The Results Are In
"EXCUSE ME?"
The news of Jade's escapade off in homeworld was quick to take note for the group once she got back with info in hand. A number of the Gems were also there alongside Flint: Garnet, Steven, Connie, and Fulgurite. Jade got all her notes together, and got them open for the others to make out.
"I thought that it would be helpful in our uh ... little problem," Jade said, everyone knowing well what that problem was. Garnet took it personally and read over each of the notes, and with what information she gathered on the Gems she interviewed.
"Hmm ... Aquamarine. Ruby. Melanite. How'd you manage to get their information?" Garnet asked after a bit. Jade began to feel a little bit humble again.
"I had my resources," Jade simply answered, not sure if they'll believe her if she said there was a tree growing back on Homeworld, if all places. Flint read over the information she had gathered, but while Aquamarine and Melanite were good, it was Eyeball's report that intrigued him.
"How far are you guys in this case anyway?" asked Connie.
"Beats me, but Flint's been going all out on it since the Off-Colors showed up," Steven answered. Connie knew a average amount amount their situation, but only that they're dealing with the problem in the first place, and that was it.
"And I think we're found a good clue. Garnet, you've known Rose, you know if she can change her size at all?" Flint questioned.
"No. and if she did, she never needed it," Garnet stated. That was pretty good news for Flint, and he showed them to Steven.
"Homeworld's in trouble alright," Flint said, surprising them with his ... friendly nature.
"How so?"
"Blue Zircon and I had spoke a while ago, and we both came to the same conclusion. Rose Quartz can't have done it without setting off some sort of alarm, and with so little witnesses, then that means. ..." Flint paused and actually smiled to Steven before saying "That means, Steven, you're innocent!"
now THAT was the best news they've heard in a while. All of Flint's studies had reached that conclusion, and these inconsistencies in Rose being the murderer surely showed that promise. Fulgurite, in glee, gave Steven a good hug.
"Congrats, you lucky kid!" Fulgurite said.
"Now not too fast. We can say that he's innocent, but that doesn't reveal on who really did it. We still have a bit to go," Flint made clear.
"Well, it's a start," Connie said. And indeed it was. for much of the group, they were at the half-way point.
*grrrrr*
"Look, I want this done too, don't get mad at me for the slow process," Flint firmly stated.
*grrrrr*
And that time, they could see no one was groaning in displeasure.
"We got company," Garnet said, taking a look out the window.
Looking out from the windows, those inside the Beach House easily saw witness to what actually decided to come by for a visit. And it wasn't anything normal they've seen either, as it moved along the beach. It was a creature not familiar to Equus, Earth, or Homeworld for that matter now that they thought about it. A strange quadrupedal creature was roaming around out there, frail looking in its limbs, and relatively huge, about as big as a rhino, but long as a bus. Its body resembled a large dog, with a tail very thin like that of a whip. The head had a armor plate on it like a shield, but lacked any external ears, nose, or eyes, yet a set of jaws were still present, and despite no external nose was still moving its head close to the ground as if trying to find a scent. None of them went outside to confront the beast just yet.
"What's that thing?" Steven asked. Flint looked at the creature a bit more closely, and noticed one other detail on the creature's neck, which actually looked like a particular collar of sorts. ...
"A dog. ... Diamond's dog."
And as if it had heard him, the "Diamond Dog" turned towards them, and growled menacingly, growling and hissing like a lizard. They weren't sure if this was some corrupted Gem, or maybe a Equestrian creature, but regardless of whatever case, Flint can confirm that the Diamonds had this thing in their arsenal, and judging by coloration of said collar, and perhaps greyish white color of the beast, which diamond that would be wasn't too complicated either. Pretty soon, it was Garnet who went out first, catching the attention of said beast to her, before she jumped on out. The creature growled and roared as she came near, its tail whipping around like crazy in the air. It was so vigorous, Garnet actually slowed down a bit. Flint charged up his pistol, and went out to join her, already taking a few shots, just for them to bounce off its armor plating.
