Boiling Gems (The Owl House x Steven Universe)

Summary:

Especially with all the horror

Gus grinned as he tossed away another piece of metal. "I think that's the last one sir!" It was a miracle that they ended up clearing away the scraps from the ship so fast. Even more confusion was the town's lack of questions about the whole ordeal. It made Gus question whether or not they should even be hiding at all.

"Good job Gus. You're on your way to a raise!" Oh, that would be nice. "You know … after we spend money on fixing up the place." Mr. Fryman rescinded.

"Oh … that's … cool I guess." It was a bit much to expect their luck to go that well after everything that had happened. If life on earth was anything like the Boiling Isles, then they'd have a quiet period at most, but something crazy would pop up sooner than later.

"Hey Gus, mind eating with me? I wanted to ask your opinion on my blog. Keep Beach City Weird." Rhonaldo asked.

"Sure, not a problem." Weirdly enough, Mr. Fryman's son already knew about them, apparently having met Lucci previously. Though when Gus asked for elaboration, the son of the Owl Lady responded with 'two annoying idiots captured Vee until we convinced fryhair to be less of an idiot'. He felt like there was more to the story, but if Luz wasn't worried about Rhonaldo doing something crazy, then Gus wouldn't be bothered.

They walked over to a bench, where a man pulled out a laptop. "So, my top theory at the moment is that the right hand that came down was looking for its missing body, probably stolen by the snake people, explaining the violence."

"Uhhhh….." Gus raised an eyebrow in confusion. "There … weren't any snake people … where did you get that?"

"From Steven, duh. He's a snake person. The ghost explained their peaceful intentions before Jacob took it too far and dissected him."

"I … are we talking about the shapeshifting magic eater?" Gus asked. "Because she's more amphibious than reptilian."

"...That explains the tail-fin, but now I have to rework my theories. Newt people? Salamander people? Sneaple just had the perfect sounding name to it." Rholnado groaned.

"Actually they're called Basilisks." Gus said, deciding to trust him since he hadn't spilled the beans. "They're a creature that used to be native to the Boiling Isles … until witches ran them out during a war about resources."

"So my hollow planet theory DOES hold credence! Mining the core as they please!" How did he jump to THAT conclusion? Gus got the feeling he was reading into subtext that wasn't there.

"Can I ask a question of my own?" Gus asked, feeling like Rholnaldo was going to go off the rails … or off a cliff … if he was left on to rant by himself.

"Yeah sure, I'm happy to introduce a witch to human history and culture." The man smiled.

"Why does no one question the gems … or the spaceship?" Gus asked. "Luz said we have to hide but … it seems confusing if everyone's brushing it off."

"Not really sure. As far as I remember, the gems keep to themselves for the most part. No one really knows what they are." Rhonaldo said. "A lot of the early settlers assumed they were golems created by witches."

"So this town KNOWS witches exist?" Gus said.

"I wouldn't say knows. There's just a lot of speculation. Most people treat that part of history as a fairytale. It's probably a good thing people stopped believing in them actually considering Witch Hunting was one of the earliest forms of bigotry society had.." 

Gus's eyes widened at that word. "I keep asking Luz about it, but she never answers. What's bigotry?"

"When people hate you for things you can't control, like your race, gender, stuff like that." Rholnado rolled his eyes. "People make a lot of excuses for it, like religious reasons or traditions, but it's mainly to justify pointless and/or petty hatred." He answered.

"Well … that's terrible." Gus responded to the horrific information given to him.

"… I knew a guy once." Rhonaldo said suddenly. "He was the only one in this town to believe me. He taught me so much … but he wanted to cut open someone and … that wasn't a line I was willing to cross." He answered. "Sometimes people … suck."

"I get that. I know a lot of people that suck too." Gus nodded. "You can't stop jerks from appearing, you just gotta rise above them when they do." He smiled. "It's not that you weren't willing to cross the line, it's that you were strong enough not to."

"Wise words from a wise witch." Rhonaldo smirked as she tapped on his laptop, before pausing. "Hey … you don't happen to know levitating spells, do you?"

"No, my skill set is firmly in illusions." Gus answered.

"So I guess it isn't you that's making the bag of scrap metal float then."

