Chapter 15: Stray Thoughts

There hadn't been any noise. She hadn't heard a single sound before that damn explosion erupted behind her. There had only been the soft splashes of the rain pelting her skin. And while she didn't feel the heat of the blast, 'cause she was a Gem and all that crap, she did feel the shockwaves from it slam right into her.

Into the center of her back.

Lapis screamed as her water wings dissolved, returning back into just drops of water that fell to the ground along with the rain. Pain rampaged throughout her body as she spun uncontrollably through the air. Her vision blurred for a moment as she fell down faster and faster, with each second getting closer to the ground. She knew she needed to hurry up and reform another pair of wings, but for some reason, she felt like she was forgetting something important—

She heard screaming. Very familiar screaming.

Her vision started to clear up, and when she looked where the screams were coming from, she saw vague shapes falling a hundred feet ahead of her—or below, technically. Once her vision fully returned, she could see what the shape was.

Stevonnie. Stevonnie, who was screaming so loudly that she could hear them even with the thunder rumbling in the sky. Stevonnie, whose eyes were wide with fear. Who was rapidly approaching the ground—

Her eyes widened.

Shit!

It only took her an instant to focus on the water around her. The hundreds of raindrops falling from the sky suddenly changed course; they shimmered through the air as they traveled right towards her back, and the moment she visualized her water wings inside her mind, she heard the drops of water swish and swirl. Feeling her water wings once again attached to her gemstone, she made them flutter twice, and then she rapidly flew towards Stevonnie. She felt the wind whipping through her hair as she flew faster by the moment, already almost halfway to Stevonnie—

There was a sound within the rain; a slicing sound that was slowly getting louder. And from the corner of her eye, she saw something. She turned her head to the right.

And she saw a long piece of wood spiraling right towards her.

She let out a small gasp as her wings stopped beating, coming to a quick stop in the air. The javelin-shaped wood just missed her, soaring just a few inches away from her face as it continued to fly up—.

The wood suddenly exploded.

There was no warning, no sound, just intense heat. She saw the wood get swallowed by fire, and the next thing she knew, all she could see was bright orange.

And then she felt another round of shockwaves ram into her body and send her flying back with a short scream. Her water wings once again dissolved as she fell through the air, head once again ringing as pain erupted within her body.

What the—she didn't see anything on that stick, how did it explode!? It was just wood, there had been nothing else there, so what was—!?

Stevonnie's screams broke through the ringing in her head, and she realized that they were only getting closer to the ground.

Shaking her head with a small growl, she pushed passed past her pain and once again focused. In less than a second, her water wings reformed, and with a few flaps, she got out of her freefall and was flying to the right towards Stevonnie.

But just behind Stevonnie, even more javelin-shaped pieces of wood flew past them and headed right towards her as rain spiraled off their bodies.

But this time, she was ready. Once again, she focused on all the water falling around her, pulling back her arm until it was right next to her head as she continued to descend. Hundreds of raindrops suddenly stopped in mid-air before they suddenly started to move again at triple the speed; they coalesced right above her head, keeping up with her own speed with ease as they took the shape she desired. And when every drop of deep-blue finished shimmering and combining, a giant water-fist quickly came into existence.

She threw her own fist forward. And the moment she did, her water-fist took off in an instant, burst of pressurized water from its rear propelling it forward at high-speeds and right towards the oncoming spears of wood. The wood didn't stand a chance as the moment her water-fist met the collection of projectiles, they were crushed into thousands of pieces.

But not even a second after effortlessly destroying the spears of wood, an explosion erupted within her water-fist. She saw the bright orange flames burn most of the water that made up her construct, steam erupting everywhere as she felt her water-fist losing its stability; she couldn't maintain its shape for even a second longer as it almost instantly turned into puddles of water that fell to the ground.

But she didn't stop to think about how the hell her water fist exploded when she still hadn't seen any type of bomb. She was only focused on Stevonnie, who was still screaming as they came dangerously close to hitting the ground. To the ground that would kill them on impact if they should hit it. Kill them—kill him just like—!

