Get ready for more raw emotion and even more tears. If you thought the last excerpt was heartwarming, you're gonna hate the catalyst to those events.
Excerpt from the Chapter: "Malachite Melancholy" (not yet released), from Onyx's story.
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What does she mean by that..?
Jasper gave Emerald a firm salute as she walked Onyx back to the containment cell holding Lapis. She carelessly tossed the prisoner back in, punching the wall in anger.
"If the Commander didn't think you were so valuable, I'd have you shattered too, you little runt..." the Quartz Soldier growled.
Onyx crossed her arms, "In my defense, you were the one who threw an innocent Gem in space jail."
Jasper eyeballed the two prisoners in the cell, looking malevolently angry before she marched off after hearing an echoing serenade of vocals down the halls.
Lapis turned to Onyx with a desperate look on her face, "Onyx, please..! Stop making her so angry. If you just do everything they ask, maybe they'll go easy on us..."
"No, Lapis!" Onyx protested, "They hurt you! They brought you back to the planet you hated with all your heart... What's worse, they're accusing you of treason just because you were trying to defend Steven, knowing he and Rose aren't the same person."
Lapis stared at her friend in shock. She hadn't seen a rare Gem, let alone a perfect cut Gem, be so empathetic to commoners the way Onyx was. She hugged her knees quietly, unsure of how to respond to Onyx's statement.
"Onyx..! Lapis..!" whispered a sudden new voice.
The two gems whirled around to face the destabilizing barrier, meeting eyes with a familiar human boy, "Steven..!"
"How did you get past the forcefield..?!" Lapis asked.
"I can show you!" he replied, reaching his hand for the barrier.
"Wait, Steven!" Onyx paused him, shaking her head, "Forget , just go find Garnet and the others..."
"But..-"
She gave Steven a fierce look that meant business, "Steven, Lapis and I will be fine... You're the only one who can by the destabilizers... The Gems need you more than we do."
After understanding Onyx's reasoning, Steven gave a firm nod, and ran over to go find Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl like she asked.
"... Why didn't you go with them..?" Lapis asked, looking over at Onyx.
"I couldn't just leave you behind." she replied, smiling.
Lapis frowned, "But you'll get yourself in big trouble for siding with a rebel..."
"A Rebel..?" Onyx shook her head again, "You're no rebel... Besides, what do I care if Homeworld punishes me...? Nothing they could do to me could be any worse than being forced to stay in the Palace with Gems who hate you for doing absolutely nothing to them."
Lapis' eyes shot wide open when Onyx blurted out the tale she had been waiting to hear. She clasped a hand over her mouth as she shockingly stuttered, "W-What..?"
Onyx looked away and sighed, "When I told you I understood the pain of having been trapped in a timeloop, I meant my life back on Homeworld. Before Earth, I spent my entire existence locked away in the confines of the Diamond Palace, where every corner I turned was another Gem who wished I had not existed at all."
Onyx's story shocked Lapis. Hearing about a Rare Gem..- no, THE rarest Gem cut known to Gemkind being treated like that was completely foreign to her.
"Why did they want you gone..?" she asked hesitantly.
"Beats me..." Onyx responded, rubbing her arms, "My only wish was to see the outside world. When I was abducted and taken to Earth, sure I was scared at first and completely terrified of the Crystal Gems, but I grew accustomed to it. I mean, Homeworld didn't even teach me anything about Gem Powers! I sounded like a complete idiot to my own Diamond..! A Gem not knowing her intended purpose or her own capabilities..?!"
Lapis suddenly felt sympathy for her cell mate. She scooted over so she could gently place her hand over Onyx's, clutching it tightly. Onyx smiled at this gesture, grateful for Lapis' company and comfort.
"If... If we ever get out of here alive," she began, "I promise I'll show you more of the galaxies."
Onyx beamed at her offer, "Really..?! You'd do that!?"
Lapis nodded, "It's... The least I could do... After you literally threw yourself at Jasper to protect me when my plan to protect you and Steven failed."
Onyx laughed nervously, "Yeah... Sorry about that, but we weren't going to just surrender to a bully."
Lapis smiled at Onyx, when suddenly the ship took a nosedive back in the opposite direction they had been flying for a few hours. The alarms began blaring wildly.
"What's happening..?!" Onyx shouted.
"I-I don't know..!" Lapis replied.
The giant hand-ship crashed onto the side of the cliff where the Temple was located. Upon colliding with the sandy beach, it exploded when the engines powering the ship became busted. Steven and the others successfully survived the blast via Steven's bubble, but they searched desperately for Onyx and Lapis.
Suddenly, a movement of the rubble caught the attention of Lion, who snarled a bit.
"Lion? Do you see something?" asked Steven.