Gus processed those words. "… The entire beach is flying, isn't it?" He asked.

"Not the beach, just all the metal." Rhonaldo pointed up, and sure enough, it looked like a junkyard was passing over them. 

"Moving metal … this has to mean Moldavite is back." Gus groaned. "Guess the peace period is finally over." He turned to Mr Fryman. "Sir, I'm going to need the rest of the day off!"

"Sure … I don't think anyone's going to be buying anything when they're staring up at the sky." The man slowly nodded. There were some perks to the people of this town not asking questions.

"Gus, you coming!?" Willow shouted as she and Boscha got out of Fish Stew Pizza.

"Already wrapping up!" Hopefully they could keep Luz out of too much trouble this time.

========================================================================

"Damn it, did we have to come back to this dreary place?" Amethyst heard Willow complain as the group headed to the kindergarten with her and Garnet. Pearl was still poofed from Lucci poofing her, which was fine with Amethyst. The girl really needed to get that stick out of her butt. Luckily Spinel felt like an upgrade with her wacky attitude into submission.

"I'm not happy about it either. Half of my haul today was lifted out and stolen." Lucci grumbled. "I am going to beat those two into submission."

"Cocky much?" She asked in a teasing tone.

"Not really. Lapis and Spinel were only gems not poofed last time and even then they didn't contribute that much." Lucci shrugged. "No offense Spinel."

"None taken! I'm just here to have fun really." The lanky gem laughed.

"And not to mention they don't even have the ship that gave them an advantage last time." Lucci continued on. "At most it's just an orange cheese puff with moldy coloring and the ability to move metal in the air. I'd call it a nerd, but with the insanity everyone else said this thing displayed, I'd be surprised if it pulled out a tactic on Gus's level, much less Willow or Boscha's."

"You were knocked out when they formed, you didn't see how truly disturbing it was." Luz shivered. "I have no love for either Jasper or Peridot, but….the way Jasper just…took advantage of her like that….I can't help but feel sorry for the green nuisance."

"The best thing we can do for them is poof and bubble them before they hurt themselves or anyone else." Garnet said in her wise monotone voice.

"Although maybe Lapis had a point about poofing them while they tried to fuse instead of just taunting them Luz style." Amity argued.

"I thought Vee's shows said it was just polite to wait while the enemy powered up, cause they'll do the same for you." Amethyst shrugged.

"What kind of brainwashing programing does she watch?" Hunter was baffled. "That's the absolute WORST advice anyone can give when it comes to fighting. There's no guarantee the enemy will show courtesy, so you need to strike them down dead before they have the chance to recover."

"I'm with Hunter on this one." Luz said. "The days of honor and compassion died a long while back. These are eat or be eaten fights."

That took a dark turn. How was Amethyst going to lighten the mood here? "Oh hey, check it out." She smiled, seeing a special object. "My hole."

"... Your hole?"

"Yeah, I popped out of here one day." Amethyst smiled, fitting inside of it. "It's even got that hole smell."

Lucci stared at her, then looked around. "... So every hole here is a Gem … I knew they were born here, I just … didn't have time to process numbers."

"Wasn't there like a dozen Amethysts in that weird space zoo you guys were in?" Boscha turned to Amity, who nodded. "Think those could've been the one's made here?"

"Maybe, who knows." She shrugged. "That does mean I have sisters up there though …"

"Wait, can they even count as sisters if they're born from … sludge placed in the ground?" Gus asked. "I don't get how you people are made."

"You see those machines all over the place?" Garnet pointed to the walls, seeing those metal spider-like doohickey's laying all over. "Those are injectors. The essence of all four diamond's are placed inside, and injected to the ground, to absorb the nutrients and minerals necessary to bring life to each gem."

"Essence … from Diamonds?" Luz asked with a strange tone.

"Yes. Despite our bodies being light based projections, we can discrete liquids from ourselves…though it's not an entirely pleasant process." Says her, Amethyst loved spitting.

She stood still for a moment. "If Pink picked this planet … and Rose was Pi.." Lucci turned to Luz, and told her to hush, pointing to Spinel. "..you know what… we could count the essence …" Luz turned to Lucci. "Lucci, you have sisters!"