Her wings were flapping so hard she could hear the air snap, and she soared towards Stevonnie; she cleared the distance between them in just a few seconds, and once she was close enough, grabbed onto Stevonnie's shirt. And then, just as they were only a few away from the wet grass and mud, the beating of her wings sped up even further, and she was able to come to a stop inches away from the ground—the force from her wings causing intense gales to sweep through the forest.

Once she landed back down, she gently laid Stevonnie on the ground. They weren't screaming anymore, but it was obvious they were still in a lot of pain as she saw them whimper.

And she saw that the cracks on their pink gem looked bigger than before.

"Stevonnie, just hold on, okay? You're gonna be fine," Lapis said, trying her best to sound reassuring

Stevonnie didn't reply. They only clenched their eyes shut as their fingers dug into the wet mud beneath them. She wanted to do something, anything, to help them, but right now, she had other things to worry about.

Like finding the bastard that had tried to shoot her down and had killed her friend. The bastard that was still alive.

With narrowed eyes, she looked towards the canopy of trees. All she could see were shadows that hid so much of the forest from her sight, but she knew where those spears had come from. Somewhere in that forest, that bastard was watching them. He was planning to kill another one of her friends.

She felt the rage that consumed every inch of her expression.

She would only leave this forest when she was sure he was dead. She would make sure that this bastard would never harm anyone she cared about ever again. She would get vengeance for Peridot.

She clenched both of her hands into fists.

And she would make him pay.

The rain stopped.

A minute at most. That would be all it would take to end this bastard. After that, she would fly as fast as she could to the others, help those dumbasses deal with whatever the hell was going on in Steven's home, and then they could figure out some way to help Stevonnie.

Thousands of raindrops hung in the air; the only thing her eyes saw was reflective blue and her own enraged expression.

A minute.

In an instant, every single drop of water flew towards specific points in the air, converging and coalescing into the shapes she desired.

That was all the time she needed to finally put an end to her pain.

The raindrops had finally taken shape, and more water fell from the sky and pelted her skin.

But the only thing she focused on were the dozens of water-copies of herself floating in the air with wings just like her own. The copies of her that had translucent bodies made of constantly moving water. The ones that stood silently in the storm.

She only stared at the water-copies that had empty, lifeless eyes.

Thunder rumbled in the sky. And she spoke twos word to her copies; her voice was low, but every one of them could hear her command.

"Destroy him."

This...was unexpected. Though, if he were being honest, he was not as surprised as he should've been.

On one of the thicker trees in the forest and surrounded by leaves, Kira Yoshikage sat on top of a large branch wide enough to support his entire body. His back leaned against the bark of—what he assumed—was an oak tree as his eyes looked towards the clearing. And even though the clearing was hundred's of feet away, with Killer Queen's eyes, he could easily see it; even though the darkness of the forest that was made worse by the storm clouds above.

And as he watched as that water-woman made copies of herself—Lazuli, if he remembered right—his lips moved into a deep frown.

In total, this was the fifth time that he had someone right where he wanted them, was about to make them suffer from ever trying to intervene in his quiet life, only for someone to pull off a last-minute rescue just before he could make his move. He was starting to think fate had some kind of cruel sense of humor.

But then again, unlike the previous times, he was only in some danger, as opposed to the times when every single second was spent wondering if he could overcome whatever new obstacle lay before him.

With Killer Queen's pink sclera, he could easily make out the copies flying towards the forest, each one entering through a specific direction. Lazuli was looking for him. She didn't know where he was, but that could change very quickly. With so many copies searching for him, the branch wouldn't provide cover for long.

His head slowly moved to the right, gaze now locked onto Universe and Maheswaran's injured body. The downpour above him grew worse, clothes now completely drenched as he heard thunder rumbling in the sky.

Those two brats were beyond vulnerable. With just one more explosion, they would be out of the fight—Lazuli was either to dim or to enraged to think about taking them away from here. But then again, he could take them out at any time. Lazuli was the bigger threat right now, and he needed to take care of her quickly before she decided to try and drown him with an entire ocean's worth of water. So, how should he—

His head whipped to the side as he saw one of the copies heading towards him. In an instant, a purple aura surrounded him, and he was just about to have Killer Queen grab his shirt and jump away from the branch.

