controls started choking me. She then pulled me into her hands and closed them on top of me. I felt like I was dying and I almost thought I did, but then next thing I know, I wake up here and feel a bit drained. Maybe what she did was meant to kill me and maybe she thinks it did its job, but that's not the most important thing right now. What's really important is that Black Geode has known about what we've been up to the second she left that ship with us. That's why none of us ever heard her asking about the colonization process. She already knew!" Steven says.

"Oh, dear, that sounds horrible"  I pout, the image of Steven being choked by her both angering me and making me sad,"But what should we do now?".

"We have to stop Black Geode, no matter what. Even if that means we have to fight her. With all the things she said she'd do, there's no point in trying to convince her anymore. You and I should find Blue and Yellow, get them up to speed, and get their help in bringing Black Geode down" Steven states confidently.

"But are you sure we can stop her, Steven?"  I question, hesitation present in my tone,"You and I both know that she's way too powerful to be brought down by any amount of things that we could try to do".

"Yes, it may seem hopeless. It may seem stupid, foolish, or even suicidal. But, frankly, I don't care. As long as the Homeworld gems can survive, that's all that matters to me. And sometimes, the odds have been against people before, but you know what? They still fought and eventually triumphed. This is no different" He continues, giving me confidence with his words.

"Alright, then"  I exhale, letting him slide off my lap before I stand up,"Let's do it".

I then follow Steven as he walks over to the energy field, watching as he trudges through it while getting slightly electrocuted. After nearly losing him, I find that any instance of him in pain is even more painful for me. But I shouldn't focus on that right now. I'll save that for later, when Blue, Yellow, and I are alone and have a chance to talk. Now that he's outside the cell, Steven jumps up and smacks the control panel keeping the field up, the barrier glitching in and out before fading away entirely. Smiling, I step out of the cell and give Steven a kiss on the cheek for a job well done before growing back to my regular size. It appears that we're in a long sort of hallway, both directions stretching on and branching out in other directions too. However, judging by the yellow coloring on, well, nearly everything, this means that we're inside Yellow's armship. So, if we find her first, she can give us a better idea of how to navigate this place.

In the meantime, though, Steven and I agree to just pick a direction, either right or left, and go with it. We ultimately go right, seeing as more cells lead that way. Feeling pressed for time, the two of us run down the hallway and scan the cells for Blue or Yellow. We go a fairly long way, but still turn up nothing, which has us going down a different hallway curving off to the left. There aren't cells down this way, but we still keep going, thinking that there may be more of what we're looking for down at the other end. But, when we reach that point too, there's also nobody to be found, just more hallways that lead deeper into the ship. I'm sure neither of us are liking the lack of progress, but Steven nor I voice any of this concern. Nor do either of us talk about the fact that we've been running for a little over 5-10 minutes now and have not seen a single gem on this ship besides us. Sighing, I swallow down the bile taste of fear and nervousness building up in my throat and simply continue running.

Fast-forward about another 20-30 minutes and Steven and I are tiring out, taking a break from running and sitting down with our backs against one of the numerous walls in this ship for a period of rest. I never realized how massive and maze-like the interior of these ships are. I wonder how Yellow ever got used to getting around in this place. I feel like just giving up and suggesting to Steven that we'll have to attempt fighting Black Geode with just the two of us, but I doubt he'd even accept that as a viable solution or even hear me out on that regard. He's stubborn when it comes to perseverance and throwing in the towel, but it's why I love him. Taking a breath, Steven rises to his feet and says that we should resume looking. I merely nod and stand back up as well, going beside him as we now walk onward instead of run. The two of us come to another section of cells and casually walk our way past them. We're almost to the end when something catches my eye, though. I tell Steven to wait, turning to get a better look at what I thought I saw. I blink my eyes a couple times, just to make sure I'm seeing correctly, but sure enough, I can make out Yellow laying on her side, unconscious in the cell to our right. I relay this to Steven and he commends me on finding her. I blush hearing his praise, kneeling down and tapping on the side of the wall to wake up Yellow. Steven eventually has to call out to her, though, since my tapping doesn't do the trick. Yellow stirs and slowly comes to her senses, Black Geode clearly having done some damage to her.

"Ugh...My head....what happened?" Yellow groans, sitting up and woozily gazing through the energy field at us, "White? And.....STEVEN?!"

Seeing Steven gets her awake very quickly, but just as she goes to rush forward and hug him, she does a double take and sees what's holding her in and where she's at.

"Oh, curse it all! She put me in one of these things!" Yellow huffs, hitting the wall out of frustration, "When I get out of here, I'm going to shatter her myself!"

"One thing at a time, Yellow" I say, trying to calm her down, "Did you see where they took Blue?"

"No, but I'd imagine she's not too far away" Yellow answers to the best of her ability, "But, more importantly, are you ok, Steven?"

"Well, considering that Black Geode intends on wiping out the entire gem population of Homeworld and nearly killed me herself, I'm not that happy with her" Steven responds, his expression mirroring his words, "But I'm glad that you're still here, Yellow. I would've hated to have lost you, Blue, or White here".

"You're too kind, Steven" Yellow smiles, "Now, could you do me a favor and release me from this infernal confinement!"

"One second, Yellow" He says, hopping up and hitting the control like he did on ours. 

And just like before, it works, Yellow walking out as soon as the field drops.

"And here's your reward" Yellow says, scooping Steven up in a hug with a peck on the forehead, Steven smiling at her affection before she sets him back on the ground.

"So, what's the plan now, you two?" Yellow asks, looking at both of us equally.

"I'll give you the short version once we have Blue with us. As you and her both know, Yellow, I don't like repeating myself multiple times"  I reply, my lips in a thin line.

"Very true" Yellow nods in acknowledgement.

