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Spessarite had spent the last two days alone in the old war room. She wouldn’t exactly say she was standing guard, and she defiantly didn’t feel guilty for attacking the gem that showed up, her own fault for not declaring her allegiance when she told her story. It was just that she didn’t have anything else to do. No way in hell was she going to visit pinkie and…… pinkie, why couldn’t at least one of the pinks be super smart so she could use that reference? Either way, she didn’t need the lecture. Lazuli was out, creepy know it all. So, with nothing else to do, she just waited for the first friendly face she’d seen from home world in however long it was to finish regenerating so they could talk. This time without trying to poof each other. But seriously, it was two days already how long did it take a gem to regenerate?

As Spsessarite continued to groan to herself leaning across the archway sword in hand; a faint glow caught her attention from the corner of her eye, the black and dark grey gem began to levitate and hover in the air, then it slowly began to spin, then shake, it wasn’t bright and shiny either, just softly glowing with dim light. Spessarite was admitantly worried she might have damaged the gem somehow in her fight; she didn’t see anything wrong with it but who knew? Then without much ceremony a small flash erupted from the gem and a fully restored Black Azezulite was sitting in the chair, not standing on it, and looking directly at Spessarite, the same blank expression on her face. “You are still here. Good. I assume you are now willing to talk?” she stated more then asked in her flat monotone.

Spess felt her eyebrow twitch but suppressed it. The gem wasn’t trying to be rude she just didn’t have emotions, like gratitude. “Yeah, so, say I believe your story a bit more now…. Why’d you come ta earth of all places? Recon? Prep work for a retake of the planet? Or did they finally decide to check for survivors?” she asked with a bit of hope in her voice

Azezulite blinked her eyes slowly at the question as she contemplated the best response. Honesty. “No” she said flatly “Home world currently has no plans for reclaiming earth, and has officially deemed all gems on earth as MIA, presumed to be either traitors or SIA” Spessarites face fell as she heard the news, home world had given up on them, on her. She was assumed dead, worse, a potential traitor.

“So…” Spessarite began but her voice failed her

“I am here in pursuit of Smokey Quartz, I calculated earth to be her most probable destination among thirteen potentials.” Azezulite paused to allow this to sink into Spessarite, the gem was clearly emotionally distraught over the revelation. “I am willing to offer you safe transport back to home world in exchange for your assistance. I will require information on any gems of note on this planet. Survivors like yourself, traitors suck as Rose Quartz and her officers or any Individuals and locations that would be of interest to Smokey Quartz. I will also request your aid in physically apprehending her as she is practiced at evading capture” through the entire explanation Azezulites face never changed, nor did her tone or posture.

Spessarite nodded and numbly took a seat opposite Azezulite “ok….. what I know. Well, there’s a Lapis Lazuli here that can see the future with almost perfect accuracy, her body guard and I guess her hand maiden?”

Azezulite glanced to her left in thought “if her powers of divination are genuine it will be pointless to attempt to capture her as she will have already planned for such an encounter. If they are not then she is of no importance. Please continue”

“Ohhhkaaay, umm, there’s the Pinks, Pink opal and her pearl but there not really fighters” Spessarite continued a bit shocked by how blunt and quick Azezulite was in her analysis.

“Opal, Pink; Pearl, Pink” Azezulite said to herself “ahh yes. I recall their data entry. Low level members of Rose Quartz’s rebellion. It is improbable that Smokey Quartz will make contact with them if more promising leads are available, what is the status of Rose and her Crystal Gems?”

Spessarite nodded “Well, Rose is gone but Amethyst, Pearl, and Garnet are still around and they have a human with them called Steven, they’re still set up exactly where they always were” she said a bit nervously. Steven was a good enough kid, she’d rather not get him killed but if he didn’t know enough to take this seriously it was on him

Azezulite nodded unflinchingly “while the loss of rose greatly diminishes their fighting capability it would still be ill advised to confront them as each of their number is a skilled soldier, and they outnumber us. Do you have any allies?”

Spessarite grumbled “Not really. After the war everyone who was left on our side basically went their own way”

“They no longer take orders from their former general?” Azezulite asked, to which Spessarite could only shake her head “As ranking military commander you have failed to retain control over your troops. Are there any remaining military assets we can make use of, or locations that would be of interest to Smokey Quartz?”

Spessarite bristled at the accusation, at the…. The damn LACK of a tone! She wasn’t being accused of failing as a general she was being reminded that she had utterly failed. The way Azezulite said it, it wasn’t an accusation, it wasn’t an insult, or a consolation it was a fact. Like the sky was blue on this rock. That was probably what pissed Spessarite off the most. She had FAILED and been written off as a failure not even worth searching for. It was like that voice in her head she’d been quietly ignoring for the last few thousand years had finally gotten some one else to tear off the bandage to her broken pride and pour salt in the wound. Through gritted teeth she continued “no, the crystal gems have been pretty active in making sure all our weapons were destroyed or permanently disabled. They might have a few strongholds worth checking out, but I don’t know where they’d be” and now another failure laid bare. She let the enemy destroy all her resources, and had in all this time not learned any of their secrets. Time for another lecture from miss personality about her failings.

Azezulite nodded “While the loss of those resources is regrettable for our current situation, it was the presumed outcome. Given the circumstances your survival is commendable. The semi-operational status of this ship is remarkable in and of itself.”

Spessarite looked up “Wait what!?” did the robot just complement her for failing? “But I lost, like, everything.

Azezulite nodded “you did. However after our forces retreated, those that were left would be disillusioned. Continued loyalty was not expected. You demonstrated this. As a lone soldier facing Rose Quartz and her generals it would be suicide for you to engage them. Any guerrilla tactics you employed are to be commended. As is your survival. Your former soldiers turning on you and offering you as a peace offering to Rose and her remaining forces was in fact the most probable outcome.”

Spessarite was a bit shocked, she’d never thought of it like that but…. It all made sense really. She just never expected someone to say ‘good job for surviving’ after berating her for her failings “so, I don’t suppose you have a plan for getting this Smokey gem?”

Azezulite nodded “My ship is equipped with an advanced sensor suite able to detect gem energy signatures. It is why I came here; I detected this vessels operational power core and your life sign. I assumed this was Smokey’s landing site. There are additional locations that can be searched” Azezulite stood up and began to walk out of the room, when she was half way into the other room she looked back “I assume you are coming?”

Spessarite stood at attention “Yes Ma’am!” she replied and chased after Azezulite. Thinking about it, she wasn’t sure if she could pull rank on Azezulite. She wasn’t a deserter, just presumed dead, so in theory her military commission was still in effect, really the question would be, what diamond or quartz did she serve?

As they approached Azezulites ship hidden in a nearby forest clearing Spessarite asked after having exhausted her mind trying to find some identifying mark of allegiance “So, what diamond do you serve?”

Azezulite opened the ships rear hatch and proceeded inside “None. My actions are dictated by home world’s central military command, which is itself overseen by multiple diamonds and quartz. However my former direct superior was Smokey Quartz”

Spessarite fallowed her in “So it’s personal” she stated as she took a seat in the navigators chair of the small ship

“No. I have no emotional attachment to the target or mission” Azezulite stated as she began flying the ship up.

“Right….” Spessarite said slowly, ‘Robot’ she thought to herself “So, how’d you do that thing you did when we fought?” she asked more out of boredom then anything else

“My specialty is Light manipulation. When I make physical contact with a gem’s hard-light body I can degenerate it, reducing the subject’s strength, speed, and endurance until they are no longer able to move, eventually resulting in the destabilization and loss of physical form.” Azezulite said as she looked over several monitors “Additionally, after making physical contact with a gem I gain the ability to create copies of that gem’s weapons” Azezulite turned to face Spessarite “And what of your unique ability’s?”

Spessarite smirked cockily “Polarity. I touch a gem’s body, and my swords drawn to where ever I touch; I touch their weapon, and it’s repelled from my body. Not so much that I can’t be hit, but couple it with my own skill, and it leads others to think I’m even more gifted at combat then I already am” the pride in her voice was almost impossible to miss.

Azezulite nodded “I believe I may have located Smokey Quartz’s ship. There is a chance she will still be onboard.” As she spoke Azezulite’s hands moved from one interface to another making course adjustments, and refining her scans “given the energy signature it is likely buried in a cave network under this beach”

“Huh. So, what’s the plan? Sneak attack? Or overwhelming force?”

Azezulite shook her head “unless she is reasonably confident she can win, Smokey Quartz will retreat. Our best option is to disable or booby-trap her ship, force her to withdraw to it, and then trap her. Are you capable of fusion?”

Spessarite nodded “I can fuse. But if it’s just one gem, who’s good at running, were probably going to be better having numbers on our side”

Azezulite nodded “agreed. Fusion would limit our ability to heard, or trap Smokey”

Azezulite carefully took the ship down further inland on the tropical island before landing. After which she began a short range scan “The ship appears to still be present….. Interesting, there is a gem teleporter on this island. If we are fortunate Smokey has already used it and is unaware of our approach.”

After a forty minute hike Azezulite and Spessarite reached the gem teleporter, Azezulite then took a small disk from her belt and discreetly buried it beside the teleporter “It’s a simple energy detector, if the teleport activates this will alert us”. Spessarite had to smile as she nodded. Azezulite might not have much of a personality, but she didn’t miss a trick.

It took another twenty minutes for them to reach the shoreline, from behind the tree’s they were able to see a lone gem sitting on the beach holding her legs as she watched the waves. Her flesh was as black as obsidian, but her head and cloths appeared to be made of fire, her feet were a bright almost white shade of yellow, tapering off to a deep crimson around her knees, but just above the joints until her stomach the flames burned from subdued scarlet back to sunlight yellow, her garment seemed torn revealing her midriff and the left half of her back , both arms were uncovered. Upon her head was a mane wild dancing flames that spiked up and hung down around her face, her eyes glowing orange she wore a solemn expression on her face, entirely oblivious to her guests.

Azezulite noted the gems appearance “Are you familiar with this gem?”

Spessarite nodded and in a derisive tone told Azezulite “Yeah, that’s Sunstone, Mommy Yellows ‘precious little sun’ she’s a..”

“Living weapon. Currently unique in the empire. All attempts at recreating the properties of her living flame have failed, often resulting in either the destruction of the entire kindergarten, or the malformation of the gem in question. As a result of the experiments to re-create her there has been an increase in the population of rubies, as well as the creation of the many fire type gems. Yellow Diamond has issued a priority order that she be taken alive at all costs” Azezulite interrupted

Spess shook her head “that’s not going to be easy you know, what with the whole ‘living weapon’ thing”

Azezulite looked at Spessarite “Will she listen to you?”