"Huh? But you're already my sister Luz." Lucci answered.

"Yeah, but, I mean, one that's related to you…"

"Relationships aren't defined by the gunk you have inside you, but the gunk on the outside." Amethyst smirked. She was sure that was how the expression went.

"I know but … you guys like each other, not like how you all hate Pink." She argued, pointing to Amethyst and Spinel.

"Aww Luz, why would I hate my bestest best friend Pink?" Spinel asked. She didn't really pay attention to the situation, did she?

"Don't pay her attention, she's just talking crazy." Lucci piped the lanky gem. "Luz, it's not that big of a deal. Sure, Amethyst is the only cool gem out of the crystal gems, but a familial connection takes time to form. Right now she's on buddy status."

"Blame me for wanting just one positive reveal." Luz muttered sarcastically as she looked around. "Why aren't the injectors moving if they're metal?"

"That must mean we're close." Garnet took out her gauntlets. "Get ready everyone. Moldavite could pop out at any minute."

"Moldavite is right above you, you moronic simpletons." A snooty and mechanized voice appeared above them as the sound of falling metal began ringing in the air.

"EVERYONE DUCK FOR COVER!" Lucci yelled as he created a shield to bounce off the large and sharp pieces of debris getting everywhere.

"Did you ignoramuses truly think that you could come into MY domain and do away with MY plans?"

"Ah, newsflash, Moldy, you're the one invading MY planet!" Luz shouted. "So kindly allow us to kick your butt and poof you, and we won't have any trouble!

"I don't want ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOUR PLANET! " Moldavite shouted as a blur crashed into the ground.

The first thing Amethyst could take in when the dust settled was the four legs. They looked like large insect legs you'd see on a grasshopper, or an elephant, with rolling balls on the bottom of them. As she gazed up she made her way to the torso, which carried two massive arms that seemed almost gorilla-like. On its back rested two butterfly-like wings covered in small holes. From the torso came forth eight tendrils, all with a different design to the tip, moving around like octopus limbs. And from its head … rested three, snake-dragon like heads. The biggest note was that they were shiny…like shiny nickel shiny.

"And I thought Clawthorne's devil form was ugly." Hunter winced.

"I'll show you ugly if you want a closer look." Lucci's hand grew fur and claws.

"Guys … that's not gem skin … or whatever the equivalent of what you guys have." Gus interrupted. "That's all metal."

"You caused this!" The head with stag beetle pincers screamed. "You trapped me in this nightmare!"

"Can it!" The head with a rhino horn shouted. "Rose is here, we will end her now!"

The entire body was hit with a lot of lightning, following the legion of screams that wafted from this thing. "Quiet … we are conversing." Spoke the head with scars aligning its entire neck and eyes.

"What …" Garnet seemed really spooked. "What did …" She growled. "What did you do!? Why are you … like this!?"

"They argued, it made the mission impossible." The main head rolled their eyes. "I hooked wires, machines into their gems … and I ripped their voices away from mine." … Alright, now Amethyst was mildly terrified.

"That's not….THAT'S NOT HOW FUSION IS SUPPOSED TO BE!" Garnet on the other hand was absolutely livid.

"I don't care, this is the only way to get the job done. Those morons argue so much they forget their primary mission."

"You dare to call me a moron!?" The Peridot head screamed. "I gave you your intelligence!"

"Because you were a moron who didn't know how to use it." Moldavite groaned. "I'm done with the pointless chatter. Time to do away with all of you."

"Yeah right. You lost last time, now we're prepared." Lucci growled, making a shield.

"Prepared … you don't even know what we're capable of!" At Jasper's shout, the gorilla arms raised up … as a massive metal sword jumped into their hand, complete with rocket thrusters activating from behind it.

"Rocket sword…that's so cool and so terrifying!" Amethyst shouted as she got out of the way.

"You fought Jasper, you fought Peridot….but you've NEVER fought Moldavite."

========================================================================

Moldavite's genius was a surprise to even herself. Day after day she had to keep hearing Peridot and Jasper complain over and over. Peridot wanted nothing more than to leave, and Jasper wanted to eliminate Rose Quartz. Both valid objectives, but they both had completely forgotten WHY they were sent to earth in the first place. The Cluster. She needed to insure it's activation before anything else.