Now with Yellow joining our little rescue party, our expanded group continues to explore the endless amount of passages, this time, in search of Blue. Yellow thinks that Black Geode separated us as far as possible from each other so that we'd spend more time trying to find one another than finding her instead, which is a pretty smart idea, I'm not going to lie. It would certainly explain why it took so long just to come across Yellow herself. Speaking of Yellow, she, along the way, grabbed Steven off the floor and placed him on her shoulder, not wanting me or her to accidentally step on him while we're running since we're both much larger than him size-wise. She also tries her best to guess where Blue might be tucked away, advises us where to go and where to look. And while Yellow does try, her attempts don't present any better findings, the places we look turning up empty. This leads to me suggesting that we retrace our steps and call out Blue's name to see if she'll wake up and respond, by which we can then listen and follow the sound of her voice back to her. Yellow doesn't argue, seeing as she's clearly bummed from her lack of results, and is actually the first to start calling out for Blue. Her and I, along with Steven riding on Yellow's shoulder, head back the direction we came and all together call out her name. We run all over the ship, me personally feeling like we're just going in circles, and are just sullenly walking along when I feel a sudden change in my emotions.

"Yellow, Steven? Do you feel an inexplicable rush of sadness and a sudden urge to cry too?"  I ask.

"Yes, actually" Steven says, Yellow nodding in agreement.

"Then you know what that means"  I say, lightly smiling.

Realization dawns on them and we focus, moving along a bit more carefully and monitoring how much stronger Blue's powers get. We ultimately stop at the hallway that Yellow says leads directly to the ship's deck and straight back into the engine room. Peering down each side of the hallway, I ultimately feel more of a tug coming from the direction of the engine room, which I tell the others and get them to follow me down that way. The path stretches on for longer than I would've thought, but with our now normal speed-walking pace, we reach the door to the engine room in no time flat. There's a window built into the door and Yellow does her best to look through while I try and see at the same time. Our first impression is that the engine room seems to be performing fine, at least with my knowledge on how that technology works, but when we look a bit closer, we gasp in horror. 

On the floor, right in front of the massive engines, is Blue, lying in a heap with that black fog/smoke whatever it is from Black Geode snaked around her chest, neck, and mouth. While Blue is actually conscious, she looks to be in incredible amounts of pain. Yellow and I grow angry, seeing Blue suffer because of Black Geode, and we both go to open the door, finding it locked and sealed shut. We yank and pull ferociously on the handle, but to no avail. Her and I then try hitting the door to see if it caves in, but even with Yellow's electricity abilities, the door stands strong. Steven then gets an idea and tells me to throw him at the door, but stand a little ways back. He says that he and Yellow must try and hit the door at the same time to maximize the impact. Yellow shrugs and says that it's worth a shot, so Steven hops into my palm and I step back about ten feet or so. I then bring my arm back and throw Steven with as much force as I can muster, sending him flying towards the door. At just the right moment, I yell for Yellow to do it and her electrified fist, along with Steven's shield, synchronize perfectly, smashing the door in. Yellow and I then rush inside the engine and immediately run over to where Blue is, Yellow scooping Steven back up as she runs past. She then sets him down in front of Blue as she and I kneel down next to, pulling at the blackness keeping Blue chained up. 

It actually comes off more easily than I thought it would, but even when it dissipates, Blue still looks bad. Her skin looks a bit faded, the color slightly drained from it, making her appear sick. Once again, I'm lost at what to do. That is until the recent memory of what I did to try and bring Steven back from the dead. I tell him to touch his Diamond gem with hers and see what that does. He then goes right ahead and lifts up his shirt, pressing his pink gem against her blue one. In an almost instantaneous fashion, Blue sighs deeply, the color of her skin returning to its natural hue. And while she's not as quick to get from the ground, Blue is that quick to press Steven against her cheek in an affectionate way and thank him for both saving her and finding her, her also saying that she's grateful that he's ok. Yellow and I watch, feeling pretty relieved.

"How did you know that would work?" Yellow asks, glancing at me.

"I didn't know if it would work for sure, but I had a hunch"  I honestly admit,"When I woke up, Steven was in my cell with me and I noticed that he wasn't breathing, nor was his heart beating. I tried everything I could think of to get him breathing, but nothing worked. I then touched my gem with his and not long after, he's up and recovering. I wonder if it has something to do with us Diamonds and how Black Geode's powers operate. That blackness she emits appears to drain/suck the energy out of any gem it latches on to, but if I were to hypothesize something for a second, I think we can sort of share or pass on our energy between one another to heal each other since we Diamonds have more energy than normal gems and are in our class by ourselves anyway. At least that's what I'm gathering by looking at what's happened thus far".

"A very astute observation, White" Yellow compliments, looking back at Blue and Steven being all happy and lovely towards each other, "Let's just hope that we don't have to do it much longer, though".

I pick up on what she's meaning and nod.

"Yes,"  I sigh, "I hope so too".

Blue then gives Steven a kiss and places him on the hooped part of her hair, now coming over and giving Yellow and I a hug. I smile and hug her back, happy that my idea worked and that Steven was able to save her. Yellow looks just as happy as I am, at least from this angle she does.

"Thank you all for finding me" Blue says, holding her hands together, "I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't. I probably would've ended up shattered".

"Don't worry about it, Blue. That issue has been dealt with" Yellow replies, putting a consoling hand on Blue's shoulder, "But there's still one bigger issue that has yet to be dealt with and we'll need your help in 'dealing with her'."

"Black Geode" Blue growls, her eyes darkening and her hair floating for a brief second out of anger, "She's going to pay for what she's brought upon us".

"And pay she will, but first, we should probably head to the front of the ship and see where exactly we're at" Steven suggests.