But there was no need to. The copy of Lazuli simply flew underneath the branch he sat on. And as he watched as that copy continued to go deeper and deeper into the forest, he slowly turned back towards the clearing where his house had once stood.

He had to hurry and make a decision. Let Me Live was out since it still had a job to complete, and he still needed to wait a bit longer until he could use Sheer Heart Attack again. It was the only drawback to his Second Bomb now had after its immense upgrade: once he called it back, he had to wait a certain amount of time before he could use it again; it was the same limitation that Let Me Live had.

Which meant he had to use some of his newer abilities.

He let out a short breath, and he could almost see the vapor leaving his mouth. It was that cold.

Obviously, the more extreme ones were out—there would be no need to waste them on this water-woman. But then which ones could he use from such a distance and could harm her enough to—

As he watched Lazuli and the two brats from the branch, he saw Lazuli turn around; most likely trying to see if she could spot him.

And he had a full view of her deep-blue, lapis lazuli gemstone. A gemstone that was somewhat covered in soot, but otherwise undamaged. Which was unsurprising, considering that he knew that only Killer Queen's primary explosions could do any physical damage to Gems and—

Wait.

He remembered a rather interesting tidbit Universe had told him once about Lazuli. As those words replayed in his mind, his eyes remained firmly locked on Lazuil's back.

And then, his lips curled into a small smile.

Fifth Bomb it was then.

This...could not be good.

Sardonyx had seen a lot in the thousands of years she existed. Certain things—most of which she had seen during the War—she could've gone without ever learning they existed. And, after seeing so many awful things in her life, she had gained...not quite future vision—she never could figure out how to get that ability to work right—but more like a voice. A voice that, in a gentle whisper, would tell her that something incredibly bad was about to happen, even if it didn't look like anything was wrong.

And staring at the sky of her inner-world, she could hear that voice as clear as day.

"...What?!"

She didn't turn to face Pearl as she shouted, but she knew that both Pearl and Garnet's heads were whirling in every direction. And why wouldn't they be? For all three of them, what they were seeing was something completely new.

Her inner-world—their world—had changed. The obvious thing was the color. There was no longer a hint of orange that covered the very area they stood on whenever they were in intense emotional distress. There was no blue sky or even darker blue tiles that made up what she affectionally called her "Mind Palace"; a place deep inside her where the very essence of what made up all of them existed.

There was only yellow. The same royal yellow that had shot out of Pearl's gemstone like a beam and had hit the sky. No matter where she looked, everything had been dyed in yellow, so much so that whatever surroundings they covered—like the buildings or the street—looked blurry. It was like staring at a Gem that was trying desperately to keep its body in existence as the colors did their best to keep up with the appearing and disappearing person, but only somewhat succeeding. That static-like distortions were almost exactly like how the yellow kept...flashing. At least, that was the best way she could describe how a color seemed to move. The yellow around her just...surged like tiny waves under her feet and jolted like electricity in the skies; every second there was just some kind of movement going on around her that almost made it seem like...

Like the color was alive.

She gripped her war hammer as tightly as she could.

This...something was going on. Something was happening within her own world, and she didn't have the slightest clue as to what. She knew that the bub she was fighting was responsible for this—who else could it be?—but didn't know how he was doing this. Of the thousands of Gems she had fought in her life, none of them could do...this. Whatever stuff Homeworld used to make this guy must've been seriously high quality—.

The yellow around her suddenly became a brighter shade.

And she felt something in the air.

He...he wasn't sure where he was exactly. He wasn't even sure where his body was. He was unable to breathe, but he didn't panic in the slightest. There was no sound around him, not even his own heartbeat, but he found the silence...comforting. And while he could see nothing, whatever this place was felt...safe.

And right now, feeling was the only thing he really could do. He felt the new world around him—because he had definitely entered a place so much more vibrant than his old one—with things that might've been senses if he had his body, but without one, the only way he could describe just how he was feeling anything was because that was how it was supposed to be.

Like...he had always been a part of this place. Like this place was his new home.

But...that wasn't right.

If he had eyes, he might've slowly blinked.

Because...

If he had a head, he would've shaken it from side to side.

Because his home...was far away. So far away. He didn't even know when he would be back. If he would be back. All because of one man.

