The gems were poofed. All three of them. Steven stood alone on the battlefield, panting, his shield gone, his powers weakened. Hope was draining out of him as he saw Spinel crouch once again on the injector.

"Steven!"

He turned. Connie stood there, Rose's sword on her hip. Lion prowled close by, tail swishing.

"Connie..." he breathed as she ran to meet him.

"Steven, what's going on?" Her face was etched with worry. "What happened? Where are the gems?" She gave a little gasp as saw his face, sweaty, drained of colour and blood smeared. "What happened to you?" She whispered.

"There's no time to explain, I need your help. We've got to defeat this gem!" He indicated Spinel.

"Wha... who is she?" Connie looked utterly perplexed.

"Connie, you've just got to stay with me," Steven clutched at Connie's cheek, scrunching her hair in his fist. Tears glistened on his face, his eyes were wide and fearful. "I'm scared..."

"I'm here, Steven..."

"Connie, she poofed the gems, they're gone..."

"No!"

"I need you to stay with me and fight," Steven said, grasping her arms, almost moaning. His voice was rife with desperation.

Connie looked into his face, seeing the tears sparkling there. The hopelessness.

"I need you," Steven repeated, his voice cracking, and in his moment of weakness, Connie found courage.

She grabbed his hand.

"Okay." Her face hardened and she put her other hand to the hilt of Rose's sword. "Okay, let's do this."

Steven flashed her a grateful smile, then turned once again to the battle field.

Spinel had jumped down from the injector.

"Now Steven Universe, I've got nothing against your little friend, but if you want to see her alive again I'd send her well away from me while I'm angry!" She screeched.

Steven glanced at Connie. Fear and anger flashed across her face.

"Forget everything I just said and go," he muttered to her.

"What? No way!"

"Connie, I've just lost the gems and I can't afford to lose you too!" Steven yelled. And as Spinel began to spring towards them, Steven turned to Connie and gathered up all his magic and Quarts powers and pushed at the air and Connie was flung far away from by an invisible wall. She yelled in shock but was unhurt, now too far away from the action to be in any danger.

Steven turned back, panting, sweat pouring down his face, his ears ringing, and everything was a whirl of colour and sound and Spinel was smashing through the air towards him and Steven tried to summon his shield again, groaning at the heady effort required, but it dissolved before his very eyes, and Spinel was crashing nearer and nearer, a manic grin on her wasted, once beautiful face, the huge curved sword swishing through the air and it came down with a whipping motion so fast that it was blurred and Steven tried to throw himself out of the way but-

He was too slow-

The sword sliced through his flesh like a hot knife through butter.

"Oh," he said, in a tiny voice.

Blood, hot and wet and scarlet, burst from his shoulder, chest and stomach. The cut Spinel had made was deep and ran diagonally across his body. The rate of blood flow was alarming. It poured down him, and his legs shook.

And he crumpled.

"H-ha-hah," Spinel mumbled shakily. "Well... hey there buddy, that's- thats not what's supposed to happen... w-why didn't you just poof? What's all this red stuff?"

She stood over him, the sword hanging limply by her side, held slackly in her gloved hands.

Steven lay at her feet. Blood pumped out of him. His face was ashen and his black spots were appearing in the corner of his vision. Fear and panic was clouding his thoughts. The pain had not set in yet.

"No... no... STEVEN!"

Connie sprinted to his side, frantically reaching out for his convulsing form. Blood was trickling from his mouth and nose. Steven could hear it rushing in his ears, pumping louder and louder, his vision was blotching so badly he could hardly see connie's ashen face as it loomed over him.

"Steven! Steven, stay with me!"

"He's... He's gonna be okay, right?" Spinel asked in a shaky voice. She hadn't expected this. She never wanted this.

Connie ignored her. Her hands scrabbled at Steven's chest where the blood was wettest and darkest. It was no use. The human side of Steven's form was collapsing. Blood bubbled and gushed into his lungs and he coughed and spluttered, grasping Connie's arm weakly in a slippery grip.

"Steven, please..." Connie sobbed. Her eyes found Steven's, and held his gaze, brown on hazel. Then something seemed to shift in Steven's wide eyes, deep, in the depths of them, something vanished.

Steven's hand flopped to his side limply.

Connie didn't even speak. She just sat there, her hand resting on Steven's chest, no longer rising and falling. It was over.

"He good?" Spinel enquired from behind her.

With a sudden movement and a snarl of rage Connie jumped to her feet and pulled Rose's sword from the scabbard. She brought it swishing through the air with the precision and direction of a trained professional. It sliced through Spinel's form in an instant, which shuddered for a moment, then exploded. Holding the sword firmly in both hands she brought it swiftly down directly onto the gem. It cracked straight down the middle. She stabbed again. It crumbled. Connie stooped and picked up the heart shaped gem. It fell apart in her hands, but destroying Spinel didn't ease the ache in her chest.

So she stood there, panting, tears rolling her her face, surrounded by corpses.

A/N- just a lil something to ease the pain of the hiatus. Hope y'all are okay, love you, have a grand day chikas :)