With his logic being sound, our now completely reunited group races through the straight hallway leading directly to the ship's deck. As we're running, Blue once more brings up the fact that she doesn't see any gems on this ship, which she says is "particularly unusual". Yellow does me the favor of replying to her and says that she and the rest of us have noticed the exact same thing, but aren't sure why. Steven then chimes in and says that we'll talk about that at a later time, but right now, we should focus on stopping Black Geode. It's not long after that whole conversation is wrapped up that we enter the bridge, finding it to be a large space with two levels, curved staircases on the left and right that serve as a way of reaching the second level. We all head up the stairs on the right and come to a stop in front of the throne that serves as the command seat of the ship, gazing out the massive window in front of us. And upon looking, I quickly deduce two things: we're floating out in space just outside Homeworld's atmosphere and Blue's armship is not that far away from the one we're in right now (Yellow's).

"Well...what do we do now, Steven?"  I ask.

"It's simple. Yellow, can you fly this thing into Homeworld?" Steven questions, glancing hopefully at Yellow.

"I would be more than happy to," Yellow says, smiling as she takes a seat in the command chair.

"Wait, wait, time out!" Blue speaks up, stopping everything, "Before we go any further, would you mind telling Yellow and I what happened to you after you left, Steven? I think I speak for both of us when I say that we were very worried about you and grew deathly afraid after you didn't return".

"Well, I've already told White what went down in greater detail, so I'll give you guys the shortened version" Steven goes on to say, Yellow turning her seat around as Blue stands next to it, both of their gazes trained on him with curiosity and concern.

"In short, I followed Black Geode around and she made two stops, one in the lower levels of Homeworld and the other in the Palace itself. Why she went to the lower levels first has to do with this machine that has existed for the longest time. This device is what Black Geode used to create White and is what White also used to create you two and my mom. I was worrying that she would try and use it again for her own means. I was ultimately found in the Palace by Black Geode figuring out that I had been following her. She pretty much laid out her whole entire plan to me about how she was going to essentially remake Homeworld in her own image, murder all the gems there, and basically start all over again. I then fell down this hole where your thrones used to be and fell into a sort of cavern that held a throne designed by Black Geode herself that was made for her as well. I stood against her and did my best to talk her down, but she deduced that Homeworld's change was because of me and tried to kill me by putting that black stuff around my neck to choke me. I really thought I was dead, but after White brought me back, I think that the fact that I'm not all the way a gem is the reason why I'm still alive" I retell the story, using a slight variation of words compared to when I told it to White.

Blue looks absolutely horrified, almost looking like she's ready to break down crying again while Yellow has her fist clenched, giving off the vibe that she wants to hit something really, really hard.

"Now I know why you want to stop her, Steven. Why all of this is turning out the way it is. And I can't accept her attempting to kill you, no matter how powerful she may be!" Yellow growls, sparks flying from her fist.

"Yellow's right!" Blue adds, her expression growing serious, "Black Geode hasn't just made an enemy of you, she's made an enemy out of all of us Diamonds! We'll fight until the very end, even if it means our shattering!".

Steven nods, looking serious as well, but also pleased to hear that Blue and Yellow are also agreeing to help with fighting her.

"Thank you for standing with me on this. I know that if we work together, she'll have trouble trying to get all of us" He states with confidence, "Now, Yellow, let's see how fast you can get us down there".

"With pleasure" Yellow grins, turning around and cracking her knuckles before setting them on the controls.

The ship then lurches, causing me and Blue to grab onto whatever's solid around us to steady ourselves, Yellow propelling her armship forward with sudden force. She then spins the vessel around with no trouble at all and sends us right in the direction of our home planet, wasting no time in boosting the engines to increase the overall speed. With how fast we're going, things start vibrating, making me take Steven into my hand and hold him close to my chest so that he doesn't fall off and injure himself. These vibrations only get worse when Yellow enters our atmosphere in record time, Blue looking a bit scared at what's happening while Yellow herself seems to be enjoying it. Maybe she hasn't piloted anything in a while or something, but either way, it's a bit concerning seeing how happy she is with going as fast as she's set the ship to go. I assume that we're not far from where we need to be, but just as the front view begins to clear up, Yellow jerks the ship to the left very roughly, almost sending Blue and I to the ground. The ship then stops and settles in midair, giving me the chance to ease myself up from nearly falling over and let go of the tight grip I had on the back of the bridge's railing. I quickly check on Blue, seeing that she's fine, so my attention then transitions over to Yellow, who turns her chair back around towards us.

"Well, we're here" Yellow announces, still smiling.

"Next time, give us some warning, for Homeworld's sake"  I say firmly,"Your reckless flying just about sent us across the bridge".

"I'll keep that in mind" Yellow chuckles, making me roll my eyes. 

I then realize that Steven's still in my enclosed hand and open said hand, now holding him up so that he can see us all.

"Alright, Steven, we're just above the landing pad. What's our next move?" Yellow inquires. 

Steven bites his lip, as if he's unsure about what he's thinking.

"Alright, so I had an idea about fighting her, but I'm not sure you guys will like it," He admits.

"Oh, don't worry about that, Steven," Blue encourages, "Please just tell us. I'm sure it's perfectly doable".

"....Ok, then. My idea is that the four of us fuse" Steven states.

That creates a heavy air of silence in the room, one that lasts for a painfully uncomfortable long period of time.

"Well, I suppose. But, Steven, you need to realize that none of us here aside from you have ever fused with another gem" Yellow points out.

"She's right, Steven"  I add,"We would shatter gems for doing such an act and had never thought of doing it ourselves".

"Yes, but the stronger we are together, the tougher the opponent we'll be. It's easy, I'll teach you guys how to do it" Steven insists, sounding like he really does believe in this idea.

"................I'll do it," Blue speaks up, "For you, Steven".

".......I'll try it too, I guess," Yellow adds, looking nervous.

"Well, we can't have this complete without me, so I guess I'm along for the ride too"  I agree.

"Awesome. Now, here's what you need to do" Steven instructs, "Reach deep within yourselves and channel your deepest emotion possible. And then, once you have that, each of you place your hand in a pile in the center here. I used to do this thing called a 'fusion dance' but I don't think any of us are in the mood for dancing, so this is the shortcut".