However, they couldn't just ignore the two, Moldavite's entire existence relied on her components. So she came up with a clever compromise after taking in human knowledge through public channels. The organic ecosystem was revolting, but it did provide … ideas.

Moldavite decided to build a solution, a way for them to all do their jobs without concern for the other. A body beyond the meager limitations of mere light construct.

For Jasper, who seeked nothing but combat, heavy animals for brutal combat of raw power that even Rose Quartz's calculated potential couldn't compare. The orange gem despised the idea of wearing enhancements and armor, but was able to be coerced after much discipline.

For Peridot, who wanted to build a machine away from danger, animals focused on unique specializations of evasion and alternative solutions. While first annoyed by the lack of central leg control and choice, she found minor joy in the simple idea of being able to focus on tasks and ignoring the problem, the egowas delightful to laugh at.

As for Moldavite herself … what better creation than the ability to methodically rip apart her targets with her bare hands? Armed with multipurpose flexible and extendable limb enhanced, double reinforced to prevent dismemberment like what happened previously with the teleporting organic.

Now to threat assess. Jasper was having her 'fun' against Rose Quartz, who was surprisingly exceeding calculations and not immediately poofing. "Yeah, exactly HOW is this any better than last time?" Rose responded as she was forced to replace shield after shield. "You have a little more pow in your punch, but you're still repeating the same old trick."

"And the old punches were enough to take you down before fusion! Now even your best is nothing to me!!" Jasper screamed as she wailed and wailed.

" Yeah, you 'took me down'. That's how I remember it." Rose rolled her eyes as she kept replacing her shields. "Anyone feel like helping out at any time? Just saying."

The organic Moldavite could identify as a human was running around, barely avoiding getting caught up in miniature explosions. "A little busy!" As for every other target, they were being handled by 'butterfly pollen' … or in actuality the battle-ready robonoids contained in the wing unit. Weak alone, but the numbers swarmed on in drones, forcing them to split apart from each other and become easier targets, as any sane strategist should do.

"Now I'm really getting Rainbow Devil flashbacks!" The teleporting Organic kept passing through, using his staff to fly away, reaching close to their head. "Let's see you keep up with me a second time!"

"Oh no you don't!" Peridot smashed the pincers against the organic, who was forced back before they were killed. "I am not letting you ruin ANOTHER creation!"

"Hunter!" The organic with a face modifier tried to catch the teleporting organic, waving their arms….and watched them crash into the ground. "SORRY! I forgot about how dead this place is!"

Now Moldavite should probably devote one to two arms for the teleporting organic before they caused damage, but what of the other target … a gem? Only Rose Quartz seemed threatening, and assisting Jasper was more trouble than it was worth.

The permafused war machine was a notable nuisance for sure, but not very difficult to engage. They just electrified one tentacle and pushed her back a couple of times. The purple haired organic and the three eyed one were even less troublesome. The purple mud and the balls of fire did little to scratch them. That left two limbs free … ah, there we go. "I think I'll take you down." They sent forth a blasting tentacle to the short organic, watching them vanish. "I'll remove your optic disorientor."

"That means you have to find me first! I could be here!" He appeared in one whole, only to vanish in a puff of smoke. "Or here!" Here appeared in another. "Oh here and there!" Two copies of the short organic appeared in two other holes.

Modavite smirked. Each head had a special design. Jasper was using hers to ram into Rose Quartz, and hers … she changed from normal optics to thermal, to x ray, constantly checking for any hidden targets within the area, any method of studying the organic's strange energy and capabilities ... and then she found the pebble in the quarry. "Found you …" She aimed a laser at the one spot the Robonoids avoided.

"GAAAAAAH!" The short human cried out, falling down into the ground.

"Gus!" The organic human screamed out.

"Such a strange power … unknown to this planet's feeble use of electricity and nuclear radiation." They noted, taking out their saw blade extendable limb enhancer. " Perhaps further study is required."

"Oooh, are we playing with sharp tools!? I want to join in too!" A crazed and deranged voice called out as a Spinel of all things jumped in front of her and grabbed her tentacle. "So shiny, you make these toys yourself!? That's so cool!"