Spessarite worked hard not to laugh at that question “pfft, hells no. she can’t stand me. I’m ‘impure’ and ‘evil’” she said making air quotes around the words

“Wait here then” Azezulite ordered as she walked out to the beach behind sunstone “Greetings Sunstone. My name is Azezulite” as she spoke Sunstone leapt up in surprise having not even noticed the approach of another gem, her foot hissed and steam rose from the ground as she made contact with wet sand

“What do you want!? How’d you even get here?” she half shouted

“I came by way of starship. I detected your life sign from orbit and came to offer you safe passage back home” Azezulite stated in the same tone one used to say that the sky was blue

“Home?” Sunstone asked incredulously

“Yes. Your mother misses you very much. She is very worried about your safety.” Azezulite assured her

Sunstone would admit, she was young, she was sheltered, she was naïve, and she was a bit gullible at times. But she knew her ‘mother’. If Yellow Diamond REALLY wanted her back, she’d have come in person and brought half an armada for their ‘protection’. “I don’t believe you” she said nervously, her back to the ocean.

Azezulite took a step forward further backing Sunstone into what amounted to a brick wall, slowly, calmly and in a gentle and reassuring manner Azezulite reached out a hand for Sunstone “I mean you no harm. I am Black Azezulite, were related to Quartz, I was a caretaker for newborn gems. I understand you must be frightened.” She said in an all too calm voice, eyes wide and soft. Sunstone wanted to get away but she couldn’t back up any further, as Azezulite’s hand took hold of Sunstones forearm Azezulite screamed in agony and instantly let go of Sunstone, her eyes looking down at her burned hand.

Spessarite then came charging out of the tree line her sword already drawn “Damn it Az what part of living weapon didn’t you get!? Don’t Touch The Living Weapon!” she yelled.

Sunstone took this moment to get away from the water running around Azezulite and further up the beach “I knew it! You’re just here to capture me aren’t you!?” As sunstone yelled at her attackers she ignited her hands and began throwing balls of fire at them

Azezulite and Spessarite both began dodging the incoming projectiles, Spessarite charging ever forward while Azezulite’s left forearm transformed into an arm cannon allowing her to return fire. Dark spheres flew through the air towards Sunstone, however before one could strike her she fired a concentrated beam of flame at the projectile, detonating it in mid aid. As she had not been expecting an explosive she was knocked off her feet by the concussive force, which bought Spessarite enough time to get in close enough to start using her sword.

Sunstone growled at Spessarite as she danced away from the swinging blade, several times Spessarite almost forced Sunstone to turn her back to Azezulite who had stopped firing her cannon now that Spessarite was close. Sunstone realized Azezulite probably couldn’t fire her weapon now, not unless she wanted to risk taking her back-up out. A smirk formed on her lips, not quite cruel, but certainly menacing as she divided her attention a bit, just enough to throw a few fire balls and a scorching ray of heat towards Azezulite. Knowing Spessarite she’d play the hero and go defend the non-fighter.

Sunstones attention back on Spessarite she grinned as gouts of flame burst from her hands to strike at Spess’s golden armor, slipping though her opened guard as she tried to nail down the elusive Sunstone. “Not going to rescue your new friend?” she chided the former general

“Don’t need to” she assured Sunstone who noticed the distinct lack of screaming her fireballs typically caused, which should have impacted by now. As she turned her eyes to spare a glance she saw why. Azezulite’s arm was coming down from an upward ark, and it had changed again. It was no longer a wide somewhat stubby looking armored barrel but a long and narrow cylinder. In the fraction of a second it took her to notice the absences of burning terrain and the changed arm cannon a beam of focused energy came flying at her, to which she responded on instinct, creating a towering wall of flame between her and the incoming attack. The moment’s distraction however was enough for Spessarite to gain enough ground to put Sunstone squarely within the reach of her blade.

Sunstone grimaced, she was getting sloppy. ‘Ok, quick review, nurse maid with a gun is out of the fight for now, but the fire wall won’t hold for long. Spessarite already has me within the reach of her sword, that’s a problem, she’s a swords master and a solider, but she’s not perfect; her sword skills are unparalleled, but she’s not as good in a straight up fist fight, and her great sword limits the actions she can take a bit’ her mind made up Sunstone closed the remaining distance so that she was within unarmed striking range, then delivered a strong punch to Spessarites gut, followed by a kick to her thighs and a palm strike to the jaw ‘this close and the swords no longer a problem. When the firewall dies the nursemaid won’t be able to take a shot without risking a hit on her partner.’ Sunstone did not pause or relent as she acted out her strategy, elbow striking Spessarite on the inside of her own elbow, a kick to the crotch, and a chop to the side of the head all before Spessarite could even finish dropping her sword.

Spessarite was quickly being put on the ropes, while being reminded that this is why Sunstone was considered a living weapon, each of her strikes was quick and, while not as powerful as they could be, were engulfed in flame. She dropped her sword as she felt her elbow be smashed form the inside, the chop to the side of her head disoriented her, the blow to the crotch didn’t do much damage beside simply hurting like all hell, Sunny probably forgot that gems aren’t like humans, no organs or genitalia. As she moved to drop her own arms into a martial arts stance and counter strike Sunstone span around her and drove her elbow into Spessarite’s spine, almost immediately afterwards her arm rotated back to deliver a back handed punch to the back of Spessarite’s head, she felt her feet be swept from under her only for her fall to be broken by an eruption of fire that stood her back up for an extension of the already brutal beat down she was receiving.

‘Keep it up. No mercy. Don’t give your enemy an opening. Each strike must maim, kill, cripple, or wound your enemy’ Sunstone heard the voice of Yellow Diamond in her head as she fought. She hated her. But she was right ‘Remember my precious Little Sun, it’s a dangerous world, and your fellow gems will fear you because of your gifts. You must always be ready to defend yourself’ the voice finished. Sunstone had heard it so many times in her life that the recitation was like breathing. It was just a part of the fight. Spessarite on the outer hand was grunting as she forced her arms to start blocking, for all the good it did, each fire charged strike might as well have hit its intended mark for the amount of damage they did.

As Sunstone continued to pummel her target a slightly sadistic smile began to form out of habit. On an intellectual level she hated fighting, but her body, her body craved it like a drug at times. ‘Break them’ she heard a voice that was so similar to her own whisper seductively ‘they deserve to be shattered’ it said. Before she could lose herself in the rather one sided fight a beam of light struck her in the side while she was in the middle of a kick ruining her balance and sending her tumbling. The disorientation was annoying but it was enough to get her grounded in the present again. Shaking off the berserker rage and blood lust she was building she saw Black Azezulite walking through the flames towards Spessarite, firing beam after beam at Sunstone. Each shot was a miss, meant to force her to back up, normally she’d charge but right now, she needed the space to cool her head before she did something Lapis might not forgive her for.

Azezulite extended a hand towards the battered Spessarite “Her combat prowess exceeds my worst case calculations. Are you still capable of fusion?”

Spess took the proffered hand “you still wanna fucking fight the bitch?” she grunted in shock between heavy pants to regain her breath

Azezulite shook her head “No. however I doubt she will allow us to retreat”

Spessarite looked back to Sunstone, she was almost completely blinded by rage, she wasn’t going to just let them go “not like we have a choice in the matter” she lamented “Fine” she took up a slightly more formal stance as she held Azezulites hand at a distance before pulling her close and beginning to lead into a waltz. Azezulite fallowed Spessarite’s lead at first, step, step, turn, step, pivot, and finally Spessarite Dipped Azezulite, at this point Azezulite took over the dance entirely, she turned and twisted around Spessarite’s body, holding onto Spesseraite’s right hand the entire time as she rotated around her, slid be nether her legs, grabbed hold of Spessarite by the torso and lifted herself up, locking legs around Spessarites waist Azezulite bent backward until her head nearly hit the ground. Spessarite was familiar with a lot of dance styles but she’d never seen one like this, it felt passionate, full of life and energy, she could not help but feel Azezulites power crash against her like a wave against a cliff face, as she contemplated how to complement this style of dance with her own both their body’s transformed into light and began to merge.

At first a giant woman of light appeared, her hair was long waving tendrils of light as she toward over Sunstone, but quickly the body shrank down until it was only one and a half times her own size, still larger than any single gem but rather small for a fusion. It’s two arms split into four, and as the physical features began to resolve its body was covered in a black suit, it’s face a pale white, as its eyes opened its body exploded with light a second time before any more of the features could be resolved, this secondary explosion covered the fusion in smooth segmented and interlocking plates. The armor on the legs and arms left only the joints exposed at first, before a tightly woven mesh of tiny hexagonal plates covered the exposed joints. The hands were covered in tight gauntlets ending in sharp talons, the feet in thickly armored greaves, the chest in interlocked plates that bent and twisted with the body far lighter and more futuristic then the medieval inspired armor of Spessarite. Finally a helmet covered it’s head, the helm was small, closer in size to a head then most helmet’s, but smooth and almost featureless as it bent around the skull, a narrow angular visor covered the still closed eyes while a mouth guard of sharp geometric plates formed beneath it. As the light of fusion dimmed and the features resolved vents were visible on the mouth guard, along the back, the calves, and the forearms. In all the fusion looked almost mechanical, a modern warrior cloaked in the most advanced power armor imaginable. The two lower arms spread apart as each formed one of Azezulites cannons, the left arm became the wider and somewhat shorter cannon, while the right arm transformed into the longer slender cannon. The two upper arms clapped themselves together and drew forth Spessarites great sword, before throwing it into the air and drawing forth a second to be held by the left arm, the right arm catching the falling sword as it returned.

The fusion then slammed the swords down into the lower arm cannons which in turn transformed. The left arm cannon grew in girth as the sword split in two and slid back, the two blade half’s becoming shorter and wider, each almost half the length they had been before but were now twice the width, then the armor plates rearranged on the arm cannon forming a pseudo bucker. The right arm cannon also grew in size, extending it’s barrel as it’s great sword also split in two, the blades became longer and narrower, each side lost the edge along it’s inside track becoming slightly curved tracks that matched perfectly the curvature of the inside cannon, the cannon itself extended backwards creating a jutting protrusion from the elbow that looked like an enhanced power pack for the weapon, the top side of the arm then opened up as six small cylinders popped out in pairs. The top arms then reached down to the lower one’s, the inside of the arm cannons opened up as the hands approached, each one sliding in and taking hold of a bar, the fingers sliding into a set of rings held in place by wires, as the hands flexed and tightened into fists the armor plates closed around the hands holding them in place so the weapon arms could not be easily released in a fight. The right arm came to life as lighting raced up and down the split blade arcing between the two sides while the right arm glowed before a beam of light shot forth, lighting circling the beam briefly before it took the shape of a large sword. As the giants visor lit up, hair exploded out the back of the helmet, a rich platinum blond that contrasted beautifully with the polished black metal of the armor and shadow like body suit. “Hematite: Online. Ready For Combat Operations. Target: Sunstone. Objective: Capture” it said in an all too flat tone that bore no emotions.