Each of us then closes our eyes and concentrates. I search myself for the strongest feeling in my system and I'm not surprised by what I find it to be. My love for Steven. It's a fierce force, a burning fire, a drive that will make me do anything to protect him. I seize that force firmly and open my eyes, placing my right hand out in front of me. One by one, Steven, Blue, and Yellow each open their eyes, their gems glowing. Steven places his hand on top of mine and then Blue places her hand on top of his. All that remains is Yellow's hand, which doesn't come automatically. Still holding that feeling in, I see Yellow's gem glowing, but she still appears to be nervous about the prospect of fusion. We all send her a collectively warm and supportive glance and that ultimately gets her to wipe that nervous look off her face and put her hand in the middle with the rest of us. And once she does, a bright light appears and everything around me vanishes.

Steven's P.O.V

When all of our thoughts and forms combined into one, I felt incredibly powerful and overwhelmed at the same exact time. I could hear everything that Yellow, Blue, and White were thinking, as well as my own thoughts, and I'm sure they could hear mine just as well. It comes in such a rush that I try to block out what I can't mentally handle, but by doing that, I feel our united body fizzle and waver.

"Don't fight against this, Steven!"  White's voice advises me.

"Yes, just let it happen. We all trust you with our lives and love you very much" Blue's voice says as well.

"You'll have to work with us here if we're to remain stable" Yellow speaks peacefully, "All of us must perform in unison if this is going to work".

"I'll do my best, guys, trust me" I say in my mind, "This isn't the first fusion I've ever done".

"We'll give you our knowledge and lend you whatever help we can, but you have the ultimate control here, Steven"  White explains, "We're with you on this and we'll stay by your side no matter what!".

"Right!" Blue and Yellow speak in unison.

"...Right" I agree, feeling the control flowing through me.

Focusing, I see my vision clear up, the interior of Yellow's armship back in view. We must've fallen over, though, because I'm seeing the ship from a sideways angle. Feeling the hard floor on my side, I ease myself up and get to my feet, stretching my arms a bit. I feel sort of weird, the same kind of feeling that I got when trying to pilot Mom's legship. Doing my best to steady myself, I squint into the massive front window of the bridge, trying to get a view of how this fusion looks. And boy am I surprised!

I, or I suppose 'we', stand the same height of White with very colorful clothing and interesting features. Going from top to bottom, our hair has Blue's loop in the front with Yellow's flowing hair going down our back and adding some heft to the top of our head. Some of White's features then come into play with a crystal tiara going around our head, White's gem in the place where our forehead is with three larger white triangles on the sides and back of the tiara. Our face has my eyes in the center, larger than they typically are, with the top of White's eyes placed above mine and Yellow's right eye placed under mine with Blue's left eye going under my left eye. Our nose and mouth are pretty much the same as Blue's facial features, so nothing completely new there. Our outfit consists of multi-colored shoulder pads with a long cape going down our back, the cape mixing all our colors with a bit of black from White's regular cape, held together by a clasp around our neck. On our chest, Blue and Yellow's gems appear vertically above one another, mine appearing down at my navel where it usually goes anyway. And clothes-wise, our chest has an attire just like White with the waist down being Yellow's sort of trench coat-like bottom that curves around the front of our legs, both of which are strong and covered in garment, the shoes being a mix of Yellow's boots and White's heels. It's probably worth mentioning that we have four arms, one set placed where the arms would typically go while the other set are just a few inches below the others. Oh, and our skin color is teal, more than likely from Blue and Yellow mixing together with White's addition.

Honestly, I think Paragon Diamond looks incredible.

"Wow, this is so cool" I say out loud, touching our face with two of our four hands.

"You're very right, Steven" Blue's voice says, "Maybe if I can help Yellow overcome her fear of fusion, we can do this more often".

"It's not a fear, Blue" Yellow's voice retorts, "I've just been taught for so long not to do it. It gets hard to break something that has lasted a super long time".

"Well, so was the case with the empire, but look how easily we overcame that"  White points out to Yellow.

"Guys, guys, can we focus please?" I say to them in my mind, "Now's not really the time for bantering".

"Right, right, let's get back on track,"  White agrees.

Sighing out of our nose, I try tapping into White's knowledge of creating a bubble around ourselves and successfully find it looking through her thoughts. Now knowing what to do, I feel our combined energy in our fingertips and use my top two hands to gesture a rainbow pattern in front of our face, a blue, white, yellow, and pink-colored bubble forming around us. Smiling, I then send us out the front of the ship, phasing through, and descending through the sky until touching down on the landing pad. Once the bubble disappears, I get up from my kneeling position that I landed in and stand tall, taking our surroundings. I let out a gasp, hearing the others gasp in our shared mind space as well.

"It's like something straight out of a nightmare" I comment to no one in particular.

Homeworld has turned completely black, every single inch of the planet coated in darkness. But that's not all, though. Wisps of Black Geode's signature mist/fog drafts across both the ground and through the air, an occasional few buildings have been torn apart and broken, and there's not a single gem in sight, just like back on Yellow's ship. But the worst thing of all is that the Diamond Palace has been completely and utterly destroyed, the steps intact with the rest of the building's structure either laying in pieces or supporting a new structure that's concealed by a swirling globe of blackness. Everything just looks so dead and empty and it makes me scared. If Black Geode is capable of doing...this, then what chance do we have? No, I can't think like that. I have to stay strong for both myself and the Diamonds.

"Oh, stars!" Blue exclaims.

"What has she done to our home planet?" Yellow asks rhetorically, sounding a bit frightened herself.

"I don't like this at all..."  White whimpers nervously.

I do my best to stay composed.

"Just keep it together, guys" I tell them mentally, trying my hardest to sound reassuring, "We'll get through this".