"Looks like she found us," Garnet simply said. Flint couldn't agree more, and aimed his weapon at the beast. However, this beast's sights were far more focused, and when they both rushed forward, it actually zoomed by them, straight to the Beach House! Fulgurite jumped outside as it made it up the path, her electricity-filled locks whipping out towards the animal. The lightning made the animal skid to a stop, roaring and whipping her hair back with its own tail. Steven, Connie, and Jade were a bit surprised, and even more so when the beast charged through Fulgurite, and crashed right through the door! Flimsy wood wasn't a good idea after all.
"Don't worry, I'll protect you!" Steven said, shield up and ready, as the animal snarled and growled. The tail whipped like crazy, Fulgurite, Garnet, and Flint catching up to the fray. As the tail whipped, it suddenly whacked a part of the collar, which ... was actually a button to activate something on its collar. Suddenly the beast stopped and just barred its odd teeth, looking more like razors than actual canines.
At this point, I'm sure you've met my little pet, Crystal Gems, possibly with your human friend just a few inches away. I've made it especially clear to each and every one of you to not, repeat, Not. Return to Homeworld, as you all were under banishment charges, and the concequences were to harvesting. But you didn't figure that out, did you? Flint, Jade, you two especially should've known better than to sneak back into the Diamond authority's eye. And for you, my dear Rose. I'm willing to make a counter offer though, you did defeat the cluster after all. ... Rose. Or Steven, howveer you wanna call yourself. You're the one who caused the War in the first place. If you agree to surrender yourself alone to me, then I'll allow everyone else all to continue your existence. If not, then I'm sure your planet will be happy to be removed from my star maps. I'm sure you can figure that out for yourselves, and before you think on some retaliation, I have the button right in front of me as we speak, and a drone at the site. I'll know if you refuse. Especially when it'll start attacking your friends again. ... so. Make you're choice, my dear little Quartz. Your life, or everyone else's?
The room was still, and Garnet quietly pondered her hardest on such a horrifying idea. And the voice of White Diamond was unmistakable, Steven's very core shaken by the idea. It was all on his head, either him or his friends, and the steaks had been put up extremely high. The recording had finished up, and the beast began to roar again, as if it had woken up from some trance.
"Steven, we can face him. come on, let's fuse, we can win," Connie quietly said, only for the animal o roar again at her specifically. Normally Steven would, but with the situation, Steven didn't know what to do here. The beast waited for an answer out of Steven, ready for the word. Steven's eyes went around to those in the room with him, none of them wanting to follow through with such a thing. All the same ...
"Steven? ..."
"The world's on the line," Steven repeated, as if just realizing how dangerous this really was now. All of this was his fault ...
.......
And he brought his arms out.
"W-what? Steven, don't do it!" Fulgurite yelled, but the beast took it: grabbing Steven in its jaws, and running for the exit, only for Garnet and Flint to grab it last second. Steven was still gripped, and the beast whipped them both off with a flick of its tail before running down the beach. Fulgurite raced to it with ease, and tripped the beast at its legs, making it tumble, but not drop its cargo. The others caught up to the monster now, the beast's tail whipping around and keeping the Gems back. It tried to go again, but Connie grabbed hold of its tail.
Wrong decision. Angry, the beast threw Steven aside, and shifted targets to Connie, whipping her to the rock wall. The others grabbed the now unconscious Steven, just in time to see the beast run at Connie, sinking its teeth into her. If they weren't going to cooperate, it was taking a snack for the road. The animal lifted Connie, and swung her up high ...
*SNAP!*
.......
~~~~~~
.......
If one word could describe the Maheswaran family for now, it would be deeply worried. Such an accident befalling onto any person would be proven horribly fatal, or crippling for life as far as they knew. This was a problem immediately calling for emergency service, and Priyanka and Doug both were over in the urgent care of their local hospital. Doug remained outside, pacing back and forth in the waiting room, waiting for some sort of news, as Priyanka, being a doctor of the hospital herself, took it on herself to help their daughter pull through as best she could possibly manage. Each tick of the clock surely didn't help, as every second ticked by either Connie's life or Connie's demise. As Doug was still waiting in the room, eventually another family came in: the Universes. Greg and Steven could tell that poor Doug Maheswaran was at his wits end, having been pacing ever since Connie ended up in here. It didn't take long for the disturbed father to notice Steven and Greg walking in.
"Oh. Hello," Doug said.