Because of one killer.

He suddenly felt rage.

And...something else.

Sardonyx knew she wasn't the only one to feel the change. Below her feet, she saw Garnet and Pearl immediately go rigid, now frozen where they stood. Because like her, they felt it.

They all felt the strong breeze that suddenly appeared out of nowhere—and it didn't come from the storm, they knew that. Because this breeze seemed to carry something. Something that, while she couldn't see, she knew was quickly growing.

And as the breeze whipped passed her, wind echoing in her ears, her world once again changed.

The floor of yellow beneath her suddenly started to shimmer, glowing with far more intensity than just a second ago. She saw the sky rumbling as what looked like lightning sprung and raced throughout every yellow cloud.

And as every color around her came to life, the breeze grew even stronger.

He didn't know what exactly he felt. But amidst the rage within his...something, he felt another sensation.

It was like...light. But solid. Solid yet constantly moving. And the light was fierce and swift, circling near him and taking shape into something that couldn't see but could still feel.

And it felt familiar.

"Girls, stay close to me!"

Sardonyx never took her eyes off her surroundings as she shouted. The glow from every corner of her world continued to shine brighter with every second. The sky above was alive with some kind of electricity that boomed with every spark the clouds unleashed.

And the breeze that had something within it became even fiercer. She actually felt the winds starting to push her back slightly; they were that strong. And the thing she felt, the thing the wind carried that, while she didn't know what it was exactly, the gentle voice in her head did realize one thing about whatever was in the air.

It was deadly.

The light he felt...he knew he should be doing something with it. As it continued to take shape into something increasingly solid—something he could almost touch, like he suddenly regained his fingers—he knew there was something missing. Something that he needed to do in order to allow the light to fully complete its transformation.

But, what was he supposed to do? For some reason, even though the light was so familiar, even though the way it moved and shimmered was something he knew he had seen before, he didn't know what he needed to do to fully...bring it out.

Maybe...maybe it had something to do with his rage? He first felt the light when he had gotten angry, so maybe if he got even angrier, the light would complete its form. But, what had he been angry about? It was only just a few seconds ago, but his memory suddenly failed him. There was a fog in his mind, thick and dense like a snowstorm, and as he struggled to remember what he had been thinking about, he felt his rage slowly fading.

Just like the light. It was only a little bit, but he felt the light diminish, losing the spark that made it flow so precisely.

He knew that was bad. He had to get past the fog now. Because the light was trying to help him. And if he couldn't remember what had made him angry, the light told him that he would die.

That he would be killed.

Something stirred within him.

He would be killed.

Something intense and primal.

Killed.

It took him a moment to realize what he was feeling: pure fury.

Killed. Just like so many people. So many people that bastard had turned to dust without any mercy.

All because that monster enjoyed murdering innocents.

The light was suddenly shining.

Sardonyx knew she had to stay calm; she tried her best not to lose her cool, because if she did, then she would just be asking for trouble.

But it was kinda hard to keep calm when some kind of storm was taking over her own world. The sky was bursting with electricity, the yellow floor was all but dancing as it kept moving and stretching in every possible direction.

And the wind had gotten so strong, so powerful, that she was actually sliding on the ground. Below her, she felt Garnet and Pearl tighten their grips on her legs. With a glance, she saw that they were incredibly anxious about what was happening, but were still more than willing to fight.

Which was good. Because whatever was making up this wind's very essence was starting to suffuse every inch of her world—it was like the fierce gales were somehow injecting her world with some kind of energy. An energy that was making everything around her more volatile and shifting her surroundings into...something. The wind had a purpose, she didn't know how she knew that, but she did, and she didn't think it was just giving her world a dye-job and some violent weather.

But what was the wind doing? And, much more importantly, how the heck could she stop it before it finished and—?

There was a boom. And her world shook.

He could feel it. The light, it was so bright now; it would've blinded him if he still had eyes. And it was moving even faster now, taking shape into something he knew intimately.

All while his rage kept growing as he remembered more and more.

The sky screamed. Lightning—actual, honest-to-goodness bright yellow lightning—struck the ground, large sparks now electrifying every inch of the floor, some of the sparks almost zapping her.

And then the sparks started to jump towards the center of her world.