"I assure you that my weaponry is far beyond any toy!" Moldivate began aiming it at her, but the Spinel kept bending out of the way.

"But toy's are the best thing ever, they're tools for fun! And having fun is the most important thing ever!" The deranged gem looked like she was dancing out of the way of being attacked. "Maybe you're just using your toys all wrong."

Moldavite hadn't existed for long. The disagreements with her components had made it hard to develop a true personality other than a desire to focus on their mission. However, one thing she was now aware of that both Jasper and Peridot had in common … pride in their work. "You DARE!?" Ignoring the practicality, every weapon Moldavite owned aimed at the defective clod. "Don't you dare assume I am as simple minded as a weak, worthless, Spinel!"

"I'm not weak, I'm lovable and playful!" The buffoon kept bouncing around everywhere, gleefully dodging their attempts at attacking. "Are we playing tag? Because you're really bad at it."

Memorize, memorize. They had a pattern. Memorize … memorize … 

Shink

Their blade finally cut into the right arm, sawing it off. "At least I have some worth. You're just a disposable toy gems use when they're bored of their pearls."  She took immense satisfaction seeing the terror in the Spinel's eyes as they poofed. 

"Don't you … dare." Rose began to lift Jasper's blade. "Call her disposable."

"We'll call them what they ARE!" Jasper raised one of their feet, stomping on the weapon as the added force sent Rose flying through the ground … and cracks began to form along the Kindergarten.

"You triggered the instability of the area, moron." Moldavite growled, shocking Jasper's gem.

" "Rose Quartz is right there-"

" I don't CARE about your petty vendetta, I care about getting the job done!"

Creak…creek…

The ground began to shake more as something began to stir in the cracks, clumsily climbing out. "And you set off the beta mutants before full development. Way to go."

"Are we sure about that?" Peridot questioned, staring at the ground. "Their waking is supposed to indicate-AAAAHHH!!" She shocked the gem for almost telling them secrets. Sometimes it felt like Moldavite was the only sane one here.

========================================================================

Luz struggled to keep her stance steady as the ground kept shaking. "Why did this place have to have so many tunnels!?" Given what Jasper … or the Jasper part of Moldavite … that whole thing was disturbing, what Jasper did to Lucci, he was either going to be down for the count, or stuck as the source of the localized earthquake.

"It shouldn't be like this. Whatever this is…the kindergarten is supposed to be shut down..they couldn't have restarted it.." Garnet growled, standing in place. Looks like seeing the messed up fusion up front was setting off some personal triggers.

"I've got Spinel!" Hunter shouted, snatching the pink one's gemstone.

"Then I guess that makes you my new target." The Jasper head turned to him, as the left bulky arm reached out … a metal shield magnetically attached to it.

"... Really?" He asked. "You're threatening me with a shield? I've seen that thing improve a hundred times over." Blades popped out from the edges, now rotating chainsaw style with a reving motor noise emanating from within, the sheer size and speed picking up win in the area. "Still seen scarier. If you're trying to be a claw-like Rose; then you are a long way off."

Jasper screamed in rage, slamming the shield down against where Hunter was as the entire area began shaking again. "Could you stop damaging the equipment here!?"

"That's it, we just need to get Jasper riled up. They're messed up fusion relationship makes them easy targets emotionally!" Luz pounded her fists. "Boscha, you're a natural at tearing people apart with burns. Fire away!

"I'm not sure how much fire I can set to ashes." The pink witch muttered as the heads literally began chewing each other out. "They're so naturally unstable I don't need to do much; then again I can always comment how gaudy their equipment is."

"This suit is flawless! It takes the weak qualities of the various species on this planet and armors them to their full potential!"

"So you just studied trash, collected trash, and wore trash so you can fling around more trash." Boscha summer "You definitely live up to your name; Moldy."

"You dare accuse me of being trash!" All four tentacles focused on Boscha. "We are superior to all on this planet, organic or not!"

"I don't know." Boscha smirked as she rolled out of the way of a laser. "Zero times Zero is still zero."

"I am not a zero!"

"I haven't seen proof otherwise."

"Hunter, Grab Boscha, now." Garnet spoke with a worried look.