"look, I-I'm really sorry about your daughter," Greg started, rubbing the back of his head. Doug was angry, but he was smart enough to know when and when not to get out his anger.
"Well, it's not your fault," Doug simply said, sitting down at one of the waiting room chairs. Greg sat down next to him, and Steven ended up as worried as Doug, maybe even more.
"I never should've let her go off on those missions," Doug groaned, feeling like a complete idiot.
"Now wait, it's not their fault this happened, it's nobody's fault -"
"Except for that thing that attacked my daughter!" Doug suddenly snapped, making Greg almost jump out of his seat. Doug quickly saw his mistake, and sat back down.
"Yeah, you're right there," Greg simply said. Guess a simple conversation wasn't going to happen, and who could really blame Doug for that?
Pretty soon, the doors opened up to the doctor's office, and Priyanka eventually came out. Her face suggested that it was not looking good. The first one to head over to her was actually Steven, who was already up on his feet unlike the other two.
"Well? H-How is she?" Steven asked, hesitant on what answer Priyanka had for them. It didn't help that she was on the verge of tears either, but as a doctor, she had to keep her emotions under wraps for the time being, as hard as that was for her. At first she didn't even answer Steven, looking to him and Doug.
"... Well ... it's uh ... worse than we thought ..."
"W-WHAT?! Is she gonna make it, please tell me she'll make it!" Steven pleaded, already on tears.
"No, no, she'll make it. That's the good news."
"And the bad news?" Doug asked, walking up to his wife. Priyanka looked away, trying to figure out how to word it properly in front of them. It was hard for her to keep together and get herself to say it, but eventually she went over to Doug and simply whispered the situation to him. Doug's eyes opened wide in complete shock on what she had to say, and simply stood there for a minute or two. He even looked ready to pass out, only for Greg and Steven to catch him. They may not know what's really going on, but if it had that kind of reaction, it can't be good.
"... Can we see her? O-Or no?" Steven asked. Priyanka sighed a long sorrowful.
"Not right now, no."
~~~~~~
"Connie? ... Connie?"
Connie needed a minute to get herself together, hearing the faint yet friendly voice in the patient room. Connie woke up laying quietly and weakly in bed, covers over most of her body except for her head and good arm. She had a few medical syringes in her arm connecting to a blood bag, and a heart monitor was on her as well, just to make sure that was still going in her. Priyanka had a lot of mixed emotions on seeing this happen to her. Of course a part of her feels bad for seeing such an accident, but another faint part of her felt grateful that she will pull through. It could be worse. That didn't mean the situation here was a preferred one though, and she and Doug went over to her.
"Hi mom. Hi dad," Connie said tiredly.
"How do you feel, sweetie?" Doug asked, gently rubbing his daughter's forehead.
"Tired," she simply answered. Doug felt worried, but Priyanka had come to expect it honestly.
"The anesthetics still need to wear off. You just relax," Priyanka advised.
"... I'm very sorry."
"No, no, Connie, the important thing is you're still here. But as your father, I think it's time you take a break from those uh ... missions of yours," Doug advised. Connie was afraid of this, but with what happened to her, she can't blame them for thinking that. Connie simply sighed, tired from the painkillers and the whole experience herself, and began to drift off to sleep. Priyanka and Doug looked to eachother for another moment before they got up, and let her be. It'll still be some time until she would be free out of this hospital.
.......
Hours ticked by, and Connie was still laying there quiet, and still thinking about what happened to get her to this point. It was all she could do. Sure, the missions were naturally dangerous to her there was no denying that, but their fight against this particular monster was ... different in some way. Not exactly the monster itself, but more over what the group did with her. Connie had easily proven she can defend her own in such a fight, yet for some reason they felt best to protect her? To the point of moving her out of the fight? How could they do that? She would think that at least Steven would be on her side about it, but ... no. ...
Connie stayed quiet in bed for a while more, but as she was laying there, another one of the nurses came in to check up on her.
"Ok, Connie, now your mom insisted on asking for measurements, so this will only take a moment," the nurse explained. Connie only nodded on the answer, and the nurse grabbed a measuring tape, and then proceeded to move the covers off of Connie in order to do this correctly. ...