He remembered fighting. Bleeding. Doing everything he can to try and get out of a—a damn distraction! Instead of doing the one thing he came to this town for—the one thing he promised himself and so many of that bastard's victims—he was stuck dealing with a God damn decoy!

He needed to end this. Now.

Even without eyes, he could almost make out a face that was so human, but not at the same time, standing in front of him. And it was waiting for him. Waiting to receive a command.

He gave it one.

The sparks didn't seem to do much, at first. They just hopped and skipped in the same place over and over again, the sound of buzzing static mixed with the crackling booms of the thunder above.

But then the sparks, for one moment, went still. She could see every single bit of electricity that made up the sparks suspended in the air. Every sound around her suddenly fell silent. Her world seemed to be frozen in time.

But only for a moment.

In an instant, the sparks began to move again, this time even quicker than before as the glow they released kept getting brighter. The roar of thunder was practically deafening, and the sky was full of lightning that burst from within every cloud.

And then every single spark on the ground suddenly jumped high into the air. The sparks all gathered at one spot, coalescing into a...a whirlpool. It honestly looked like some kind of whirlpool made from lightning was somehow floating in the air. From the very center of the whirlpool, a white glow emerged and illuminated her world.

All while a deep, burning agony practically exploded within her.

The light had done what he asked, and he could...not see, but feel the light leading him somewhere.

His other senses suddenly became clearer. The light was speaking to him now, not with words but with feelings. Sensations so familiar to him flooded his mind, and he knew what the light was saying. He needed to do one thing if he wanted to get through this last obstacle.

He could feel his blood starting to boil.

One thing if he wanted to put an end to Kira.

As the rage within him rose, he clenched his hands into fists. Actual fists, because he suddenly found that he had his body back again. His eyes were still closed, but he knew he was floating in a sea of ethereal energy. Energy that the light was guiding him through with its own powers. The light that was still asking him to do just one thing.

Open your eyes.

Blue eyes snapped open. He saw that he was flying towards a hole in the world pure white energy, swirling like a whirlpool that could never be stopped. Behind him, he saw the energy was pure yellow, the same as the faint glow that covered him, and as he flew further up, every spot of white he passed turned the same shade of yellow.

And his friend was right there with him. He stared at its determined expression as they flew, holding out its hand towards him.

Knowing what he needed to do, even if he could explain how or why, he roared one last command as he grabbed its hand with his own.

"Let's go!"

And with that, the seas of white and yellow energy that surrounded both Crazy Diamond and Josuke Higashikata turned bright pink.

It had been a while since Sardonyx had felt pain like this. The last time was during the war when some Carnelians had blown a hole in her chest. The pain might not have been as bad, but it was definitely a close second. It felt like something was tearing her insides apart bit by bit, especially within her gemstones. It got so bad she fell to her knees as her two of her hands grabbed her forehead and the other two wrapped around her torso. She was sure Pearl and Garnet were shouting something, or maybe just screaming, but she couldn't hear them through her agony. All she could do was grit her teeth and stare at the whirlpool that hung in the air.

The whirlpool that was slowly growing bigger. The white energy within it started to expand, morphing into an orb-like shape, an almost blinding glow coming from within it. As her pain continued to reach new levels of anguish, the white orb suddenly turned pink.

Sardonyx's eyes went wide. And then, from within the orb, a pink beam shot up into the sky. When it reached the peak of its flight, it curved, and then plummeted to the ground. She didn't even have time to shout before the beam hit the floor of her world with a massive explosion of pink. A boom echoed throughout her world as she shut her eyes. The ground shook violently—Sardonyx almost lost her balance and fell—but after a few moments, the shaking stop. The boom faded to nothing, and pink lights no longer shined through her clenched eyes. Ever so slowly, she opened them.

And her jaw dropped at what she saw.

The first thing she noticed was how everything about her world had changed from yellow to pure pink. The second thing was that the pain within her was no longer the roaring agony it was before, but now just an ache that made her feel body feel heavier than it should be.