Inside the fusion Spessarite found herself at a loss. This was by no means a normal fusion she realized, to start with, her mind seemed…. Separate, and not altogether here. She could feel that parts of her were in fact part of Hematite now, her obedience, her loyalty, her training, her skill, her knowledge of tactics and strategy, but all the pieces that made Spessarite who she was, seemed to have been discarded, leaving her mind mostly intact and free to wonder the shared mindscape she and Black Azezulite had created. In all the fusions Spessarite had been a part of this had, honestly, never happened before, even when she fused with those she did not particularly get along with. Looking around she found herself stripped of her armor, and surrounded by a mostly empty flat plane, the ground seemed to be made from polished black marble tiles, the sky was bleak and empty, and the only two features she could see were a tall citadel, perfectly cylindrical, no windows or doors, the top of it lit with orange light surrounded by a dark miasma. ‘That must be where Azezulite and the rest of me is’ she said to herself. The other feature was an endless desert of white sand in the opposite direction. Pulled by her curiosity Spessarite wandered into the desert, which felt strange for a desert, it was clearly night here, but the desert wasn’t cold, nor was it scorching hot like the memory of a desert should have been. The sand was strange to, it wasn’t all fine particulate there were odd flecks of rock, like the shavings from a fine stone carving.

Outside the mindscape Sunstone gulped. She’d seen a good number of fusions in the past, but this was the first time she saw what she could only describe as a true combat fusion, Hematite was nothing but armor and weapons, and as confidant as Sunstone was in her ability to defeat a fusion, she was a little concerned that this one might be out of her league. Then again, Sunstone smirked as she thought to herself, they were talking less like a bombastic fusion and more like a robot, so it might not have been a perfect fusion, and they put in all that work to, it’d be a shame not to at least try and tear it down.

Sunstone charged almost recklessly at Hematite, who stood motionless before her, Sunstone ignited her arms as she swung her right fist hard enough to spin herself in the air, and to her surprise Hematite dodged her, she hadn’t even noticed the fusion move. Before Sunstone knew it the fusion’s large energy blade was coming up to greet her, shooting fire from her arms she pushed herself out of the way only for the blade to still graze her, with an almost rocket assisted move Sunstone threw herself back and out of melee range as she appraised Hematite. She had all of Spessarites skill, and then some, she was armored, she was strong, and she was unbelievably fast. It’d been a while since she had a fight she’d consider an actual challenge and the thought both excited and disturbed her ‘sorry Lapis, but I don’t think I can run from this one’ Sunstone thought to herself before she began raining fire down on Hematite who took evasive action, jumping around the beach with precise bursts of sudden movement that ended far to abruptly.

Spessarite wandered further and further into the desert, the smaller the tower became the more she saw. The desert was far from empty, there were ruins all around her, crumbled buildings, statues, busts, frescos, and even portraits. But everything was destroyed, the paintings had all been slashed and torn, the frescos had been shattered, the busts broken, and the statues lay in pieces. Looking at them though, Spessarite could tell they were important, there were scenes of gems, statues of gems, none of them resembled Black Azezulite, which Spess found somewhat reassuring, it meant the gem wasn’t a narcissist she supposed. Each time she approached one of the ruined monuments she felt something. In most cases an overwhelming sorrow, in others heart ache, and in a few instances blinding unadulterated rage. It was confusing, she knew the emotions weren’t hers, but she couldn’t imagine Azezulite feeling anything even half as intensely as the feelings she got when she approached the fallen statues and torn paintings. Looking around Spessarite noticed the broken remains of what was once a castle. Still somewhat in a daze she gravitated towards the castle drawn by something she could not name

Years of training flooded Sunstones mind. A fusion was a harmonic amplification of its component gems natural and innate ability’s, as well as their skills and personality traits. Under ideal circumstances that power boost was almost an exponential growth from what the gems were as individuals, but there were still limits; to start with, the fusion wouldn’t know anything the components didn’t know, it’s powers would be limited to the individual, and combined powers of its components, there would be no ‘new’ powers, just new uses’ of those powers. And Sunstone knew for a fact, neither Spessarite, nor this Black Azezulite were this fast, or that strong. Which meant that Hematite had a trick, there was an underlying principle to her apparently far superior power. Keeping her distance she went over her options as she watched Hematite. ‘Watch your enemy. Learn from them. The only way to destroy them is to know them better then they know themselves’ Yellow’s words again filled Sunstones mind, she hated that voice but it was right….

While the ruined city outside was unsettling, the castle was in many ways worse for Spessarite as it was disturbingly intact. Whatever had rampaged outside had not done so in here, or at least not to the same extent. There were statues of gems standing still their visages unmarred, there were paintings hanging on the walls, and beautiful stain glass windows from which rainbows of light filtered in, but all around these things were savage claw marks as if whatever had ruined the outside city had wanted to lay even greater waste to this place but was unable to harm anything of value. Most of the gems that were memorialized here were unfamiliar to Spessarite, most. But not all, two stood out, the first, a statue of Yellow Diamond. She was standing her hand to one side and a familiar calm expression on her face as she remained froze mid lecture. On the same side of the wall were a few other gems that Spessarite recognized, all in different stances, some in combat poses, anger painted on their faces, others looked heart broken. The second statue of note standing on the opposite side of Yellows statue was Rose Quartz, her hands clasped together, tears running down her cheeks and mouth frozen open, she was clearly giving one of her impassioned speeches. Surrounding Rose were other gems, most of whom Spessarite honestly had never seen or even heard of. Their poses mirrored or reflected those of the gems on yellows side, and carefully examining the statues and the stain glass windows above them Spessarite came to the conclusion that most of them were quartzes or diamonds. It made her wonder who Azezulite was that she had memories of this many Quartz and Diamonds.

Sunstone had learned the pattern, and the tells of Hematite’s attacks, and gotten an idea of the fusions ability’s. She wasn’t fast, she was propelling herself, and she could only do it twice in a row, then she always spent a few seconds recharging. Close combat was also out, Sunstone didn’t want to believe it but, Spessarite must have always been holding back before because even now, she still couldn’t land a single blow, Hemiaite always evaded it. As much as Sunstone wanted to avoid ranged combat she didn’t have much of a choice, ‘time to find out what that damn cannon dose’ she lamented as she put enough space between herself and Hemitie to start bombarding her with fireballs.

“Target has entered firing range. Weapon lock established. MA-AC firing safety’s released.” Hematite said in a cold monotone as she levelled her gun arm at Sunstone, tracking her movements as electricity danced between the two blade halves, after a second or so a beam of light appeared and then disappeared a faint line joined the cannon to the hole that had been made in the rocks behind Sunstone “Adjusting targeting protocols”

Sunstone grimaced. She remembered seeing a weapon like that once before but she couldn’t remember what it was or how it worked, something told her though that it was the secret to figuring out how to beat Hematite.

Further into the castle Spessarite found herself in what must have been the throne room, and while the rest of the castle was spared the destruction of outside this chamber had not fared so well, the walls were shattered, the stones simply hovering in place, the roof was torn open, glass littered the floor, and in the center of it all was a gem clutching her head with her left hand, and her heart and gemstone with her right, a look of absolute agony covered her features as she was encased in clear crystal that seemed to explode from around her body and had grown to tear apart the room, shattering the floor, climbing the walls, and running everything it touched. In many ways the clear crystal looked like someone had magically frozen a fire, it was chaotic, disjointed, and seemed to be uncontrolled. Spessarite approached, hand out stretched, upon contact with the frozen flames her mind was flooded with things. Hatred was foremost. Hatred for everyone, Rose for starting the war, Yellow for not negotiating, the gems on both sides for fighting. Rage was next, it was intense so intense it actually burned Spessarites mind, she had never honestly felt anger like this, anger without direction or focus just anger at the entire universe for letting the war happen and everyone involved in it. Anger at those that fought for fighting, anger at those that didn’t for refusing to try and end the war. Anger at herself for taking up a side at all. That last bit was off, no, it was Azezulites anger. Spessarites eyes widened at the realization, and she tried to remove her hand to be free of the alien emotions but found the frozen flames now held her and she was flooded with more feelings that were not her own. Feelings of sorrow and regret so great they brought Spessarite to her knees, the guilt over killing so many gems, over being unable to save others, over the death of entire worlds to make gems, and that those gems were now dying. Spessarite screamed as she tried to free herself

After avoiding far more shots then she’d have liked Sunstone smirked. She figured it out now “Magnetic Acceleration Cannon” she said hottily “That’s your secret isn’t it? You aren’t really avoiding me, your repelling me somehow, and those powers of yours, they take a lot out of you right? It’s why you aren’t blitzing all over the beach, and why you only fire that cannon every few seconds. If you were capable of rapid fire and rapid movement? I’d be poofed by now.” She smiled deviously at her opponent as a battle plan formed in her mind “I’m right aren’t I?”

“Analysis: Accurate. Conclusion: Irrelevant” Hematite responded as it fired another blast at Sunstone then charged, her sword already in a down swing, her speed augmented by her powers. Sunstone dodged the particle blade, threw a fire ball and jumped to Hematite’s back side where she landed her first real kick.

“Big mistake.” Hematite had confirmed everything Sunstone needed to know. Her powers were limited, the field that kept Sunstone from hitting her, the ability to dash around, and the power of her cannon. It was all the same power, and it took her several seconds to recharge that power after she ran dry. Sunstone fired out giant gouts of flame from her hands as she flew backwards from her own attack. “Three rounds, that’s your charge capacity, you can divide it up however you want, but after any three moves that use those powers of yours you need to stop and recharge” she threw a fire ball which curved away from Hematite’s side as the fusion turned towards her “and it takes you five seconds to recharge.” Sunstone nodded; now that she knew her enemy’s secrets this fight was as good as hers, fusion or no.

Finally Spessarite had broken free, she had cracked the crystal flames that held her and, some fragments remained in her hand, their emotions far more muted, but a new feeling was within them. Regret over what she had become. Spessarites mind cleared now, she felt her focus returning, she wasn’t in the haze she was when she had first fused with Black Azezulite, it let her look at this place with a more clinical eye. Black Azezulite was the gem she knew, but looking at the woman frozen in emotional anguish she understood what had happened now. The gem that Azezulite was could not cope with the grief and turmoil of war. She was a kind heart who hated seeing gems fight, and she found herself smack dab in a civil war with no choice but to take a side. It tore her apart. So she must have done the only thing she could think of, she tore out her own heart hoping it would make things easier, and now? She was a prisoner inside her own mind unable to even voice her objections as she did what was logical without thought to the moral considerations. Spessarite turned and faced towards the tower she knew was beyond these walls and in the distance. It was time to end this.