Giving our shoulders a shrug, I begin walking forward, feeling the wisps of blackness blow past my feet. If I'm to fight to the best of my ability, I need to know in my own head that I am the one holding the reins of this fusion and that since I feel and move when the fusion feels and moves, I should refer to it as if it were me. The Diamonds will help me, sure, but I am the one who started all of this and I'm also gonna be the one to end it too. More and more wreckage/debris becomes apparent to my surroundings as I continue heading forward. I don't let my focus stray to them, though, because I know that it'll only fill me with despair and sadness. 

Then comes the slight bridge that crosses from the landing area to the Palace, or what's left of it now. Pieces of it have cracked and broken off, the very middle having broken off so much that a large gap is left, which, if fallen into, would send anyone down into the depths of this darkened planet. I get a running start when looking at the distance and jump right before the gap, sailing over it with relative ease and landing in a crouch on the other side. We're now really close to the remains of the Diamond's living quarters and that globe of blackness. I ease myself up and resume my walking, but I don't get two steps until a very familiar voice resonates to my ears, one that sounds a bit more angry than usual.

"So, you managed to escape your cells and return here. I would say I'm impressed, but you're only just proving how much of an annoyance you're becoming. Blue Diamond, Yellow Diamond, White Diamond. And, Steven Universe, it seems. I recognize those gems on your form. I guess I didn't do enough to kill you permanently. But, it is no mistake either, for I never make mistakes. You four might have found some way to merge your forms together, but even that won't do anything to save you. Or your gems, for that matter, nearly all of whom are gone, thanks to me. A tiny group still evades me, but they won't be able to hide for long. After I've completely assured my reign and birthed my new generation of gems, these defects will be brought to me so that they have the honor of being shattered by my own hand!" Black Geode booms.

"And you also know that we're not gonna let that happen if we're still here and have anything to say about it!" I call out, pretty sure that she's hiding inside the globe.

"Yes, I do. But I just wanted the pleasure of hearing you say it for yourself. It'll make breaking you so much more fun" Black Geode retorts, her tone making it sound like she's grinning very evilly.

The swirls of black fog making up the sphere then suddenly stop and rush towards the back of the sphere, pulling away from the front. More and more get pulled away until Black Geode is visible sitting on her throne, her then standing up to give us a full view of what she looks like. Her hood is now off, showing off some long black and dark grey with the same sparkles as White's standard cape, and a crown with black twisted thorns mixed with silver metal. Her face displays the same level of anger as her voice did, her hexagonal-shaped eyes pointed right at me. Then, she leaps from her spot and slams to the ground just a few feet in front of me, creating a crater with an abundance of cracks in the ground. Black Geode still towers over me, even with me now being as tall as White. With that same blackness swirling around her arms and around her hands, Black Geode stares me down.

"Let's see how well you can handle me when I'm only using a quarter of my full strength" She challenges.

With guidance from White, Blue, and Yellow, I put all of my arms to work, my top two summoning large twin crystal swords from White's gem while the bottom two summon two large oval-shaped shields from Yellow and Blue's gems, one colored yellow and crackling with electricity while the other is blue and radiating with emotion-based power. I then bring all my arms back and strike a battle stance pose, ready to take her on.

"Yes, let's see how you do" I fire back, matching her stare down with my own.

Black Geode strikes first, her black fog forming into tentacles and attempting to stab me. I raise both shields and they stop them, but when I try to use my two swords to slice the tentacles into pieces, they just pass right through, which is so unfair. Two more tentacles form her and yank the swords out of my hands, Black Geode then kicking me and sending me backwards. I quickly recover, seeing as she's backed me up very close to the edge of the bridge gap. Black Geode then tosses one of the swords on the ground in front of me while keeping the other for herself, the blade changing color from white to black. I pick the sword up with my upper right arm and switch the shields to my upper and lower left arms, merging them together to create a much larger green-colored oval shield. Black Geode spins the sword around in her hand, waiting for me to come at her, which signals to me that she's both testing me and messing with me.

"Geez, I am not doing that good so far" I think, "Not even half a minute into the fight and I already lost one of my swords".

"Don't put yourself down like that, Steven" Yellow says comfortingly, "I'll advise you on how to sword-fight. Just listen carefully".

I indeed listen as Yellow explains, letting her talk me through how to properly wield a blade as I walk towards the waiting Black Geode. And as the tyrant once again makes the first move, I block her strike with my own sword. She then tries to quickly strike in a vulnerable area, but Yellow quickly says to block it with my shield, which I do. It knocks Black Geode just a bit off-balance and White suggests using her power. I tap in her power and shoot those beams out of my eyes that she used back when she and I first fought a long time ago. The beams don't necessarily hurt Black Geode all that much, but it does make her take more than a couple steps back. I then rush her, with Yellow's instruction, and attempt to land a blow on her. Black Geode counters this, though, and our swords clash against each other. Her and I then deliver hit after hit on each other, our blades dancing in the air as she tries to swipe her sword across my chest and I attempt to slice her neck. I do, at a certain point, get close enough to her to use my free arm to firmly grab her non-sword arm, trying to use Blue's emotion-based power to throw Black Geode off her game. But since this is my first time trying to use Blue's power, just like with Yellow's or White's power, I'm not very successful at it. Maybe if we had more time to practice, rather than this just being a spur of the moment thing, and had fused more times, I'd be in better shape to actually put up a good fight. Black Geode just shakes my grasp off and tries bending that arm backwards and hitting it with the intent to break it. She doesn't, but it still hurts like hell, though.

"Your use of a sword in combat is laughably embarrassing, Steven" Black Geode taunts, coming at with her sword two more times as I block each for the umpteenth time, "You should just give up and beg for mercy".

"You aren't trying, so why should I?" I counter, using my free arm to now send electricity at her, "And you already told me that you're not a being of mercy, anyway".

The electricity actually does some damage to her, causing Black Geode to place her non-sword hand over her chest, where the lightning struck, and hold it there. Her grip on her sword tightens, telling me that she's getting a bit angry.