What the nurse saw next made her completely frozen. To the point where she dropped the measuring tape down onto the ground. How was this even possible?
"W-W-What the? ... Y-You're arm ..."
"I know my arm is -" before Connie could finished, she attempted to move her bad arm. But not only was it feeling a little heavier than it had been since the initial attack, but functioning easy. Connie's eyes darted to the arm and found it was good as new! no injury, nothing broken, not even any scars to speak of. Sure, her skin still felt a little sensitive comparing it to her other arm, but everything was still there, and still functioning as if nothing happened at all! Connie couldn't believe her eyes, and even pinched her cheek to be sure that this was or was not some sort of dream, but nope. It was real, and the biggest shocker to Connie in a LONG TIME. The nurse thought she was seeing things, and touched Connie's once broken arm, but it was all there. The nurse had to get this new information out to her parents, this wasn't something that can be ignored or brushed off. She got out of the room, and what timing there was too, as Priyanka was just down the hall, waiting for her.
"Dr. Maheswaran, y-you better come see this."
"Why, what's wrong?!" Priyanka asked urgently, worried for her daughter. Did her condition get worse? Was there something else with her?! Priyanka went right into the room, but her fear quickly turned to blank when she saw her daughter's arm good as new. Her eyes went wide as she went closer to her, looking over her arm to be sure that this wasn't some sort of trick of the eye, but after looking it closely, there was no denying the fact that Connie's arm was good as new, even after such a horrid event.
"Connie. ... H-how do you feel?"
"I don't know. I-I guess a bit freaked out?"
"Ok, we're on the same page, good. It doesn't hurt or anything?" Connie felt a sense of Deja Vu on the earlier statement before she sat up and moved her arm a little bit, eventually moving it like she would everyday. Even her fingers were moving fairly normally, albeit a little stiffly at first.
"Uh ... No," Connie replied, surprised by her own answer. Wasn't her arm just wrecked by the monster just yesterday? Priyanka was a good doctor, but no way could she properly explain this.
Then a thought went by her head on who might.
~~~~~~
"And ... That should do it."
The Beach House was a bit quiet for the moment. The monster had been and gone, but the damage to the house itself needed to be fixed up. Lucky for them, the main area needed fixing was the front door and front window. Fulgurite was a bit busy with that as Garnet and flint ran off to check on this drone White was talking about. Fixing this up was probably the easiest thing to do, Jade lending a hand in some work as well, finishing up the front with placing the door in position, and locking it there.
"Well, looks like Homeworld's out for us now," Fulgurite said.
"I know, I-I'm very sorry," Jade said, feeling sad about this happening.
"Why're you sorry? Jade, you got more info about this case than any of us did."
"But they saw me. I tried to work around her rules like Flint does, but ... guess I'm not good enough to do that."
You're a Crystal Gem, it was bound to happen sooner or later, don't beat yourself up over it. Besides, White Diamond's been after us since our escapade in her space station, why wouldn't she come after us now?" Fulgurite pointed out. The only time Jade could remember her actually fighting against White Diamond. Sure, she held her own fairly well with her staff and magic tricks, but that didn't mean she wanted to throw her whole team into the problem.
"I guess that's right. But how did she find out?"
"Who knows at this point?"
"HEY!"
Oh no, not more trouble. Fulgurite and Jade looked off up the beach, and soon they saw the distraught set of parents heading straight up to them.
"Can we help you?" Fulgurite called, already going down with Jade.
"Right you can help me! What did you do to our daughter?!" Priyanka demanded, going straight up to Fulgurite's face.
"Wait, what do you mean we, what happened?" Fulgurite asked, backing up and nearly tripping over Jade.
"Our daughter's healed herself!"
...
"... And ... that's a bad thing?" Jade asked, very confused. Typically someone getting healed was a good thing, wasn't it?
"You all saw what happened to her, didn't you?" Doug asked firmly.
"We did, but this means that it wasn't as bad as it looked. ... Right?"
"NO, it was as bad as it looked, I should know. This shouldn't be possible, clearly you had something to do with it," Priyanka made clear, making Jade back up a bit.
"What do you mean, did it happen to you before?"
"I'M A DOCTOR, I TREATED HER."