Sunstone lay on the ground a bit shocked. She was wrong. Well no, she wasn’t ‘wrong’ Hematite had simply not displayed the full range of her ability’s. The charge was the same, there was a maximum power output, and there was a five second recharge each time her reserves ran dry, five seconds that Sunstone absolutely abused the hell out of each time they arrived. No the problem was, Hematite could break her power down into much finer increments, and she didn’t have to dodge or block every attack with her powers, which had let her drag out the time between charge cycles by a lot, enough to let her get more than a few good hits in on Sunstone now that she had let herself get cocky. She needed a new plan. And that’s when a new voice seemed to pop into her head. Voices in one’s head were always a bad sign, especially new voices. But Sunstone smirked, this one had good ideas. Better then Yellow’s advice.

Spessarite traveled the desert, seeing everything in a new light now, each broken building, ruined state, mural, fresco, bust, and painting filling her with more resolve. Azezulite had hurt herself, badly, and she needed help, but she was buried so deeply under layers and layers of cold calculation that no one could even hear her crying out, but now? Spessarite couldn’t get that voice out of her head; she could hear her crying, mourning, the grief, and pain. She wasn’t a warm gem, she was a soldier. But more than that, she had become a knight, and a knight did not leave someone to their suffering, not when they were pleading for help and no one else could hear them. She could see the tower now, it was shining brighter than before, Spessarite had no idea what was going on out there, but she didn’t care, in fact she hopped that Sunstone was holding her own, she needed this fusion to last as long as possible, because she still needed to figure out how to stop Black Azezulite and free her alabaster counterpart.

Sunstone fallowed the voice’s instructions precisely, she threw fireballs not at Hemitite but at everything else around her, forcing her to dodge until her power was drained, then she came down on her like a freight train, laying into her until that shield regenerated, at which point Sunstone fell back. She then moved onto the next part of the voices strategy, the beach was being torn apart, and all those fire balls had cooked the sand rather nicely, standing in place a good distance away she waited for Hematite to line her up and fire that beautiful wonderful cannon of hers. ‘That’s right bitch. Dance like a puppet on strings’ she thought as she evaded the cannon shot just before it fired. As the projectile missed the ground now made of glass shattered, Sunstone gathered up the shards in her arms before running. As Hematite waited Sunstone stopped at intervals, where again she dodges and collected the largest shards, more than enough for phase two.

Spessarite finally reached the tower; it was a black obelisk with golden glyphs decorating it, numbers, words. A twisted version of her own chivalric code she realized mixed in with some kind of machine language. Cold and calculating without emotion or morality. Spessarite began climbing the stairs one at a time, her armor slowly fading back into existence around her, a giant claymore across her back as her features darkened. She still had no idea how to really save the white Azezulite she’d seen, killing Black Azezulite might make things worse, or it might do nothing, she’d never been in a fusion like this before, the rules were different. When she finally reached the top of the tower she saw a clone of herself in full battle armor waiting, the clones armor was different, a coppery bronze rather than gold, and no emotion on her face, behind Spessarites doppelganger Black Azezulite’s hands were merged into a console a view screen in front of her that displayed the fight. Spessarite pointed her sword at clone “stand aside” she ordered it. The clone responded “You are violating your orders. Return to the waiting area and stand by or you will be forcibly removed” Spessarite smirked, she’d never fought herself before, this should be interesting.

Charging at her clone without warning their blades met, followed by a kick to her groin. She smirked; she had armor there this time. Forcing their blades against each other it was obvious that both Spessarite and her clone were perfectly matched for strength, the clone didn’t care about honor in a duel though, it kept using sucker punches forcing Spessarite on the defensive. Smiling she realized what this was. Her without emotion. Nothing but cold hard logic, detached from even morality. All her clone cared about was victory at any cost. Well now that was a weakness she could exploit. Letting herself be pushed back she began losing ground intentionally. She someone as driven as her without her fear or her honor to hold her back was a terrifying foe Spessarite had to admit, but the clone didn’t have her instincts either, otherwise she’d have that feeling in the pit of her stomach that said she was being lead into a trap. As Spessarite neared the edge of the tower she began fighting back in earnest, pushing far harder then she normally would, she was making wider swings, and she was filling those voids with her fists so that there was no opening. There wasn’t going to be any honor in this fight, but there sure as hell would be honor in the deed she reminded herself. The clone acted exactly as Spessarite knew it would, it did everything it could to win, and when it found a good opening it took a giant step forward and swung it’s blade as hard as it could, if it connected Spessarite would be done for, so she stepped back and fell, her hand grabbing the tower ledge just in time while her doppelgänger was carried forward by her excess momentum, and went flying off the tower. Spessarite smirked. She had just beaten the closest thing she was likely to find to her evil double.

Turning up the heat in her feet Sunstone rocketed into the air. She couldn’t really fly, she didn’t have that level of control, but what she could do was jump REALLY high and burn her feet like rockets for a few seconds, it wasn’t hovering so much as slowing her decent, once up there she super-heated the larger glass shards until they began to liquefy then lopped them down, the air resistance and gravity shaping them into decent projectiles that splattered around Hematite’s joints before cooling and hardening. The smaller pieces she simply fused together into larger ones’ the pointed ends preserved as she threw them down at her target like daggers. Hematite just stood there her knees and ankles trapped in glass. She could break those bonds easily enough, but not in time to avoid the rain of glass daggers. Raising her arms up Hematite shielded herself as the falling projectiles dented her armor and cut at her joints. The voice was right. Hematite’s shield couldn’t block non-gem powered physical attacks like this.

Hematite lowered her head as the glass rained down on her. “Probability of victory: 48.85% and dropping. Subject exhibiting unusual clarity and tactical insight. Retreating” she announced in her usual robotic voice before breaking the glass around her legs and preforming three powerful dashes away from sunstone and into the forest.

As Sunstone landed she breathed a sigh of relief before falling to her ass and catching her breath “Okay new voice in my head. Good plan. Let’s celebrate by not doing that again any time soon.” After several seconds of contemplating Sunstone spoke outload “Dose the fact that I just complemented a voice in my head for a battle plan mean I am crazy or a genius?”

That same new refined voice called out to her from a place defiantly not in her head “Only if you start naming them and carrying on deep philosophical conversations with them child, otherwise we call it eccentricity” Sunstone turned her head to see a tall woman in a long grey trench coat and matching fedora tipped forward to obscure part of her face as she leaned against the rocks. The strange woman had pale almost ivory skin and waist long jet black hair “Of course I will take the complement” she smirked with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

“Who the hell are you?” sunstone asked more surprised to know she wasn’t going crazy then to find a woman standing on the beach.

“Good question. That’s for you to decide. But I think we can both assume I am an ally, at least for now” she replied in a somewhat sarcastic voice

Sunstone grumbled “Fine. What’s your Name?”

“Smokey Quartz. What do you think of Yellow Diamond?” she asked immediately

“She’s an evil, manipulative deceitful monster”

Smokey raised her head and looked at Sunstone with a level of focus and intensity sunstone had only seen from Yellow herself when someone was treading on very thin ice. “I’ll give you two out of the four as facts; care to give me reasons for the other two?”

Sunstone blinked this gem was a Quartz and she was agreeing in part with her thoughts on Yellow but disagreeing with her as well…. Oh gods damn it, she wanted a life story. Sunstone grumbled, she already knew she wasn’t going to like this gem. “You want my life story? Shouldn’t you go first?”

Smokey had a playful expression on her face for a moment as she pretended to ponder the question “Normally you’d be right, proper decorum would dictate I go first. But I just saved your life today so you go first. If I like your story I’ll share mine” she finished with an all to cheerful smile.

Sunstone groaned “fine. Yellow practically raised me, brainwashed me into thinking everyone was evil, lied to me constantly, trained me to be nothing but a weapon, kidnapped Lapis and held her hostage so I’d do what she said. Oh and let’s not forget the whole wanting to wipe out humanity thing” She waved her hands not feeling like going into detail about her past too much, her explanation delivered in a more annoyed tone then anything, clearly she’d had to give this story more times then she could count. “So yeah, I’d say she’s pretty fucking evil and monstrous, defiantly a liar, and all around a terrible person”

Smokey shook her head “Fuck I hate children” she swore under her breath “look, kid,, you’re a good kid, and I like you, but you clearly have mommy issues, and honestly? I don’t have time to teach you about complex ethical considerations, or how to understand some one else’s motives or internal reasoning. So I’ll cut to the chase” she looked Sunstone in the eyes “there are very few gems that hate Yellow more than me right now. But one word I can’t use to describe her is evil because she’s not. I’m not sure if you actually fought in the war, I get the feeling you didn’t. And your clearly young, so. Civil War. There are no Good Guys or Bad Guys in a civil war. Yellow’s motives are simple, straight forward, and, much as I dislike admitting it, she HAS a lot of valid points.

Sunstones temper flared at someone defending that monster “Like what!? What could justify her threatening to kill an innocent gem if I didn’t fall in line!?”

Smokey’s face was a controlled mask, but if Sunstone had known her she’d have recognized the look of shock on her face “The preservation of an entire species that’s what kid. You wanna know more I suggest you go and ask an adult who has the time to spare to explain to you both sides of this war, because there’s no way I am dragging someone into this conflict again, especially not a kid” Smokey then bowed to Sunstone “I’m sorry I thought you were older and more informed. I won’t drag you into this, so try and stay out of trouble Little Sun” with those words the grey clothed gem turned into a cloud and blew away leaving Sunstone alone on the beach

“I am not a kid!” she screamed at the sky “And I am no one’s Little Sun!” damn she hated gems like that.

After reaching the ship Hematite had separated back into Spessarite and Black Azezulite. Black simply walked into her ship calmly as if nothing had happened, while Spessarite fallowed her, a grim look on her face. She understood why Black acted like nothing mattered now. She wasn’t feeling any of it, that other Azezulite though? She had to deal with Black’s feelings of defeat in addition to whatever she thought of that fight. She wasn’t sure how but she was going to find a way to set this right, and she didn’t intend to leave Azezulite until she figured it out. No she’d be her moral compass, she’d be as pig headed and obstinate as it took to keep her from making more things for that other Azezulite to feel terrible for. There’d be no more killing that was a certainty, and she’d have to hinder Azezulite’s plans and keep her on earth. She could already tell she was going to have to lose fights to win this war, it didn’t sit well with her as a knight, but as a general, she knew the value of enduring a strategic defeat in order to goad your enemy into revealing a weakness.

Azezulite calmly took the ship up and flew them back to Spessarites battle field, their new home base of sorts.