"So you're saying that you want me to go harder on you? Alright then" The ancient entity replies.

She then slaps me upside the face and goes to stab at where my gem is, my free hand grabbing the blade part of her sword. When she tries to yank it out of my grip, I break the top portion of the blade and throw it back at her, the projectile embedding itself in her right shoulder. I faintly her Black Geode grunt as she removes the sword tip, her pausing giving me a chance to get close and hit her both with my large shield and free hand while my sword hand brings my sword down on her crowned head. This only annoys her, though, and has her grab my neck with one hand and lift me up in the air as she rams her other fist into my stomach repeatedly before tossing me backwards. I get back to my feet and summon another sword back to my upper left hand as I shoot electricity from my lower hands and White's eye beams at her simultaneously. Black Geode acts quick, however, and brings a swirling cloud of blackness up in front of her that stops the electricity from reaching her. The eye beams still dig into her, but she doesn't show any visible sign of pain and just speed walks towards me. I try increasing the intensity, but that doesn't do anything, Black Geode coming close. She tries hitting me with her fist, but I jump and somersault through the air, landing a short distance behind her and turning around to face her as she also turns around.

"White, please tell me you know about some kind of weakness in her, because I don't think we can hold out against her like this forever" Blue asks, sounding scared.

"I'm sorry, Blue, I don't know of any weaknesses"  White answers,"If I had known, I would've told you and everyone else before we left the ship".

Trying a more physical approach, I keep my grip on my swords as my lower hands clench into fists with electricity sparking through them. Seeing as that's caused the most noticeable damage so far, I'm just going to keep hitting her with Yellow's power until another sign of damage presents itself. I then act quickly and rush at her, striking with my fists and swords all at once. And while she does counter the swords by catching them, my electrified fists punching into her chest over and over does hurt her. I then attempt to force her back towards the edge of the bridge gap, pushing against her grip on my swords.

"Let's see how she likes this," I say to myself.

Her lips draw to a thin line and she pushes back against me, budging only a little bit. But when she realizes that she's actually being pushed back towards the edge, Black Geode frowns and does some quick thinking, suddenly pulling my swords towards her and throwing them behind her once she gets them out of my hands. She then grabs a hold of both of my upper fists, keeping them from hitting her as the blackness around her spins and swirls more rapidly. Her eyes then glow a bit as she yanks my arms to the side and headbutts me in the face, fortunately not cracking White's gem, though I think that might've been her intention. My electrified fists are now temporarily stunned and Black Geode uses that to unleash a fury of fast hits on me, striking me on the chest, stomach, and neck multiple times. I do my best to block her, but she's moving too fast and with too much strength for me to significantly reduce any damage. Black Geode just keeps raining down hits on me, tiring me out pretty quickly and leaving me hurt all over my upper midsection. She then rears her right hand back, darkness coalescing in her hand, and slams it into my chest just below Blue and Yellow's gems.

That punch really hits the hardest, causing my vision to fuzz and nearly go out completely before it comes back all clear and I feel sudden pain in my back, which might have something to do with the fact that I just hit the ground. I then hear other voices groaning in pain and they sound too clear and too close to be inside my head, so I grunt and get to my feet, peering behind me to see Yellow, Blue, and White lying in their own separate heaps on the ground, each of them looking beaten and weary. That last hit from Black Geode must've unfused us, cause I can't think of any other reason why we'd suddenly break apart. Deep laughter then rings in my ears, forcing me to turn back around and see Black Geode standing there all sure of herself.

"Don't you see now? I told you from the very beginning that you couldn't possibly hope to stand a chance at beating me and now here you are, divided and wounded while I was not even fully trying" The evil tyrant smirks, "It's a shame that this dedication you've displayed couldn't have been put to better use, but things are as they are. And as this example has made clear to me, it's time to begin creating my new gems. Get ready to say hello to a new and more powerful race of Diamonds, one that is superior to you in every way, but is also subservient to me and me alone".

With that, Black Geode simply walks away, not even bothering to finish us off as she descends towards the lower levels of the destroyed Homeworld. And by doing so, she just made the biggest mistake of her existence, because I'm not through with her yet. Her overconfidence in her own abilities has just now proven to be the flaw that we're looking for. She can't accept that things have happened despite her complete assurance that she prevented them. She thought she killed me, but she didn't and she didn't accept that as a mistake. We'll use that to our advantage and think outside the box, a trait that she doesn't possess. I have one last idea that could stop her and it's a last ditch effort. But to do so, we'll have to act fast. Hurrying over to the pained Diamonds, I help them up one at a time, going from White to Blue while still not wasting any time.

"There's one more thing we can do to stop her, but I'll only do it if you guys fully agree to it" I say, bringing Blue to her feet.

"The way you speak of it makes it sound very dangerous and puts me a bit on edge, but go ahead, Steven"  White sighs, holding her side and trying to stand up straight.

"She's gone down to activate the machine and once she has it working, she'll be creating new Diamonds that are even stronger than us. If we let her do that, things will have gotten so worse for us to the point where it won't just be us that won't survive, the entire universe won't be safe either. But, there's still time for an intervention. We have a slim window of opportunity here and I'm gonna take it" I explain.

"But what will we do with that window?" Yellow asks, looking like she's recovering.

"I need you three to round up those remaining few that Black Geode referenced and get them aboard Yellow's armship. Once we do that, there won't be any gems left in danger on the entirety of the planet. But then comes the more dangerous aspect. Black Geode is too powerful for us, we all are very much aware of this by now, so we'll have to use a 'fight fire with fire' type of strategy to defeat her. And it just so happens that the only thing on this planet with enough power to rival her is the very machine she thinks will bring out our destruction. I plan to overload the machine and strike Black Geode with so much power that she'll explode. But.....there's a catch to this" I say, trailing out that last sentence.

"Oh, no, what is it?" Blue gulps dreadfully.