"Like you need to do anything. The three stooges up there couldn't touch me if I was right in front of them."

"You …" The three heads began to light up, as their dragon-like throats began to glow as if they were about to breathe fire. "Little …"

"You do when you made them all focus on a single target!" The gem reiterated. "We need to move now-"

" CLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDD!!" A beam of almighty energy rushed forward.

It was too big, it was way too big to dodge, it was-Pudding slithered out from under the rocks, glowing pink as their body widened, hardening as if they covered them like a living purple wall.

"Pudding!" Willow shouted. "I was wondering where Amity went."

"She jumped after Lucci when everyone wasn't looking." The goopy fusion smile with that cute puppy-cat like face. "Though we need to book it right now."

"I know, Moldicate is more than we can handle-"

"I'm not talking about Moldy up there, although the strain of blocking that attack is admittedly a bit excruciating." Pudding winced as the light from the blast began to die down. "I'm talking about what's beneath this dreary dump, right under our feet."

"Wait, what's under us?" Gus asked.

"Guys …" They turned to Amethyst, who was pointing in the direction of a hole. "I think I see it crawling at us."

"Not it… its." Pudding reiterated as a hand came out…and another…and another…and another…and then multiple feet..

"Are..are those gems.." Willow gasped in terror

"I don't … they …" Garnet looked at them, as Pudding held forth a strange, fragmented and colored stone. "... What …"

"They took gem shards and glued them together." They stated with anger. "What the hell is this Moldavite, what's your angle!?"

"Like I'm telling you." The psychotic fusion responded. "I have the data I need, recall the robonoids, we're leaving."

"Already on it." Peridot responded.

"Not when Rose is right there!" Jasper argued.

"We have what we came for, and learned of improvements needed to the armor …" The fusion looked down. "We'll be leaving this problem to you, Crystal Gems." They said the name so sarcastically, the armor tensing as it HOPPED away, flying up into the air.

"Come back here!" Hunter attempted to fly after her, only for one of the fusion monsters to jump him before he could get off the ground. "Aaaaaah!"

"Stay close!" Pudding shouted, throwing out a hand and slamming it into one of them. "We'll be here all day by the time these guys stop crawling out!"

"Well …" Luz stared at the thing. "Fighting Frankenstein rock aliens alongside witches … I can safely say my life has hit peak strangeness." Gripping her sword, she hurled it forward and sliced through one of them, poofing it. "They feel less dense than corrupted gems at least."

"They never had a choice." She spared a glance to Garnet, who began glowing. "They never … this entire place … all of the suffering …" A gem mutant ran up to her.

"Look out!" Luz pushed Garnet out of the way as a foot slammed into her.

"Luz!"

========================================================================

"Luz! " Willow screamed with everyone else as pudding shifted one of their arms into a spear, pricing the fusion monster into its chest.

"Pull yourself together woman, now is not the time!" Pudding shouted at Garnet, before turning to Luz. "Are you okay?"

"Yep … I'm recovering." Luz began to weakly stand up. "Round two …"

"Here's some goop." Pudding dipped some on Luz's arm, forming it around their torso like a cast. "That should fix anything broken."

"Gus, we could really use some illusions!" Boscha shouted as she shot a few fireballs.

"What kind?! Visuals for the nonexistent eyes or auditory for the nonexistent ears!?" The boy shouted as he ran away from the limbs, each one trying to grab onto their staffs. "I think they're attracted to the palisman just like crystal devils are!"

"Seriously!? They don't even have mouths!" Willow ducked under another attack, instinctively sending out an attack … that did nothing. "Right, no life."

"Willow, Gus, you two stay by Luz's side! Me, Boscha, and Hunter will focus on poofing them!" Pudding ordered, through a couple of hands into the air."

"Don't forget I'm here!" Amethyst tried to butt in as she slammed another gem into the wall.

"No, fix your currently glitching boss!"

"These were the pieces we couldn't find! Homeworld singing to pay for what they've done! How many of our friends suffered because we didn't find all their pieces!? They treat fusion like a chain to put on gems, expendables! Why couldn't we see what homeworld was doing under our noses!? Is this how homeworld sees us!? Like animals that need to be put out of their misery!?"