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Spessarite had spent the last two days alone in the old war room. She wouldn’t exactly say she was standing guard, and she defiantly didn’t feel guilty for attacking the gem that showed up, her own fault for not declaring her allegiance when she told her story. It was just that she didn’t have anything else to do. No way in hell was she going to visit pinkie and…… pinkie, why couldn’t at least one of the pinks be super smart so she could use that reference? Either way, she didn’t need the lecture. Lazuli was out, creepy know it all. So, with nothing else to do, she just waited for the first friendly face she’d seen from home world in however long it was to finish regenerating so they could talk. This time without trying to poof each other. But seriously, it was two days already how long did it take a gem to regenerate?

As Spsessarite continued to groan to herself leaning across the archway sword in hand; a faint glow caught her attention from the corner of her eye, the black and dark grey gem began to levitate and hover in the air, then it slowly began to spin, then shake, it wasn’t bright and shiny either, just softly glowing with dim light. Spessarite was admitantly worried she might have damaged the gem somehow in her fight; she didn’t see anything wrong with it but who knew? Then without much ceremony a small flash erupted from the gem and a fully restored Black Azezulite was sitting in the chair, not standing on it, and looking directly at Spessarite, the same blank expression on her face. “You are still here. Good. I assume you are now willing to talk?” she stated more then asked in her flat monotone.

Spess felt her eyebrow twitch but suppressed it. The gem wasn’t trying to be rude she just didn’t have emotions, like gratitude. “Yeah, so, say I believe your story a bit more now…. Why’d you come ta earth of all places? Recon? Prep work for a retake of the planet? Or did they finally decide to check for survivors?” she asked with a bit of hope in her voice

Azezulite blinked her eyes slowly at the question as she contemplated the best response. Honesty. “No” she said flatly “Home world currently has no plans for reclaiming earth, and has officially deemed all gems on earth as MIA, presumed to be either traitors or SIA” Spessarites face fell as she heard the news, home world had given up on them, on her. She was assumed dead, worse, a potential traitor.

“So…” Spessarite began but her voice failed her

“I am here in pursuit of Smokey Quartz, I calculated earth to be her most probable destination among thirteen potentials.” Azezulite paused to allow this to sink into Spessarite, the gem was clearly emotionally distraught over the revelation. “I am willing to offer you safe transport back to home world in exchange for your assistance. I will require information on any gems of note on this planet. Survivors like yourself, traitors suck as Rose Quartz and her officers or any Individuals and locations that would be of interest to Smokey Quartz. I will also request your aid in physically apprehending her as she is practiced at evading capture” through the entire explanation Azezulites face never changed, nor did her tone or posture.

Spessarite nodded and numbly took a seat opposite Azezulite “ok….. what I know. Well, there’s a Lapis Lazuli here that can see the future with almost perfect accuracy, her body guard and I guess her hand maiden?”

Azezulite glanced to her left in thought “if her powers of divination are genuine it will be pointless to attempt to capture her as she will have already planned for such an encounter. If they are not then she is of no importance. Please continue”

“Ohhhkaaay, umm, there’s the Pinks, Pink opal and her pearl but there not really fighters” Spessarite continued a bit shocked by how blunt and quick Azezulite was in her analysis.

“Opal, Pink; Pearl, Pink” Azezulite said to herself “ahh yes. I recall their data entry. Low level members of Rose Quartz’s rebellion. It is improbable that Smokey Quartz will make contact with them if more promising leads are available, what is the status of Rose and her Crystal Gems?”

Spessarite nodded “Well, Rose is gone but Amethyst, Pearl, and Garnet are still around and they have a human with them called Steven, they’re still set up exactly where they always were” she said a bit nervously. Steven was a good enough kid, she’d rather not get him killed but if he didn’t know enough to take this seriously it was on him

Azezulite nodded unflinchingly “while the loss of rose greatly diminishes their fighting capability it would still be ill advised to confront them as each of their number is a skilled soldier, and they outnumber us. Do you have any allies?”

Spessarite grumbled “Not really. After the war everyone who was left on our side basically went their own way”

“They no longer take orders from their former general?” Azezulite asked, to which Spessarite could only shake her head “As ranking military commander you have failed to retain control over your troops. Are there any remaining military assets we can make use of, or locations that would be of interest to Smokey Quartz?”

Spessarite bristled at the accusation, at the…. The damn LACK of a tone! She wasn’t being accused of failing as a general she was being reminded that she had utterly failed. The way Azezulite said it, it wasn’t an accusation, it wasn’t an insult, or a consolation it was a fact. Like the sky was blue on this rock. That was probably what pissed Spessarite off the most. She had FAILED and been written off as a failure not even worth searching for. It was like that voice in her head she’d been quietly ignoring for the last few thousand years had finally gotten some one else to tear off the bandage to her broken pride and pour salt in the wound. Through gritted teeth she continued “no, the crystal gems have been pretty active in making sure all our weapons were destroyed or permanently disabled. They might have a few strongholds worth checking out, but I don’t know where they’d be” and now another failure laid bare. She let the enemy destroy all her resources, and had in all this time not learned any of their secrets. Time for another lecture from miss personality about her failings.

Azezulite nodded “While the loss of those resources is regrettable for our current situation, it was the presumed outcome. Given the circumstances your survival is commendable. The semi-operational status of this ship is remarkable in and of itself.”

Spessarite looked up “Wait what!?” did the robot just complement her for failing? “But I lost, like, everything.

Azezulite nodded “you did. However after our forces retreated, those that were left would be disillusioned. Continued loyalty was not expected. You demonstrated this. As a lone soldier facing Rose Quartz and her generals it would be suicide for you to engage them. Any guerrilla tactics you employed are to be commended. As is your survival. Your former soldiers turning on you and offering you as a peace offering to Rose and her remaining forces was in fact the most probable outcome.”

Spessarite was a bit shocked, she’d never thought of it like that but…. It all made sense really. She just never expected someone to say ‘good job for surviving’ after berating her for her failings “so, I don’t suppose you have a plan for getting this Smokey gem?”

Azezulite nodded “My ship is equipped with an advanced sensor suite able to detect gem energy signatures. It is why I came here; I detected this vessels operational power core and your life sign. I assumed this was Smokey’s landing site. There are additional locations that can be searched” Azezulite stood up and began to walk out of the room, when she was half way into the other room she looked back “I assume you are coming?”

Spessarite stood at attention “Yes Ma’am!” she replied and chased after Azezulite. Thinking about it, she wasn’t sure if she could pull rank on Azezulite. She wasn’t a deserter, just presumed dead, so in theory her military commission was still in effect, really the question would be, what diamond or quartz did she serve?

As they approached Azezulites ship hidden in a nearby forest clearing Spessarite asked after having exhausted her mind trying to find some identifying mark of allegiance “So, what diamond do you serve?”

Azezulite opened the ships rear hatch and proceeded inside “None. My actions are dictated by home world’s central military command, which is itself overseen by multiple diamonds and quartz. However my former direct superior was Smokey Quartz”

Spessarite fallowed her in “So it’s personal” she stated as she took a seat in the navigators chair of the small ship

“No. I have no emotional attachment to the target or mission” Azezulite stated as she began flying the ship up.

“Right….” Spessarite said slowly, ‘Robot’ she thought to herself “So, how’d you do that thing you did when we fought?” she asked more out of boredom then anything else

“My specialty is Light manipulation. When I make physical contact with a gem’s hard-light body I can degenerate it, reducing the subject’s strength, speed, and endurance until they are no longer able to move, eventually resulting in the destabilization and loss of physical form.” Azezulite said as she looked over several monitors “Additionally, after making physical contact with a gem I gain the ability to create copies of that gem’s weapons” Azezulite turned to face Spessarite “And what of your unique ability’s?”

Spessarite smirked cockily “Polarity. I touch a gem’s body, and my swords drawn to where ever I touch; I touch their weapon, and it’s repelled from my body. Not so much that I can’t be hit, but couple it with my own skill, and it leads others to think I’m even more gifted at combat then I already am” the pride in her voice was almost impossible to miss.

Azezulite nodded “I believe I may have located Smokey Quartz’s ship. There is a chance she will still be onboard.” As she spoke Azezulite’s hands moved from one interface to another making course adjustments, and refining her scans “given the energy signature it is likely buried in a cave network under this beach”

“Huh. So, what’s the plan? Sneak attack? Or overwhelming force?”

Azezulite shook her head “unless she is reasonably confident she can win, Smokey Quartz will retreat. Our best option is to disable or booby-trap her ship, force her to withdraw to it, and then trap her. Are you capable of fusion?”

Spessarite nodded “I can fuse. But if it’s just one gem, who’s good at running, were probably going to be better having numbers on our side”

Azezulite nodded “agreed. Fusion would limit our ability to heard, or trap Smokey”

Azezulite carefully took the ship down further inland on the tropical island before landing. After which she began a short range scan “The ship appears to still be present….. Interesting, there is a gem teleporter on this island. If we are fortunate Smokey has already used it and is unaware of our approach.”

After a forty minute hike Azezulite and Spessarite reached the gem teleporter, Azezulite then took a small disk from her belt and discreetly buried it beside the teleporter “It’s a simple energy detector, if the teleport activates this will alert us”. Spessarite had to smile as she nodded. Azezulite might not have much of a personality, but she didn’t miss a trick.

It took another twenty minutes for them to reach the shoreline, from behind the tree’s they were able to see a lone gem sitting on the beach holding her legs as she watched the waves. Her flesh was as black as obsidian, but her head and cloths appeared to be made of fire, her feet were a bright almost white shade of yellow, tapering off to a deep crimson around her knees, but just above the joints until her stomach the flames burned from subdued scarlet back to sunlight yellow, her garment seemed torn revealing her midriff and the left half of her back , both arms were uncovered. Upon her head was a mane wild dancing flames that spiked up and hung down around her face, her eyes glowing orange she wore a solemn expression on her face, entirely oblivious to her guests.

Azezulite noted the gems appearance “Are you familiar with this gem?”

Spessarite nodded and in a derisive tone told Azezulite “Yeah, that’s Sunstone, Mommy Yellows ‘precious little sun’ she’s a..”

“Living weapon. Currently unique in the empire. All attempts at recreating the properties of her living flame have failed, often resulting in either the destruction of the entire kindergarten, or the malformation of the gem in question. As a result of the experiments to re-create her there has been an increase in the population of rubies, as well as the creation of the many fire type gems. Yellow Diamond has issued a priority order that she be taken alive at all costs” Azezulite interrupted

Spess shook her head “that’s not going to be easy you know, what with the whole ‘living weapon’ thing”

Azezulite looked at Spessarite “Will she listen to you?”