"Well, if the machine overloads, then it's very very likely that Homeworld, the entire planet, will explode as well" I let out.

The Diamonds looked shocked, but didn't appear to be overly-mortified about the prospect of their home being obliterated.

"It's a very drastic measure, Steven. An extreme one at that. But given all that's gone on, we can't let Black Geode win. You have my backing. Do what you have to do" Yellow states, sounding confident and supporting at the same time.

"But...wait, hold on!!"  White exclaims,"You can't go against her alone!! She'll kill you for certain!! I've told you numerous times that you can't fight her by yourself!!"

"I know, White. I listened to you all those times and I still listen to you. But I can't let any of you come along and potentially die in my place. I would never forgive myself" I go on to tell her, while also speaking to Blue and Yellow too, "There have been times when I thought for sure that I was going to die when trying to battle something or someone beyond my skill level. But I still did it anyway, because I knew that I'd be dying for a purpose much bigger than just ensuring that I live another day. If I do this and actually die by Black Geode's hand, at least I'll die knowing that I put an end to an entity that would've enslaved the rest of the universe if she had continued living".

White looks ready to break down crying, but Yellow and Blue each hold one of her shoulders and attempt to console her with just their expressions. I don't want to leave her like this, but I quickly glance towards where Black Geode went and think to myself that I'll have to go if I'm to stop her before she gets anyway with creating those Diamonds. White, though, is able to be strong enough to hold her emotions in and stay composed for me, bending down with her palms open in front of me, leading to me placing my hands over top of hers.

"This won't be the end for us, my love. We'll always be together"  White gets out, her voice further showing her resistance to her crying.

I smile and nod, slowly retracting my hands from hers before turning around and running to the edge of the chasm. I glance back one final time and keep that same smile on my face, giving them something to remember. Blue, Yellow, and White then go and hurry off in the opposite direction, beginning their search for the last survivors. I, myself, swallow my fear of what's about to come and create a descending staircase from horizontal pink-colored, diamond-shaped platforms, proceeding to then run down them as quickly and as safely as possible. I keep the Diamonds in my heart as I get closer and closer to the lower levels. No matter what becomes of me, Black Geode can't leave that chamber alive. I didn't want it to come to this and I didn't want to even consider killing her, but there's no other way. Even if we were to somehow bubble her, I'd have to live the rest of my life in fear that that bubble would somehow, someway get popped and Black Geode would reform, causing this exact same problem all over again. This is the only way.

I hit rock bottom, literally, and feel powerful vibrations surge through my body, almost knocking me off my feet. But I steady myself and keep pushing forward, resuming my running pace and heading directly for the machine chamber. There's also some 'thuds' that shake the ground on a repeated pattern, which must be the machine at work, which also causes some of the destroyed remnants of old Homeworld to crumble and fall to the ground, making me have to dodge and duck and roll over the debris as I'm running. But once I get past the gist of the wreckage, it's a straight shot to the chamber, which, as expected, is wide open and making loud noises. Coming to a halt at the lip of the opening, I look down inside and see the device turning and thudding into the surface, raw energy being siphoned up from the planet's core. No Black Geode in sight, though, but I'm dead sure that she's here somewhere. Rushing down the stairs sticking out of the side of the chamber wall, I slow down to a walk when I come to the bottom, the machine looming massively in front of me. And after taking a couple steps forward, that all-familiar black fog rolls in, covering the internal area of the chamber.

"So you came to see my triumph and the beginning of Era 5 for yourself, hmm? I'm surprised, really, but go on and stay. Your end will come soon enough anyway" Black Geode's voice resonates, nearly vibrating my bones as much as the ones coming from the machine.

"Keep telling yourself that, Black" I call out, not knowing where she is but knowing that she's listening, "Because the fact that I'm still here shows that I'm not what you expected to come out of Homeworld in your many years of hibernation".

I then run towards the machine, pressing my back against it while my eyes go looking all over the place, eventually leading to me moving a couple seconds later just so she can't fully pinpoint where I am.

"Yet you are not from Homeworld, are you? You have the gem, but you are not a Diamond. That means you originated from a different planet. Do not worry, Steven. I'll find your home planet and personally kill every last inhabitant residing there. And I promise you that the longer you choose to remain here in this chamber and waste my time, the more severe that the consequences will get" Black Geode threatens. 

"Tough talk from a gem that hides behind her own powers and resorts to threats instead of handling things like a real gem" I say, trying to get a rise out of her, "I wonder what your Geode sisters would think if they saw the same thing as I do now. They'd probably be ashamed of you too".

"You know nothing of that!!" She growls angrily, "And you are just further narrowing down the seconds until I come over to where you're crouching at this very moment and silence you forever!! You are spent and injured and don't have the energy to even land a semi-powerful strike on me!! You are nothing!!"

"No, Black Geode, you are nothing. Nothing but a failure and someone who should've faded away a very long time ago. And when you're gone, nobody will care or remember you" I finish insulting her, knowing that that will send the tyrant over the edge.

"BE QUIET!!!" Black Geode yells, charging out of the shadows and striking the ground where I was just at. 

Though I moved just in time to avoid getting hit, the force of her impact sends me tumbling through the air and smacks me into a wall before I fall a couple feet to the ground. Gritting my teeth, I lift myself up and work on getting to my feet, my body shaking and my nose bleeding. I then have to instinctively roll out of the way as Black Geode strikes again, now bothering to let me recover. She misses again, this force sending me tumbling along the ground. But this time, I manage to get up and hobble back towards the machine, looking over my shoulder to see her turning around and stomping my way to try once more. Black Geode does indeed go for it, but I was anticipating her move and dove forward so that her fist wouldn't cause any outward damage, rolling and coming out in a crouch where I quickly summon a shield and throw it like a Frisbee at her face. It hits her in the eye, her face scrunching up in pain as she holds it.

"YOU WORTHLESS LITTLE PEST!!" Black Geode shouts.