"... Yeah, on it." The purple gem rolled up and grabbed the fusion, pushing them into a hole. "Figure it out now, or wait until we can talk Garnet!"

"This is so messed up." Willow winced as she, Gus and Luz gathered together. "We're literally being attacked by reanimated dead body parts."

"Isn't that just Abomination magic without the flair?" Luz asked.

"I have enough existential dread about today as it is, please don't add on top of it!" Gus shouted as he hopped out of the way of a monster that Hunter managed to poof. "Willow, can you at least grow some wine or something!?"

"No, I can't! I can't grow anything here because everything here is dead!" She was in the most dreadful situation ever and she couldn't do anything about it. "Gah, I'm nothing but a sack of meat with no magic in a dangerous situation!" Willow shouted. "How can anyone live like this!?" There was a noticeable silence, as she looked up to see Luz staring at her with a deadpan expression while holding off a gem mutant. "Ah….you know how to make it wor.."

"No….just…no." Luz growled. "Don't say anything else." Great, Willow probably killed Luz's confidence by two levels. Some pillar of support she was. "Gus, can't you mess with their heads like you did with Belos?"

"I can try if I use the monocle." Gus showed it off. "But I've never done it on a fusion before, that's multiple minds at once!"

"I'm open to experimentation, how about you guys!?" Hunter shouted as he shot a lightning bolt at a mutant.

"Better now than ever!" Boscha shouted as she flung fireballs. "If you don't do anything Gus, I'm going to go back to calling you goops!"

"And mind power monocle test is a go!" Gus shouted, aiming the object at one of the mutants. "Okay big guy, don't be scared, I'm just going to read your mind a little and- aggggggghhhhh!" Gus's eyes glowed a bright blue, making him fall to the ground. "So many centuries…so many memories…all of them, fractured, broken, reaching out for parts they're missing..it hurts..by the stars it hurts so much!"

"Great, now I have to punch them and feel guilty about it." Pudding grumbled as she sent a blow to another gem mutant. "And … okay, losing wind fast. Moldavite drained Lucci more than he'd like to admit."

"Really could use some extra gem help here!" Boscha yelled. "Cube head, tell me you got your brain straightened out!?"

"Work in progress!" Amethyst shouted as she held together the trembling fusion. "Come on G, now's not the time to split apart!"

" But they … they're scared … it's … horrid …"  Great, the strong people were out of commission or slowly losing the strength to fight one.

"We really could've used one of the other gem's help right now!" Willow shouted. "Just saying, Lapis would've been great!"

"How?! She'd have limited ammo fighting in the kindergarten, and I'm pretty sure Moldavite would've taken up all of her attention!" Hunter argued. 

"Just having the numbers would've helped in general!" Luz replied. "The only viable option we'd have is Spinel, and she's still poofed! Who knows how long it'll take for her to reform!?"

The moment she said that, a glow from Hunter's pocket began showing itself, as the heart shaped gemstone floated into the air. "Spinel, is that you!?" Pudding asked.

The gem floated, and floated…and as a body began forming out of it, the gemstone began turning upside down, the heart shaped ear/hairbud began longer and more messy, while the corners of the body became prominently more ..pointy. "Spinel is back to play!" 

"Spinel…are you okay?" Willow asked. The gem looked notably different. She looked taller, the pink was darker, and the spots that were white before on her previous form were now black, and her eyes looked like they had running makeup across them, not to mention the look in her eyes….looked absolutely deranged.

"Never better…. never better ." The gem laughed like a maniac, before reaching into their gem and taking out that Laser scythe. "Alright you freaking bunch of freaks, Spinel is cutting you down to size!"

Garnet seemed to sit up straight. "Wait, no!" She shouted, still sparking. "You'll reset them! They'll lose themselves, every memory, every feeling!"

"They've already lost themselves!" Gus shouted, still holding onto his head in pain. "They're stuck, living in pain, confused, constantly reaching out for the pieces they can't find or have! The mind…it's all scrambled, they're all aware of the pain, but they can't do anything about it!"