Spessarite worked hard not to laugh at that question “pfft, hells no. she can’t stand me. I’m ‘impure’ and ‘evil’” she said making air quotes around the words

“Wait here then” Azezulite ordered as she walked out to the beach behind sunstone “Greetings Sunstone. My name is Azezulite” as she spoke Sunstone leapt up in surprise having not even noticed the approach of another gem, her foot hissed and steam rose from the ground as she made contact with wet sand

“What do you want!? How’d you even get here?” she half shouted

“I came by way of starship. I detected your life sign from orbit and came to offer you safe passage back home” Azezulite stated in the same tone one used to say that the sky was blue

“Home?” Sunstone asked incredulously

“Yes. Your mother misses you very much. She is very worried about your safety.” Azezulite assured her

Sunstone would admit, she was young, she was sheltered, she was naïve, and she was a bit gullible at times. But she knew her ‘mother’. If Yellow Diamond REALLY wanted her back, she’d have come in person and brought half an armada for their ‘protection’. “I don’t believe you” she said nervously, her back to the ocean.

Azezulite took a step forward further backing Sunstone into what amounted to a brick wall, slowly, calmly and in a gentle and reassuring manner Azezulite reached out a hand for Sunstone “I mean you no harm. I am Black Azezulite, were related to Quartz, I was a caretaker for newborn gems. I understand you must be frightened.” She said in an all too calm voice, eyes wide and soft. Sunstone wanted to get away but she couldn’t back up any further, as Azezulite’s hand took hold of Sunstones forearm Azezulite screamed in agony and instantly let go of Sunstone, her eyes looking down at her burned hand.

Spessarite then came charging out of the tree line her sword already drawn “Damn it Az what part of living weapon didn’t you get!? Don’t Touch The Living Weapon!” she yelled.

Sunstone took this moment to get away from the water running around Azezulite and further up the beach “I knew it! You’re just here to capture me aren’t you!?” As sunstone yelled at her attackers she ignited her hands and began throwing balls of fire at them

Azezulite and Spessarite both began dodging the incoming projectiles, Spessarite charging ever forward while Azezulite’s left forearm transformed into an arm cannon allowing her to return fire. Dark spheres flew through the air towards Sunstone, however before one could strike her she fired a concentrated beam of flame at the projectile, detonating it in mid aid. As she had not been expecting an explosive she was knocked off her feet by the concussive force, which bought Spessarite enough time to get in close enough to start using her sword.

Sunstone growled at Spessarite as she danced away from the swinging blade, several times Spessarite almost forced Sunstone to turn her back to Azezulite who had stopped firing her cannon now that Spessarite was close. Sunstone realized Azezulite probably couldn’t fire her weapon now, not unless she wanted to risk taking her back-up out. A smirk formed on her lips, not quite cruel, but certainly menacing as she divided her attention a bit, just enough to throw a few fire balls and a scorching ray of heat towards Azezulite. Knowing Spessarite she’d play the hero and go defend the non-fighter.

Sunstones attention back on Spessarite she grinned as gouts of flame burst from her hands to strike at Spess’s golden armor, slipping though her opened guard as she tried to nail down the elusive Sunstone. “Not going to rescue your new friend?” she chided the former general

“Don’t need to” she assured Sunstone who noticed the distinct lack of screaming her fireballs typically caused, which should have impacted by now. As she turned her eyes to spare a glance she saw why. Azezulite’s arm was coming down from an upward ark, and it had changed again. It was no longer a wide somewhat stubby looking armored barrel but a long and narrow cylinder. In the fraction of a second it took her to notice the absences of burning terrain and the changed arm cannon a beam of focused energy came flying at her, to which she responded on instinct, creating a towering wall of flame between her and the incoming attack. The moment’s distraction however was enough for Spessarite to gain enough ground to put Sunstone squarely within the reach of her blade.

Sunstone grimaced, she was getting sloppy. ‘Ok, quick review, nurse maid with a gun is out of the fight for now, but the fire wall won’t hold for long. Spessarite already has me within the reach of her sword, that’s a problem, she’s a swords master and a solider, but she’s not perfect; her sword skills are unparalleled, but she’s not as good in a straight up fist fight, and her great sword limits the actions she can take a bit’ her mind made up Sunstone closed the remaining distance so that she was within unarmed striking range, then delivered a strong punch to Spessarites gut, followed by a kick to her thighs and a palm strike to the jaw ‘this close and the swords no longer a problem. When the firewall dies the nursemaid won’t be able to take a shot without risking a hit on her partner.’ Sunstone did not pause or relent as she acted out her strategy, elbow striking Spessarite on the inside of her own elbow, a kick to the crotch, and a chop to the side of the head all before Spessarite could even finish dropping her sword.

Spessarite was quickly being put on the ropes, while being reminded that this is why Sunstone was considered a living weapon, each of her strikes was quick and, while not as powerful as they could be, were engulfed in flame. She dropped her sword as she felt her elbow be smashed form the inside, the chop to the side of her head disoriented her, the blow to the crotch didn’t do much damage beside simply hurting like all hell, Sunny probably forgot that gems aren’t like humans, no organs or genitalia. As she moved to drop her own arms into a martial arts stance and counter strike Sunstone span around her and drove her elbow into Spessarite’s spine, almost immediately afterwards her arm rotated back to deliver a back handed punch to the back of Spessarite’s head, she felt her feet be swept from under her only for her fall to be broken by an eruption of fire that stood her back up for an extension of the already brutal beat down she was receiving.

‘Keep it up. No mercy. Don’t give your enemy an opening. Each strike must maim, kill, cripple, or wound your enemy’ Sunstone heard the voice of Yellow Diamond in her head as she fought. She hated her. But she was right ‘Remember my precious Little Sun, it’s a dangerous world, and your fellow gems will fear you because of your gifts. You must always be ready to defend yourself’ the voice finished. Sunstone had heard it so many times in her life that the recitation was like breathing. It was just a part of the fight. Spessarite on the outer hand was grunting as she forced her arms to start blocking, for all the good it did, each fire charged strike might as well have hit its intended mark for the amount of damage they did.

As Sunstone continued to pummel her target a slightly sadistic smile began to form out of habit. On an intellectual level she hated fighting, but her body, her body craved it like a drug at times. ‘Break them’ she heard a voice that was so similar to her own whisper seductively ‘they deserve to be shattered’ it said. Before she could lose herself in the rather one sided fight a beam of light struck her in the side while she was in the middle of a kick ruining her balance and sending her tumbling. The disorientation was annoying but it was enough to get her grounded in the present again. Shaking off the berserker rage and blood lust she was building she saw Black Azezulite walking through the flames towards Spessarite, firing beam after beam at Sunstone. Each shot was a miss, meant to force her to back up, normally she’d charge but right now, she needed the space to cool her head before she did something Lapis might not forgive her for.

Azezulite extended a hand towards the battered Spessarite “Her combat prowess exceeds my worst case calculations. Are you still capable of fusion?”

Spess took the proffered hand “you still wanna fucking fight the bitch?” she grunted in shock between heavy pants to regain her breath

Azezulite shook her head “No. however I doubt she will allow us to retreat”

Spessarite looked back to Sunstone, she was almost completely blinded by rage, she wasn’t going to just let them go “not like we have a choice in the matter” she lamented “Fine” she took up a slightly more formal stance as she held Azezulites hand at a distance before pulling her close and beginning to lead into a waltz. Azezulite fallowed Spessarite’s lead at first, step, step, turn, step, pivot, and finally Spessarite Dipped Azezulite, at this point Azezulite took over the dance entirely, she turned and twisted around Spessarite’s body, holding onto Spesseraite’s right hand the entire time as she rotated around her, slid be nether her legs, grabbed hold of Spessarite by the torso and lifted herself up, locking legs around Spessarites waist Azezulite bent backward until her head nearly hit the ground. Spessarite was familiar with a lot of dance styles but she’d never seen one like this, it felt passionate, full of life and energy, she could not help but feel Azezulites power crash against her like a wave against a cliff face, as she contemplated how to complement this style of dance with her own both their body’s transformed into light and began to merge.

At first a giant woman of light appeared, her hair was long waving tendrils of light as she toward over Sunstone, but quickly the body shrank down until it was only one and a half times her own size, still larger than any single gem but rather small for a fusion. It’s two arms split into four, and as the physical features began to resolve its body was covered in a black suit, it’s face a pale white, as its eyes opened its body exploded with light a second time before any more of the features could be resolved, this secondary explosion covered the fusion in smooth segmented and interlocking plates. The armor on the legs and arms left only the joints exposed at first, before a tightly woven mesh of tiny hexagonal plates covered the exposed joints. The hands were covered in tight gauntlets ending in sharp talons, the feet in thickly armored greaves, the chest in interlocked plates that bent and twisted with the body far lighter and more futuristic then the medieval inspired armor of Spessarite. Finally a helmet covered it’s head, the helm was small, closer in size to a head then most helmet’s, but smooth and almost featureless as it bent around the skull, a narrow angular visor covered the still closed eyes while a mouth guard of sharp geometric plates formed beneath it. As the light of fusion dimmed and the features resolved vents were visible on the mouth guard, along the back, the calves, and the forearms. In all the fusion looked almost mechanical, a modern warrior cloaked in the most advanced power armor imaginable. The two lower arms spread apart as each formed one of Azezulites cannons, the left arm became the wider and somewhat shorter cannon, while the right arm transformed into the longer slender cannon. The two upper arms clapped themselves together and drew forth Spessarites great sword, before throwing it into the air and drawing forth a second to be held by the left arm, the right arm catching the falling sword as it returned.

The fusion then slammed the swords down into the lower arm cannons which in turn transformed. The left arm cannon grew in girth as the sword split in two and slid back, the two blade half’s becoming shorter and wider, each almost half the length they had been before but were now twice the width, then the armor plates rearranged on the arm cannon forming a pseudo bucker. The right arm cannon also grew in size, extending it’s barrel as it’s great sword also split in two, the blades became longer and narrower, each side lost the edge along it’s inside track becoming slightly curved tracks that matched perfectly the curvature of the inside cannon, the cannon itself extended backwards creating a jutting protrusion from the elbow that looked like an enhanced power pack for the weapon, the top side of the arm then opened up as six small cylinders popped out in pairs. The top arms then reached down to the lower one’s, the inside of the arm cannons opened up as the hands approached, each one sliding in and taking hold of a bar, the fingers sliding into a set of rings held in place by wires, as the hands flexed and tightened into fists the armor plates closed around the hands holding them in place so the weapon arms could not be easily released in a fight. The right arm came to life as lighting raced up and down the split blade arcing between the two sides while the right arm glowed before a beam of light shot forth, lighting circling the beam briefly before it took the shape of a large sword. As the giants visor lit up, hair exploded out the back of the helmet, a rich platinum blond that contrasted beautifully with the polished black metal of the armor and shadow like body suit. “Hematite: Online. Ready For Combat Operations. Target: Sunstone. Objective: Capture” it said in an all too flat tone that bore no emotions.