The third thing she noticed was the giant, pink, thing just a few feet in front of her. It was made entirely of the same pulsating pink energy that coated her world, its body in the shape of some humanoid-looking creature, head lowered and staring at the floor. The thing in front of her was exactly as tall as her, every bit of its body crackling as pink sparks jumped from its skin with audible snaps. And it looked like it had clothes on that were made of the same energy that made up its body, only a darker shade and thicker than the rest.

It was hard to tell what exactly, but it looked like it had on multiple pairs of symbols, or maybe emblems, that were in the shape of hearts on its legs. Some kind of coat, equally blurry and vibrating as the rest of its clothes, extended a bit past its hip, and a pair of...gloves? Gauntlets? Well, something that looked almost metallic covered its hands. A helmet—cylindrical and tall—rested on its head and covered its face in shadows. Except for strands of—what she assumed were—pinkish hair that spilled out from underneath it. Pinkish, because she could just make out hints of purple overlaying with the pink, each color spiraling like intertwined strands of thread in an elegant quilt as they both glowed with an unknown power.

Then, the creature lifted its head up. Underneath the shadows of its helmet, Sardonyx could see its eyes.

Eyes that were completely blue and shined with an almost blinding light.

For what seemed like ages, everyone stood completely still. Pearl, Garnet, Sardonyx and even the creature didn't make even the slightest of twitches as they all stared. The only sounds Sardonyx could hear were from the sparks jumping off the creature's skin.

But the silence was broken as the creature let out a roar that shook the world.

"DORA!"

Wait, Door-wha—

A massive fist slammed into her cheek, a cracking sound echoing, and Sardonyx went flying.

Breathe in, breathe out. Focus just on that. The pain's not that bad. It's even starting to go away. It's—

There was a crack, and they clenched their teeth.

Nevermind.

Stevonnie let out a shuddering breath, the cracks in their skin growing. Trying to block out their pain through force of will wasn't working out, and the rain wasn't doing them any favors either. Each drop of water that hit them only made the coldness weighing down their limbs get worse. And as they lay on the muddy ground, all they could do was watch as Lapis created more and more clones out of water.

Clones that were searching for him.

Their shivering grew worse. Their eyes darted everywhere, trying to see through the shadows of the trees surrounding them, but could see nothing. And it didn't seem like Lapis was any closer to finding that monster either. The rage in her eyes rose with every second as she growled, fists clenched at her sides, her clones moving faster now and some even flying by them to the point they felt the swift breeze that followed the clones' flight.

They should be helping. They should be searching for Kira with those clones—or maybe looking for Lion because they had no idea what happened to their friend—but instead, they were lying on the ground. Completely helpless. Injured so badly that if someone so much as poked them, there was an honest chance their gem might completely crack. Just like Peridot's. Just like those empty, burnt, lifeless shards of rock that were the only thing left of their friend; that would be what would happen to them, an agonizing demise that would—that would—

All they could see were their own gemstone, burnt to a crisp and completely shattered.

Another crack, and this time, they did scream.

"Ste—Stevonnie just hold on! Hold on, please," they head Lapis said. Their eyes were shut as they convulsed on the ground, but they could almost see the fearful face Lapis had on. "This...I need to do this. For Peridot. You. Just a few more seconds, that's all, and this bastard's dead."

Stevonnie didn't know why, but there Lapis' tone suddenly made them anxious; even more so than a moment ago. Something about her voice had changed the longer she spoke. They didn't have much time to wonder what was going on with Lapis though. Another painful spasm jolted through their body, and they bit back another scream.

Seconds passed, but it was obvious that Lapis still couldn't find Kira. They continued to convulse, arms wrapped around the stomach, and they could hear Lapis openly snarling, almost like Lion when he got angry. But other than that, the only other sounds they could hear were the raindrops pelting them and the thunder rolling in the clouds.

They never thought they could hate just sounds, but they did. If they had a choice, they would never fight in a storm again.

"Damn it, where could he be—"

Lapis never finished.

Gales hit them in their face; they could feel the rain get blown away from the force as it pelted them even harder. They could smell burnt grass and feel an intense heat suddenly erupt from nowhere. Heat that was familiar to them. Heat they had felt when a silent explosion came from within their very own body.

Their eyes shot open as they turned towards the source of the heat. They saw that parts of the ground were on fire, saw smoke rising into the air as the rain quickly extinguished parts of the blaze.