Spinel begins slicing them without mercy. "Who cares, they hurt my friend, so they go away forever!" The gem was practically a moving blur, rolling around everywhere as she poofed them, laughing before any of them could even blink. "Don't bother fighting back, I guarantee this is a game that NO ONE BUT ME IS GOING TO WIN!"

"...Lucci…I think you befriended the most terrifying gem we have ever met….discounting fusions…" Luz stared blankly as they were all forced to watch a most definite gruesome scene by gem standards.

"Lucci has noticed." Pudding answered with a nod. "And is in denial that this is a problem in the long run … you know I'm right, you're part me."

"No… no, no, we can't end it like this this is too horrible I can't I I NEED TO BREATHE! " Garnet fell apart, splitting into those two smaller blue and red gems, both of which looked like they were having a panic attack …

Great, if even immortals couldn't be the emotionally stable one, what hope did Willow have?

========================================================================

Lucci panted as they entered the Cabin. "Alright … recap?" Unfortunately, much as he hated it, Pudding was right about Moldvaite taking more energy out of him, even though he still refused to take the gem, or at least the Jasper part of the personality, seriously.

"Moldavite is a toxic and psychotic fusion that's going to go Titan Crusher Three Point O or worse next time we meet." Luz stated bluntly.

"We have no clue what she's planning, but it involves mutant gem corpses resurrected and fused against their will." Amity added.

"They're attracted to the Palisman, they don't have eyes or ears, so illusion magic is null and void on them." Gus grunted.

"We can't rely on Garnet because she became an emotionally confused and frustrated mess upon seeing them." Boscha rolled her eyes.

"And the Kindergarten continues to be a terrible place of nightmares that should be obliterated." Willow nodded.

They all turned to Hunter, who remained silent until he noticed. "Sorry, just trying to piece things together mentally. A lot of things aren't adding up." 

"Like what?" Luz asked.

"For starters, Moldavite seemed very uninterested in those gem mutants until they started attacking us." Hunter explained. "She also said something about Jasper 'setting them off' when she ragdolled Clawthorne."

"She didn't ragdoll me, she got ONE lucky hit in." Lucci clarified.

"Dude, come on." Luz said. "I know we handled the situation better than the gems, but don't grow an ego like you did after surviving petrification. That's how Hunter kicked your ass when he was still an evil jerk, no offense."

"None taken. That day is something I am proud of." Lucci flicked Golden boy in the head for that comment…very hard, flinging Hunter across the room.

"Hey, quit it." Boscha said, looking at the damaged wall. "You could have broken the door again."

"Whatever. This doesn't change the fact that out of everyone on this planet, this group right here." Lucci gestured to all of them. "Is the only one that can do anything about whatever that crazed fusion is up to, with those mutants and with all that metal she's collecting."

"Hey!" He was wrapped up in familiar pink arms. "We already did all that today, let's spend the rest of the day on a fun game!" Spinel chuckled, hugging him tightly.

"Glad … to see … you're as happy as … ever.." He managed to breath out, finally getting a good look at her new form. "Nice duds." He complimented…freezing upon looking at her eyes. The way those black lines went down on her face…they didn't just look like running make-up … they looked like tears … like permanenttears running down her eyes. "You okay Spinel?"

"Of course I am, I'm as happy and as diddly do-duh dandy as ever!" Spinel said in her usual tone. "Now come on, let's watch a movie, or play charades, or eat candy."

"In a second … just … you know you can tell me anything you're feeling, right?" Lucci made sure to assure her. "Did the poofing hurt?"

Spinel paused at that. "It did … but … not as much as seeing dark … as being alone in my gem … being away from you … being alone again….." Spinel shook her head. "But it's better to just ignore bad stuff and focus on good stuff, like Luz is always doing, right?"

"...No comment." Really Luz, really?

"Now stop focusing on the bad stuff today, we need to focus on all the good stuff!" Spinel went back to her happy tone. "Like how we're alive, how we poofed and bubbled those dumb monsters, and how we're alive! Great things to be happy about!"

"…" He sighed in defeat. "Yep, happy things." Maybe Pudding had a point about this being a problem…but he was Spinel's only friend, literally the only who could possibly help her right now.

Lucci thought for a minute….and wondered if this was how King felt trying to deal with the Collector. Dang it, they really needed to fix that door.