"... Oh. Well, I hadn't gone by yet, neither has Jade, and the rest of our group had been a bit busy to stop by Connie, so -"
"I can give a little light to the situation."
The others were a bit confused on hearing this odd voice come from, seemingly, nowhere. Next thing they knew though, something popped up above their heads, over by the couch, and quickly slid down like that of a zipper. And just as well, the zipper motion came with a fabric of space being torn open, and in entered probably the only person to actually answer this question: Discord!
"Long time no see," Discord said with a smirk. Priyanka and Doug both tried to keep it together, but it was just so random and so 'out-of-nowhere' that they didn't have a clue what reaction would be appropriate. All that came up was a wide-eyed blank expression. Of course, no one could truly get too used to Discord's crazy antics, regardless of what they are, or who they are.
"Oh, hey Discord. How long has it been?" Fulgurite wondered, scratching her head for a moment.
"If I were to guess, I'd say, oh, too long," Discord joked.
"Y-You know this thing?" Doug asked. He didn't mean to think out loud, but Discord would've heard them either way (Discord logic, you know).
"Oh, sorry, have we met? You must be Mr. and Mrs. Maheswaran. Yeah, I can be a little flashy like that." and as a visual pun, his body started to light up like one of those Las Pegasus neon light advertisements. Doug and Priyanka didn't want to know anymore about him, so they kept quiet.
"So ... Y-You know -"
"About Connie's little miracle? Oh, it's elementary, my dearies," Discord said. With a snap of his talon, he was suddenly in a scientist outfit, including the mad scientist wig and big nerdy glasses, and grabbing the top of the screen, he pulled it down to show what looked like a few scientific drawings he made himself. Where'd he get the drawings from, they had no idea, and discord began to explain his elementary through pointer and direction.
"Every creature of our world is made up of a little somethin called Deoxyribonucleic Acid, or for you simpler people: DNA. Gems are able to perform fusion by fusing their bodily DNA from their lighted masses to created a new being. In the cases of unfusing, both sides retain their strands of DNA. In the case of Connie, her fusion with Mr. Universe has left her with strands of Gem DNA in her system. The more times she fuses, the more Gem DNA she gets, and now she's reached a point where she has enough DNA to not only fuse with true Gems, but also gaining a few of said abilities, including regeneration."
"... You know, you think you're explaining yourself, but you're really not," Priyanka said meekly.
"He means that Connie's fused with Steven so much that she's become Half-Gem. I think," Jade summarized.
"WHAAAT?!" Priyanka screeched. They were told nothing bad would happen to Connie in this fusion business, but this was ... pretty shocking to say the least.
"Chill, she's not too bad is she? I mean, how far of a Gem is she anyway?" Fulgurite asked, shrugging. Priyanka and Doug both took a moment and glanced to eachother before Doug went over and whispered it into Fulgurite's ear. Her casual look turned into one of surprise once Doug had finished.
"Huh. Dang, where's Garnet when you need her, she should hear this."
"Nevermind her, where's Steven?" Doug asked.
"Oh. Well, he heard about Connie's release, so he actually went to check on her. I do hope nothing's wrong," Jade answered.
.......
And it surely looked that way. Off down the road, Lion ran right towards Connie's home with Steven riding on his back. If Connie was indeed all better, than he wanted to head over and see how she was fairing, and how she managed to heal so quickly. and for the half-Gem himself, he didn't need to take very long to see Connie, who actually not only was feeling better, but standing off outside as well.
"Connie! Connie, you're alright!" Steven called, not stopping Lion until they were only a foot away. Steven was grateful to see Connie ok, though Lion could sense that the feeling of happiness was more one-sided. And he wasn't wrong, as Connie stayed quiet.
"Umm... y-you are okay, are you?"
"Of course I am, and I'm happy to see you, Steven."
"... But ...?"
Connie needed a minute, but she had to try to make her feelings a little clear to him one way or another.
"But how could you just give yourself up like that?" she finally asked.
"Well, first, I went up to it with my arms out, and -"
"No, I know how you did it. I mean, you just gave up."
"I had to. That creature was going to take you all away, take you away!"
"But what about our training? Stevonnie. Jam buds. I believed in us. We could have done it together."
"This is different," Steven insisted.