When the boy followed his pet lion's line of sight, he turned just in time to watch Onyx push a chunk of the broken ship off of her body. Unfortunately, as relieved as Steven and the others were to see Onyx okay, she was still missing someone.
"Lapis..?!" she called out for her friend, "Lapis!! Where are you..?!"
Another chunk of rubble began to move, this one much stronger and more rumbly than Onyx. However, before she could get her hopes up, Jasper popped out of the crumbled ship like a daisy out of the ground. She fell down on one knee, looking exhausted.
"D-Don't think you've won..." she grunted out, glaring at Garnet, "You only beat me, 'cause you're a fusion!"
Onyx's eyes shot open, "What..?! Garnet's a..-?!"
"Later, Onyx!" she reminded her.
"If... If only I had someone to fuse with..-" just as Jasper spoke those awful words, a sudden movement from the third pile of rubble caught everyone's attention. Much to Onyx's dismay, the Gem that pushed herself out of the rubble this time was none other than Lapis.
Jasper grinned a wide, evil smirk as Lapis met her eyes and attempted to bolt it, but the Quartz Soldier caught her by the leg and slammed her back onto the ground. "Come here, brat!" she ordered, dragging Lapis over, "Aww, don't fly off so soon..."
"Get your hands off her!!" Onyx shouted, trying to lunge at Jasper so she could protect her friend, but Garnet held her back as she struggled fiercely, "Let me go! Garnet!!"
"Onyx..!" Lapis tried to reach out to her friend but was forced to look Jasper in the eyes, her heart racing with fear.
"Lapis, listen... Fuse with me!" Jasper exclaimed, making Lapis' eyes go wide.
"W-What..?!"
"How long have they kept you here on this miserable hunk of rock?!" asked Jasper, dropping Lapis on the floor, making Onyx even angrier and more aggressive.
"Onyx, stop!!" Pearl shouted desperately, now having to help Garnet to hold Onyx back from beating up Jasper single-handedly.
"She has Lapis!!" Onyx protested, "I can't just..-!"
"These gems... They're traitors to their Homeworld!" the Quartz continued, "They used you... They kept you prisoner here! This is the perfect chance to take your revenge!"
Lapis' eyes met with Onyx's, who shook her head and pleaded, "Don't listen to her, Lapis! It's a trap!"
Lapis stared at Onyx, then looked over at Steven. The only emotion expressed in her eyes was concern. All of a sudden, her expression changed into a fierce glare as the Crystal Gems watched her turn and hold out her hand to Jasper, whose grin bolded into a malicious smirk as she grabbed Lapis' arm again, dancing with her as both their gems began to glow.
"No..!!" shrieked Onyx.
Steven and the Crystal Gems watched in mortified silence as the two Gems began to fuse, growing giant centaur-like limbs. They were at least thrice the size of Opal, and maybe twice Sugilite's size. Their face consisted of four eyes, Jasper's gem for a nose, and a very malicious, toothy grin.
The Crystal Gems cowered under Malachite's fierce gaze as they cackled maniacally, raising one arm to bend the ocean water to their will and forming a giant water hand.
"Lapis, please don't..." Onyx begged, looking up at the green Gem fusion.
Without warning, Malachite's water hand grabbed them by the wrist they held up, morphing into a water chain as Malachite stared at their wrist in shock. More water chains locked themselves around Malachite's body, dragging the toxic fusion towards the ocean.
"What are you doing..?!" they roared, "I'm done being everyone's prisoner! Now you're MY prisoner... And I'm never letting you GO!"
Two water hands emerged from the ocean under Lapis' manipulation, grabbing Malachite's back legs and dragging them towards the water.
"Lapis!!" Onyx finally mustered the strength to forcefully push Garnet and Pearl off of her, trying to follow the unstable fusion as Jasper kept trying to escape the clutches of Lapis.
"No! You can't do this to me! I won't let you!"
"And I won't let you hurt Onyx and Steven!!"
Onyx felt tears forming in her eyes as she watched Lapis continue to drag a struggling Malachite towards the ocean, "Lapis, you can't do this!! You promised me we'd go see the Galaxies together!!"
Malachite looked over at Onyx with Lapis' soft, round, gentle eyes, smiling apologetically, "I'm sorry, Onyx... But I have to do this."
"You can't just lie to me like that!!" Onyx screamed.
"Onyx..." said Lapis through Malachite, looking her friend dead in the eyes, "Even if I haven't known you for very long.... You were the best person I ever got to know... On this crummy planet, and Homeworld..."
Onyx gasped and nearly choked on her tears as she watched Lapis use her full strength, dragging Malachite under the sea.
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*sob* Why... Why did this have to happen..? Because stories aren't stories without emotion, and with emotion comes conflict dammit!! TT~TT
If you liked this short excerpt, please share out. I'm about ready to abort.
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