Inside the fusion Spessarite found herself at a loss. This was by no means a normal fusion she realized, to start with, her mind seemed…. Separate, and not altogether here. She could feel that parts of her were in fact part of Hematite now, her obedience, her loyalty, her training, her skill, her knowledge of tactics and strategy, but all the pieces that made Spessarite who she was, seemed to have been discarded, leaving her mind mostly intact and free to wonder the shared mindscape she and Black Azezulite had created. In all the fusions Spessarite had been a part of this had, honestly, never happened before, even when she fused with those she did not particularly get along with. Looking around she found herself stripped of her armor, and surrounded by a mostly empty flat plane, the ground seemed to be made from polished black marble tiles, the sky was bleak and empty, and the only two features she could see were a tall citadel, perfectly cylindrical, no windows or doors, the top of it lit with orange light surrounded by a dark miasma. ‘That must be where Azezulite and the rest of me is’ she said to herself. The other feature was an endless desert of white sand in the opposite direction. Pulled by her curiosity Spessarite wandered into the desert, which felt strange for a desert, it was clearly night here, but the desert wasn’t cold, nor was it scorching hot like the memory of a desert should have been. The sand was strange to, it wasn’t all fine particulate there were odd flecks of rock, like the shavings from a fine stone carving.

Outside the mindscape Sunstone gulped. She’d seen a good number of fusions in the past, but this was the first time she saw what she could only describe as a true combat fusion, Hematite was nothing but armor and weapons, and as confidant as Sunstone was in her ability to defeat a fusion, she was a little concerned that this one might be out of her league. Then again, Sunstone smirked as she thought to herself, they were talking less like a bombastic fusion and more like a robot, so it might not have been a perfect fusion, and they put in all that work to, it’d be a shame not to at least try and tear it down.

Sunstone charged almost recklessly at Hematite, who stood motionless before her, Sunstone ignited her arms as she swung her right fist hard enough to spin herself in the air, and to her surprise Hematite dodged her, she hadn’t even noticed the fusion move. Before Sunstone knew it the fusion’s large energy blade was coming up to greet her, shooting fire from her arms she pushed herself out of the way only for the blade to still graze her, with an almost rocket assisted move Sunstone threw herself back and out of melee range as she appraised Hematite. She had all of Spessarites skill, and then some, she was armored, she was strong, and she was unbelievably fast. It’d been a while since she had a fight she’d consider an actual challenge and the thought both excited and disturbed her ‘sorry Lapis, but I don’t think I can run from this one’ Sunstone thought to herself before she began raining fire down on Hematite who took evasive action, jumping around the beach with precise bursts of sudden movement that ended far to abruptly.

Spessarite wandered further and further into the desert, the smaller the tower became the more she saw. The desert was far from empty, there were ruins all around her, crumbled buildings, statues, busts, frescos, and even portraits. But everything was destroyed, the paintings had all been slashed and torn, the frescos had been shattered, the busts broken, and the statues lay in pieces. Looking at them though, Spessarite could tell they were important, there were scenes of gems, statues of gems, none of them resembled Black Azezulite, which Spess found somewhat reassuring, it meant the gem wasn’t a narcissist she supposed. Each time she approached one of the ruined monuments she felt something. In most cases an overwhelming sorrow, in others heart ache, and in a few instances blinding unadulterated rage. It was confusing, she knew the emotions weren’t hers, but she couldn’t imagine Azezulite feeling anything even half as intensely as the feelings she got when she approached the fallen statues and torn paintings. Looking around Spessarite noticed the broken remains of what was once a castle. Still somewhat in a daze she gravitated towards the castle drawn by something she could not name

Years of training flooded Sunstones mind. A fusion was a harmonic amplification of its component gems natural and innate ability’s, as well as their skills and personality traits. Under ideal circumstances that power boost was almost an exponential growth from what the gems were as individuals, but there were still limits; to start with, the fusion wouldn’t know anything the components didn’t know, it’s powers would be limited to the individual, and combined powers of its components, there would be no ‘new’ powers, just new uses’ of those powers. And Sunstone knew for a fact, neither Spessarite, nor this Black Azezulite were this fast, or that strong. Which meant that Hematite had a trick, there was an underlying principle to her apparently far superior power. Keeping her distance she went over her options as she watched Hematite. ‘Watch your enemy. Learn from them. The only way to destroy them is to know them better then they know themselves’ Yellow’s words again filled Sunstones mind, she hated that voice but it was right….

While the ruined city outside was unsettling, the castle was in many ways worse for Spessarite as it was disturbingly intact. Whatever had rampaged outside had not done so in here, or at least not to the same extent. There were statues of gems standing still their visages unmarred, there were paintings hanging on the walls, and beautiful stain glass windows from which rainbows of light filtered in, but all around these things were savage claw marks as if whatever had ruined the outside city had wanted to lay even greater waste to this place but was unable to harm anything of value. Most of the gems that were memorialized here were unfamiliar to Spessarite, most. But not all, two stood out, the first, a statue of Yellow Diamond. She was standing her hand to one side and a familiar calm expression on her face as she remained froze mid lecture. On the same side of the wall were a few other gems that Spessarite recognized, all in different stances, some in combat poses, anger painted on their faces, others looked heart broken. The second statue of note standing on the opposite side of Yellows statue was Rose Quartz, her hands clasped together, tears running down her cheeks and mouth frozen open, she was clearly giving one of her impassioned speeches. Surrounding Rose were other gems, most of whom Spessarite honestly had never seen or even heard of. Their poses mirrored or reflected those of the gems on yellows side, and carefully examining the statues and the stain glass windows above them Spessarite came to the conclusion that most of them were quartzes or diamonds. It made her wonder who Azezulite was that she had memories of this many Quartz and Diamonds.

Sunstone had learned the pattern, and the tells of Hematite’s attacks, and gotten an idea of the fusions ability’s. She wasn’t fast, she was propelling herself, and she could only do it twice in a row, then she always spent a few seconds recharging. Close combat was also out, Sunstone didn’t want to believe it but, Spessarite must have always been holding back before because even now, she still couldn’t land a single blow, Hemiaite always evaded it. As much as Sunstone wanted to avoid ranged combat she didn’t have much of a choice, ‘time to find out what that damn cannon dose’ she lamented as she put enough space between herself and Hemitie to start bombarding her with fireballs.

“Target has entered firing range. Weapon lock established. MA-AC firing safety’s released.” Hematite said in a cold monotone as she levelled her gun arm at Sunstone, tracking her movements as electricity danced between the two blade halves, after a second or so a beam of light appeared and then disappeared a faint line joined the cannon to the hole that had been made in the rocks behind Sunstone “Adjusting targeting protocols”

Sunstone grimaced. She remembered seeing a weapon like that once before but she couldn’t remember what it was or how it worked, something told her though that it was the secret to figuring out how to beat Hematite.

Further into the castle Spessarite found herself in what must have been the throne room, and while the rest of the castle was spared the destruction of outside this chamber had not fared so well, the walls were shattered, the stones simply hovering in place, the roof was torn open, glass littered the floor, and in the center of it all was a gem clutching her head with her left hand, and her heart and gemstone with her right, a look of absolute agony covered her features as she was encased in clear crystal that seemed to explode from around her body and had grown to tear apart the room, shattering the floor, climbing the walls, and running everything it touched. In many ways the clear crystal looked like someone had magically frozen a fire, it was chaotic, disjointed, and seemed to be uncontrolled. Spessarite approached, hand out stretched, upon contact with the frozen flames her mind was flooded with things. Hatred was foremost. Hatred for everyone, Rose for starting the war, Yellow for not negotiating, the gems on both sides for fighting. Rage was next, it was intense so intense it actually burned Spessarites mind, she had never honestly felt anger like this, anger without direction or focus just anger at the entire universe for letting the war happen and everyone involved in it. Anger at those that fought for fighting, anger at those that didn’t for refusing to try and end the war. Anger at herself for taking up a side at all. That last bit was off, no, it was Azezulites anger. Spessarites eyes widened at the realization, and she tried to remove her hand to be free of the alien emotions but found the frozen flames now held her and she was flooded with more feelings that were not her own. Feelings of sorrow and regret so great they brought Spessarite to her knees, the guilt over killing so many gems, over being unable to save others, over the death of entire worlds to make gems, and that those gems were now dying. Spessarite screamed as she tried to free herself

After avoiding far more shots then she’d have liked Sunstone smirked. She figured it out now “Magnetic Acceleration Cannon” she said hottily “That’s your secret isn’t it? You aren’t really avoiding me, your repelling me somehow, and those powers of yours, they take a lot out of you right? It’s why you aren’t blitzing all over the beach, and why you only fire that cannon every few seconds. If you were capable of rapid fire and rapid movement? I’d be poofed by now.” She smiled deviously at her opponent as a battle plan formed in her mind “I’m right aren’t I?”

“Analysis: Accurate. Conclusion: Irrelevant” Hematite responded as it fired another blast at Sunstone then charged, her sword already in a down swing, her speed augmented by her powers. Sunstone dodged the particle blade, threw a fire ball and jumped to Hematite’s back side where she landed her first real kick.

“Big mistake.” Hematite had confirmed everything Sunstone needed to know. Her powers were limited, the field that kept Sunstone from hitting her, the ability to dash around, and the power of her cannon. It was all the same power, and it took her several seconds to recharge that power after she ran dry. Sunstone fired out giant gouts of flame from her hands as she flew backwards from her own attack. “Three rounds, that’s your charge capacity, you can divide it up however you want, but after any three moves that use those powers of yours you need to stop and recharge” she threw a fire ball which curved away from Hematite’s side as the fusion turned towards her “and it takes you five seconds to recharge.” Sunstone nodded; now that she knew her enemy’s secrets this fight was as good as hers, fusion or no.

Finally Spessarite had broken free, she had cracked the crystal flames that held her and, some fragments remained in her hand, their emotions far more muted, but a new feeling was within them. Regret over what she had become. Spessarites mind cleared now, she felt her focus returning, she wasn’t in the haze she was when she had first fused with Black Azezulite, it let her look at this place with a more clinical eye. Black Azezulite was the gem she knew, but looking at the woman frozen in emotional anguish she understood what had happened now. The gem that Azezulite was could not cope with the grief and turmoil of war. She was a kind heart who hated seeing gems fight, and she found herself smack dab in a civil war with no choice but to take a side. It tore her apart. So she must have done the only thing she could think of, she tore out her own heart hoping it would make things easier, and now? She was a prisoner inside her own mind unable to even voice her objections as she did what was logical without thought to the moral considerations. Spessarite turned and faced towards the tower she knew was beyond these walls and in the distance. It was time to end this.