"How? How is it any different from the monsters we fought before?" Connie asked.
"That monster was owned by White Diamond, it wasn't gonna stop until it had me, and look - everyone's ok. ... Well, you weren't for a bit, but you're good now too."
"But... I'm hurt."
"No, you're not: You're safe. You're here. I'm here. We're safe. Everything's fine," Steven insisted. Connie couldn't believe her ears, was this Steven Quartz Universe talking to her? Steven wouldn't be this blind to it, would he? ... But no, he was serious on what he was saying. Connie couldn't even look at him, and walked passed him.
"... You don't get it."
"Get what?"
Connie felt quiet again, as if Steven's question was the nail in the coffin. Connie simply climbed up onto Lion, and kept her gaze away from him. Lion took a look at Steven, but even he seemed to look a bit angry at him, almost disappointed himself. Whatever was going on, Steven wasn't understanding. Without another word, Lion turned and he carried Connie away. Leaving a confused and admittedly distraught Steven standing at her door. ...
"Wow Steven, it sure was brave of you. I'm glad you're okay too," Steven said. Though it was mostly to himself.
Another rapid-fire chapter, far more plot than length. Haven't dealt with something like this kind of chapter since "S2 - Perparation".
Well, I know some of you doubted this was even possible, Connie and Amethyst able to fuse in the first place. So, here's probably the bluntest way possible I can get an answer for this. Boy this is probably the most brutal thing I've put in here for a character not a Gem 
. At least, not full Gem.
This was the thing I was building up for in the fusion game last season actually, and how Connie was actually able to fuse with Amethyst, well, at all. And you all doubted me saying it's not possible 
.
... honestly, I'm having too much fun with White too. 
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Two in one... I know both of the things that have happened... I think...
I was paying attention to show after all.
8704251
what might those be, might I ask?
8704263
Possibility that Steven made Connie in this story what Steven made Lars in the canon show, and Disbelief Connie... I think that is the most accurate description...
8704479
interesting
You know, there was a video I found really fascinating on this subject. Behold!
In short, there was a split in the fandom over the meaning of Steven and Connie's argument, and that made things complicated when evaluating the arc overall. One thing that I found helpful in your reevaluation though is that this time, by setting the warning immediately after learning of the innocence of Rose Quartz, it sets an important contrast that the choice is being made for: Justice and Truth vs Safety and Peace. Steven wanted to let his huge family be free of their troubles once and for all, but the others wanted to keep going. Fight onward for what is true, what is right, what is honest and what is the way forward. And this puts Connie's frustration in a different light compared with "canon"
On another note, this path you're taking does beg an important question regarding your path of events. If Rose hadn't actually shattered Pink, then why did Garnet and crew think for the longest period of time that she did? Was this a surprise to them as well when White mentioned it? Did Rose claim it so she could take in all the infamy on herself to gain power and support in her rebellion? I mean, there are workarounds. I just want to be sure they're done the right way.
On another note, just what did happen to Diamond's Dog? Obviously it was driven off at least, but did they poof it? Send it back to homeworld? I mean what happened?
Also, yikes! that thing broke her arm. No wonder there was such as cringe factor in reading this.
But, that's also where we find out that going on magical adventures has changed connie in more ways than just boosting her confidence. Or giving her sword fighting skills. Or making her far tougher than before. No, the trick is that according to the laws of magical gem powers, Connie has been steadily accumulating steven DNA in her body. And that means she's been slowly getting to the point where...she has magical properties now. I guess Stevonnie was for way more than just Steven's benefit. Guess that means Connie might become immortal too. At least, in theory. Much like with Steven, "We just don't know how it's going to turn out." On the plus side though, that means she has a bit more flexibility in going on adventures now. Since she's no longer just a squishy human, that means she now has some power to take slightly bigger risks with her minor healing factor.
And yet, and yet Steven refuses to see how he hurt her when he decided to give up. Party foul there Steven! I just hope they can pull it back together when White's vengeance returns.
8710655
I always appreciate those comments like these, I really do. I didn't realize how big of as change I did this an argument I ... didn't know about really XD
Oh, and trust me. You're all in for a real treat.
Somewhat easy solution.
Use the Mirror Pool.
They get the fake Steven, and the real one remains safe.