And they saw Lapis' head on the ground, the rest of her body nowhere in sight.

Stevonnie screamed in pure terror. No, no, no, not Lapis; that monster couldn't have—she was dead, just like Peridot, just like them in just a few—

"What the hell!?"

They stopped screaming when they heard that shout. They turned their head.

Lapis was standing just a few feet away from them, staring at the head on the ground. The head of her water clone.

Oh thank God. Lapis was still alive. She was still here and still able to fight—

Wait.

Stevonnie stared at that quickly dissolving head of Lapis' clone.

...What caused that explosion?

Damn it.

With Killer Queen's eyes, he could see that he missed his target. That clone of Lazuli's had flown by just when he was so close to hitting her. He should've used the other version of his attack, but he had rushed it when he had almost been discovered by a group of clones.

He stayed perfectly still as several other clones flew overhead, just passing him and his new hiding spot. In the clearing, he could make out Lazuli and Universe both staring at the spot where the clone had exploded.

He had to strike now. Those two wouldn't stay in the same spot for much longer, especially since they had just seen that clone explode without any form of warning whatsoever.

So, he took aim, quickly did the math in his head, applied his power ever so different than last time, and launched the Fifth Bomb once again.

They looked around at the woods and still saw nothing.

Stevonnie had pushed themselves off the ground and sat up, one arm still wrapped around their stomach.

"Stevonnie," Lapis said, eyes narrowed as her head turned left and right. Up in the air, every one of her clones had stopped moving. "What exactly are this guy's powers?"

"I—"Stevonnie let out a painful cough, blood leaving their mouth in thick splotches of red before they continued. "It's so—some kind of explosion thing. I don't know how, but he can make things explode from...from the inside out." Another bloody cough let their mouth. "It's why I—I'm so damaged right now. But, I don't think there regular explosions. There's something different about them."

Lapis was staring right at them. "Different how?"

They thought back to how even Steven and Connie were injured by the blast that consumed them—and they needed to check on them the moment they were out of danger, because they had been very quiet. They thought about their inner world, and how damaged it was because of something that shouldn't have had any effect on it at all.

And then they thought about the purple smoke surrounding it, and the monster that had been hiding within it.

"His explosions leave something inside you," Stevonnie said, and they bit their tongue as another crack echoed within the rain. "It...it's like it does as much damage to a gemstone and the body as possible, and whatever that thing is, it keeps hurting you even after the explosion passes."

Pink eyes, lifeless and cruel, flashed in front of their vision. They let out a gasp, but this one was not from pain as their trembling grew worse.

Damn it...they shouldn't be acting like this, but they couldn't stop thinking about that thing and how much that explosion had hurt them—

"Stevonnie." Lapis' voice immediately brought them out of their thoughts, and they saw the grim expression Lapis' face was now set in. "How exactly does he make things explode? Because I didn't see anything near that clone, but it still blew up." Her eyes narrowed as she turned back to the forest. "Any ideas?"

Okay. Focus. Lapis needed help, and this was basically the only way they could help her given their condition. They had to figure out how Kira kept blowing things up. If they did that, then that would be one less thing Lapis had to worry about in this fight.

They thought back to the first time Kira used that explosion. To the monster by his side had brought its raised thumb down to its clenched hand. They could all but hear that clicking sound it made just before the flames erupted from within their own skin.

Like it had somehow activated a detonator.

Their eyes widened. "I—I think it's that...that monster."

"Monster?" Lapis asked.

"Yeah," Stevonnie said, nodding their head with certainty. "I don't know how, but that thing can make anything explode when it brings its thumb down." They tried to figure out what exactly made it possible for that monster to blow things up. It definitely couldn't blow up anything in its sight, otherwise...they would've been long dead. And it also seemed to be kind of selective with what it chose to blow up. It didn't make bomb after bomb of the raindrops around them or try to make them or Lapis into a bomb through whatever method it used to make them. So, there was some kind of limit to what it could make into a bomb. They felt like they were close to figuring out just how it made its bombs, but they just needed some kind of—

"What monster?"

What?

"What?"

Stevonnie stared at Lapis, who was now facing them with confusion in her eyes.