"Doesn't feel so good, does it?" I taunt her, red still running down my face, "Though you can't bleed like me, you can still feel pain. And I guess you didn't account for the fact that since I'm a lot smaller than you, you can't hit me as easily as you would any other Diamond".

"YOU ARE NOT A REAL DIAMOND!!!" She bellows, stomping her foot hard against the ground before taking her hand off her injured eye and surging after me.

 Using my powers, I summon two vertical platforms on both sides of me, one slightly higher than the other and jump against one, push off against it, and jump off while pushing against the other just as Black Geode brings her fist down in rage. This lets me get on top of her hand, leading to me running up the sleeve of her robe and summon more vertical platforms to slam their pointed edges down into her arm. She growls in pain and I jump from her arm and create a couple horizontal platforms for me to bounce off of and land on her other arm. I roll and get back up running as fast as I've ever ran up her arm and up to her shoulder. To add insult to injury, I use one of those horizontal platforms to stab her in the wounded eye, it flying and jabbing her right where she doesn't want to be jabbed. Black Geode bends over and howls in pain, letting me jump high and land on that crown/tiara she's wearing. Her head then tilts down even more and I'm forced to grab onto one of the thorns to keep from falling, the sharp edges cutting my hand open. But I quickly pull myself up and onto her crown, doing a similar maneuver to the one that got me onto her hand and jump back and forth between some summoned vertical platforms. I do it fast and get up a decent enough height before spinning around in the open air and bringing my shielded fist down on her ground, sending it tumbling off her head and smashing against the floor, the accessory breaking into many pieces.

It doesn't do me any favors, though, because I'm now falling towards the ground too. However, as luck would have it, Black Geode lifts her head back up and clips me on the way, sending me once again tumbling through the air, though this time, I land on the top surface of the machine, which is still hard at work. I'm hurting all over and I feel a cough coming on, blood coming out onto my palm. I'm now forced to quickly think of a way to end this and get Black Geode to come closer to the machine, when I partly get my wish, but partly not as her hand slams down over me, holding me tightly in her fist as Black Geode stands right next to the device. And without any words, she furiously throws her fist into the open center of the machine over and over again, sending huge amounts of energy through me. I'm pretty sure my heart stopped beating and I came right back more than a couple times while she's doing this. But, in her fit of rage, after she feels like she's done plenty, she throws me at the wall, creating a crater. It's way beyond the strongest and luckiest of miracles that I'm even still partially alive, but yet I am, falling out of the crater and to the ground, landing quite brutally. The left side of my face feels like it received a huge amount of burn scars and my heart feels more than ready to explode on its own. The absolute worst part, though, is that when I try to swallow, my throat is parched, meaning that I have no healing spit to work with. I can't even bring myself to get up off the floor as Black Geode comes over, her composure at least somewhat regained.

"I don't often feel anger this intense or pleasure at the thought of killing, but you've changed my mind on that, Steven Universe" The tyrant fumes, "I hate you and I hate everything that you represent. And I'll feel the most pleasure I'll ever feel as I butcher your friends and family until they are completely annihilated. And it's all your fault".

She stands with her fists clenched, blackness curling off her hands and arms. I try to get up, but my body doesn't want to move. Still, I grit my teeth, bite down on my tongue, and feel pain like a thousand knives stabbing into my chest as I stand, shaking and falling forward, but getting right back up. Black Geode grits her teeth as well, her anger growing.

"WHY WON'T YOU JUST DIE?!?!" She demands, the blackness around her thrashing about.

"Because I'm Steven Universe! I'm the son of Pink Diamond and I'll never give up!" I shout.

With what little energy I have left, I charge right at her and slide under her legs as she also charges at me, hitting her with my shield on the insides of her legs. She then buckles, but instead of falling over, just turns around and keeps chasing after me as I get up and run. I then run and jump, creating more horizontal platforms to jump from as she gets closer and closer. What she doesn't realize, though, is that she did exactly what I wanted her to do. I jump and dive off the last platform, Black Geode missing her attempt to grab me and landing head-first onto the top of the machine. She dents the top, but not enough, so I run up her arm that's stretched out on the side of the machine and onto her head, gathering all my remaining strength into both of my hands as I rain down punch after punch on her. Her head and, by extension, her face, smacks the machine over and over and over again until the top is barely holding together, leaving me to jump and hit her the hardest I've ever done, the blow destroying the top of the machine and sending her head into the energy surge.

Black Geode screams and cries out, her body twitching immensely as the planet's core energy strikes her all at once. I quickly jump off her head and fall to the ground, landing in a roll that is still painful when I touch the ground. I then head to the stairs out of the chamber and pause when I reach the bottom, looking back on Black Geode. Veins of energy are now running down her neck and stretching out to her arms, legs, and the rest of her body. She's able to grip the sides of the device and pull her head, but at the cost of breaking off bits of the machine, causing it to go unstable and vibrate violently. Black Geode then collapses to the floor, the veins of energy now visible on her chest and heading for her gem. I take this as my cue to leave and make my way up the steps, taking them one at a time since I don't have the energy to do anything further. It's an agonizingly slow climb, but when I reach the top and peer back down below, I see what happens to her. The energy overload attacks Black Geode's gem, causing cracks to form in it before it twitches and twitches and ultimately shatters, Black Geode herself fading away like the shadows she controlled.

With her finally defeated, I wearily turn my tiny amount of focus to the machine. It's growing increasingly unstable by the minute and has basically been turned into a ticking time bomb that'll surely destroy the entire planet very very soon. Crevices and huge cracks that are glowing with the core's energy are forming in the ground, spreading out from the machine rapidly. I don't bother trying to turn and run. I know I won't make it before it explodes. I don't have the energy for it. I just stand there and stare at the thing, knowing deep in my heart that I did it. I stopped her and made sure that she won't harm anyone else ever again. And as the ground shakes with another wave of unstable energy, I brace myself to meet my fate.