Steven Universe: A Bridge Too Far

Chapter 9: Homeworld Bound

Chapter 9: Homeworld Bound

Steven stares at the strange-looking gems that are slowly approaching him and Lars, feeling the shield remaining on his arm he protects himself and Lars. He glares at the gems, all different shapes, colours and sizes. Steven speaks defensively "Who are you all!? Stay back! Don't try and do anything that'd get yourselves hurt!"

The odd gems show fear when they hear that warning, taking some steps back and raising their hands to avoid conflict. One especially seems most terrified. They have slender and elegant build, with a primarily pink colour palette adorned with splashes of red. She has two pairs of eyes, one set belonging to Ruby and the other to Pearl "Please don't hurt us! We didn't do anything wrong!"

Someone that has two figures steps in front of the scared tall gem, holding their arms "Rhodonite! Calm down, please, they seem just as afraid. Let me try and talk to them" One of them is slender, conjoined twin Gems with short maroon hair and light red skin. One pair of legs and arms, but two torsos and heads. Their gemstone has a "Y" shape and is located on the stomach area, where their bodies connect "Please don't attack, we mean you no harm. We're called Rutile Twins" the left one says, she looks at her right counterpart who speaks as well "We've been down here for as long as we can remember, we just never seen you two before. And we never seen anyone just appear like that before."

Steven stares at her for a moment, slowly taking in her appearance. He becomes puzzled, she seems to be fused but something isn't right. She has Pearl's Gem and Ruby's "Wait...are you guys...fusions?"

Suddenly a massive fusion composed of six smaller Gems. She has a bulky, multi-segmented body with various shades of green, yellow, and orange. Fluorite has multiple eyes and pairs of arms, giving her a somewhat intimidating yet gentle presence. Her voice is slow, gentle and thoughtful "Yes, you are mostly correct."

The giant gem slowly approaches the two boys, Steven instinctively raises his shield out of fear. But the giant gem slowly steps and shows her palms, giving a warm smile to comfort Steven "Don't be alarmed, we mean you no harm. We are called Fluorite. You are like us, we're Off Colours. Gems like us aren't needed."

Steven quickly lowers his shield, looking at the fused gems. Pain spreads across his face, shaking his head with sadness "Aren't needed? No, I don't see anything wrong with you guys. You all look perfect in my eyes, I'm so sorry that I yelled...it's complicated."

Another gem slowly reveals themselves from behind a stone pillar, Steven notices they look similar to Sapphire but their appearance is a stark contrast. She has peachy-orange skin and long, wavy light orange hair covering what kind of eyes or an eye she has. She wears a peach-coloured outfit with a flowing skirt "I have a prediction! One...no, two individuals will appear before us from a powerful dark energy and badly injured from a conflict!"

"Uh...huh? Why is she saying something that happened already?"

The giant gem nods calmly "Padparadscha can only predict things that just happened."

"Rhodonite will shriek seeing the individuals come out from the dark portal."

The taller one called Rhodonite becomes flustered "when you put it like that...I apologise."

She looks at Steven closely "We are still curious, two don't seem like gems. We can tell by the red liquid coming from your back...and the front of your friend."

Steven gasps loudly while trying to protect himself and Lars. He doesn't take into account if Lars is still breathing, he quickly turns Lars around and lays the taller boy onto his back. Steven covers his mouth, seeing slash marks on the chest and a smaller one on his right eye. Lars' clothes are torn to shreds, some blood stained his shirt and some drips from the scar on the eye.
The half-gem slowly touches Lars' chest, wondering if he is truly gone...all because Steven went through a stupid decision "L-Lars...n-no..."