Sunstone lay on the ground a bit shocked. She was wrong. Well no, she wasn’t ‘wrong’ Hematite had simply not displayed the full range of her ability’s. The charge was the same, there was a maximum power output, and there was a five second recharge each time her reserves ran dry, five seconds that Sunstone absolutely abused the hell out of each time they arrived. No the problem was, Hematite could break her power down into much finer increments, and she didn’t have to dodge or block every attack with her powers, which had let her drag out the time between charge cycles by a lot, enough to let her get more than a few good hits in on Sunstone now that she had let herself get cocky. She needed a new plan. And that’s when a new voice seemed to pop into her head. Voices in one’s head were always a bad sign, especially new voices. But Sunstone smirked, this one had good ideas. Better then Yellow’s advice.

Spessarite traveled the desert, seeing everything in a new light now, each broken building, ruined state, mural, fresco, bust, and painting filling her with more resolve. Azezulite had hurt herself, badly, and she needed help, but she was buried so deeply under layers and layers of cold calculation that no one could even hear her crying out, but now? Spessarite couldn’t get that voice out of her head; she could hear her crying, mourning, the grief, and pain. She wasn’t a warm gem, she was a soldier. But more than that, she had become a knight, and a knight did not leave someone to their suffering, not when they were pleading for help and no one else could hear them. She could see the tower now, it was shining brighter than before, Spessarite had no idea what was going on out there, but she didn’t care, in fact she hopped that Sunstone was holding her own, she needed this fusion to last as long as possible, because she still needed to figure out how to stop Black Azezulite and free her alabaster counterpart.

Sunstone fallowed the voice’s instructions precisely, she threw fireballs not at Hemitite but at everything else around her, forcing her to dodge until her power was drained, then she came down on her like a freight train, laying into her until that shield regenerated, at which point Sunstone fell back. She then moved onto the next part of the voices strategy, the beach was being torn apart, and all those fire balls had cooked the sand rather nicely, standing in place a good distance away she waited for Hematite to line her up and fire that beautiful wonderful cannon of hers. ‘That’s right bitch. Dance like a puppet on strings’ she thought as she evaded the cannon shot just before it fired. As the projectile missed the ground now made of glass shattered, Sunstone gathered up the shards in her arms before running. As Hematite waited Sunstone stopped at intervals, where again she dodges and collected the largest shards, more than enough for phase two.

Spessarite finally reached the tower; it was a black obelisk with golden glyphs decorating it, numbers, words. A twisted version of her own chivalric code she realized mixed in with some kind of machine language. Cold and calculating without emotion or morality. Spessarite began climbing the stairs one at a time, her armor slowly fading back into existence around her, a giant claymore across her back as her features darkened. She still had no idea how to really save the white Azezulite she’d seen, killing Black Azezulite might make things worse, or it might do nothing, she’d never been in a fusion like this before, the rules were different. When she finally reached the top of the tower she saw a clone of herself in full battle armor waiting, the clones armor was different, a coppery bronze rather than gold, and no emotion on her face, behind Spessarites doppelganger Black Azezulite’s hands were merged into a console a view screen in front of her that displayed the fight. Spessarite pointed her sword at clone “stand aside” she ordered it. The clone responded “You are violating your orders. Return to the waiting area and stand by or you will be forcibly removed” Spessarite smirked, she’d never fought herself before, this should be interesting.

Charging at her clone without warning their blades met, followed by a kick to her groin. She smirked; she had armor there this time. Forcing their blades against each other it was obvious that both Spessarite and her clone were perfectly matched for strength, the clone didn’t care about honor in a duel though, it kept using sucker punches forcing Spessarite on the defensive. Smiling she realized what this was. Her without emotion. Nothing but cold hard logic, detached from even morality. All her clone cared about was victory at any cost. Well now that was a weakness she could exploit. Letting herself be pushed back she began losing ground intentionally. She someone as driven as her without her fear or her honor to hold her back was a terrifying foe Spessarite had to admit, but the clone didn’t have her instincts either, otherwise she’d have that feeling in the pit of her stomach that said she was being lead into a trap. As Spessarite neared the edge of the tower she began fighting back in earnest, pushing far harder then she normally would, she was making wider swings, and she was filling those voids with her fists so that there was no opening. There wasn’t going to be any honor in this fight, but there sure as hell would be honor in the deed she reminded herself. The clone acted exactly as Spessarite knew it would, it did everything it could to win, and when it found a good opening it took a giant step forward and swung it’s blade as hard as it could, if it connected Spessarite would be done for, so she stepped back and fell, her hand grabbing the tower ledge just in time while her doppelgänger was carried forward by her excess momentum, and went flying off the tower. Spessarite smirked. She had just beaten the closest thing she was likely to find to her evil double.

Turning up the heat in her feet Sunstone rocketed into the air. She couldn’t really fly, she didn’t have that level of control, but what she could do was jump REALLY high and burn her feet like rockets for a few seconds, it wasn’t hovering so much as slowing her decent, once up there she super-heated the larger glass shards until they began to liquefy then lopped them down, the air resistance and gravity shaping them into decent projectiles that splattered around Hematite’s joints before cooling and hardening. The smaller pieces she simply fused together into larger ones’ the pointed ends preserved as she threw them down at her target like daggers. Hematite just stood there her knees and ankles trapped in glass. She could break those bonds easily enough, but not in time to avoid the rain of glass daggers. Raising her arms up Hematite shielded herself as the falling projectiles dented her armor and cut at her joints. The voice was right. Hematite’s shield couldn’t block non-gem powered physical attacks like this.

Hematite lowered her head as the glass rained down on her. “Probability of victory: 48.85% and dropping. Subject exhibiting unusual clarity and tactical insight. Retreating” she announced in her usual robotic voice before breaking the glass around her legs and preforming three powerful dashes away from sunstone and into the forest.

As Sunstone landed she breathed a sigh of relief before falling to her ass and catching her breath “Okay new voice in my head. Good plan. Let’s celebrate by not doing that again any time soon.” After several seconds of contemplating Sunstone spoke outload “Dose the fact that I just complemented a voice in my head for a battle plan mean I am crazy or a genius?”

That same new refined voice called out to her from a place defiantly not in her head “Only if you start naming them and carrying on deep philosophical conversations with them child, otherwise we call it eccentricity” Sunstone turned her head to see a tall woman in a long grey trench coat and matching fedora tipped forward to obscure part of her face as she leaned against the rocks. The strange woman had pale almost ivory skin and waist long jet black hair “Of course I will take the complement” she smirked with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

“Who the hell are you?” sunstone asked more surprised to know she wasn’t going crazy then to find a woman standing on the beach.

“Good question. That’s for you to decide. But I think we can both assume I am an ally, at least for now” she replied in a somewhat sarcastic voice

Sunstone grumbled “Fine. What’s your Name?”

“Smokey Quartz. What do you think of Yellow Diamond?” she asked immediately

“She’s an evil, manipulative deceitful monster”

Smokey raised her head and looked at Sunstone with a level of focus and intensity sunstone had only seen from Yellow herself when someone was treading on very thin ice. “I’ll give you two out of the four as facts; care to give me reasons for the other two?”

Sunstone blinked this gem was a Quartz and she was agreeing in part with her thoughts on Yellow but disagreeing with her as well…. Oh gods damn it, she wanted a life story. Sunstone grumbled, she already knew she wasn’t going to like this gem. “You want my life story? Shouldn’t you go first?”

Smokey had a playful expression on her face for a moment as she pretended to ponder the question “Normally you’d be right, proper decorum would dictate I go first. But I just saved your life today so you go first. If I like your story I’ll share mine” she finished with an all to cheerful smile.

Sunstone groaned “fine. Yellow practically raised me, brainwashed me into thinking everyone was evil, lied to me constantly, trained me to be nothing but a weapon, kidnapped Lapis and held her hostage so I’d do what she said. Oh and let’s not forget the whole wanting to wipe out humanity thing” She waved her hands not feeling like going into detail about her past too much, her explanation delivered in a more annoyed tone then anything, clearly she’d had to give this story more times then she could count. “So yeah, I’d say she’s pretty fucking evil and monstrous, defiantly a liar, and all around a terrible person”

Smokey shook her head “Fuck I hate children” she swore under her breath “look, kid,, you’re a good kid, and I like you, but you clearly have mommy issues, and honestly? I don’t have time to teach you about complex ethical considerations, or how to understand some one else’s motives or internal reasoning. So I’ll cut to the chase” she looked Sunstone in the eyes “there are very few gems that hate Yellow more than me right now. But one word I can’t use to describe her is evil because she’s not. I’m not sure if you actually fought in the war, I get the feeling you didn’t. And your clearly young, so. Civil War. There are no Good Guys or Bad Guys in a civil war. Yellow’s motives are simple, straight forward, and, much as I dislike admitting it, she HAS a lot of valid points.

Sunstones temper flared at someone defending that monster “Like what!? What could justify her threatening to kill an innocent gem if I didn’t fall in line!?”

Smokey’s face was a controlled mask, but if Sunstone had known her she’d have recognized the look of shock on her face “The preservation of an entire species that’s what kid. You wanna know more I suggest you go and ask an adult who has the time to spare to explain to you both sides of this war, because there’s no way I am dragging someone into this conflict again, especially not a kid” Smokey then bowed to Sunstone “I’m sorry I thought you were older and more informed. I won’t drag you into this, so try and stay out of trouble Little Sun” with those words the grey clothed gem turned into a cloud and blew away leaving Sunstone alone on the beach

“I am not a kid!” she screamed at the sky “And I am no one’s Little Sun!” damn she hated gems like that.

After reaching the ship Hematite had separated back into Spessarite and Black Azezulite. Black simply walked into her ship calmly as if nothing had happened, while Spessarite fallowed her, a grim look on her face. She understood why Black acted like nothing mattered now. She wasn’t feeling any of it, that other Azezulite though? She had to deal with Black’s feelings of defeat in addition to whatever she thought of that fight. She wasn’t sure how but she was going to find a way to set this right, and she didn’t intend to leave Azezulite until she figured it out. No she’d be her moral compass, she’d be as pig headed and obstinate as it took to keep her from making more things for that other Azezulite to feel terrible for. There’d be no more killing that was a certainty, and she’d have to hinder Azezulite’s plans and keep her on earth. She could already tell she was going to have to lose fights to win this war, it didn’t sit well with her as a knight, but as a general, she knew the value of enduring a strategic defeat in order to goad your enemy into revealing a weakness.

Azezulite calmly took the ship up and flew them back to Spessarites battle field, their new home base of sorts.