"Did you not see it?" Stevonnie asked.

The confusion grew as Lapis responded. "See what?"

"That...the cat-thing that was standing right next to him!"

"Stevonnie..."Lapis trailed off for a moment, voice suddenly hesitant. Then, after a moment, she continued. "There was nothing near him."

...What?!

"It was right next to him when you landed the first time," Stevonnie said, there words quickly becoming frantic. "It chucked that ball of mud at your water hand before it made it explode! How did you not see it!?" Did—had they been imagining—no. Absolutely not. Even as terrified as they were now, they were absolutely sure that monster was real. There was no way they could ever imagine something that horrifying. Kira even said he wasn't surprised they could see him when—.

Wait. The way Kira had said it...

"I mean, I saw the ground like, levitate into a ball or something, but that was it."

...he made it sound like only certain people could see it.

"I haven't seen any kind of...monster since I got here."

They looked right into Lapis' eyes, and they could tell that Lapis was being honest. She genuinely hadn't seen anything but Kira.

And that confirmed it.

"It's invisible," Stevonnie said, eyes slowly widening.

"What?"

"Lapis, listen to me. There is a monster that's been fighting right next to Kira this entire time, and it can somehow make it invisible to—"

Fresh agony made itself known on their stomach, and they screamed. They heard Lapis shouting at them, but they could barely hear her. They were rolling on the ground, eye shuts as they felt more blood spilling onto the muddy ground.

This wasn't good. Their gemstone was getting more cracked with every minute, and they had no way to stop it. No one could stop it from cracking. They were the healer, and if their own spit couldn't fix this, then their chances of healing were all but zero. Was this really how their life was going to end? Feeling like their body was on fire and wouldn't stop burning until it all came to an abrupt conclusion?

Was this the kind of pain Peridot felt before—

Stevonnie had opened their eyes slightly as they rolled on the ground. And they saw something round in the rain flying towards them.

The pain suddenly seemed like a distant memory as their body went still, eyes widening. They whipped their heads towards Lapis and shouted.

"Lapis, something's coming!" They pointed in the direction they saw the object. Almost instantly, Lapis waved her hands as she turned towards where they were pointing, and the water from rain condensed into a sharp, curving blade that jettisoned forward.

That jettisoned towards nothing but empty air.

Stevonnie watched as the blade sliced into a large oak tree before it dissipated, leaving a large slash-mark on the tree's body.

"I thought you saw something." Lifting their head up, Stevonnie saw Lapis looking around, her clones suddenly moving again as they flew through the air in synchronized groups. "Did you really, or..."She trailed off, waiting for them to answer.

"Y-Yes!" Stevonnie shouted. "I know there was something—" They turned back to where they first saw the unknown, round projectile.

And they saw it again. They saw the same orb-shaped projectile flying in the air. Flying might not have even been the right word, as it looked more like it was floating and the intense breeze from the storm was pushing it forward.

They were just about to shout at Lapis again, but another jolt of pain made them grit their teeth as their eyes shut; they quickly reopened them.

But when they did, the orb was gone.

What the—?

There was a thundering crash, and the ground shook. Lapis whirled around, they saw every single clone soar towards the source of the crash, and they quickly turned their head to see what caused it.

A tree, not as tall as the large oaks around them but still large, had fallen down. No, that wasn't right. They could see large dents near the tree's trunk, like something had pummeled it enough to cause it to fall.

What was going—

They saw the orb again. And they could make out its color now.

Purple.

A horrible, disturbing purple that was inches away from making contact with the calm blue gem on Lapis' back, who was still facing the fallen tree.

A memory from Steven suddenly played in their mind. It was from when he went to talk with "Araki." And when they had talked about Lapis.

"Lapis really doesn't like anything touching her gem. Except for me when I use my powers. She said it was getting better every day, but it's still really painful for her when anyone touches it too hard. I'm not sure if that's because my healing powers didn't heal her all the way—and maybe it didn't, because the cracks in her gem were thousands of years old—but, me and P-Peridot never saw anything wrong with it. I, I think the pain is probably just...her going back to when she was trapped in the mirror and...and remembering all the years she spent in agony."

"LAPIS—!"

The orb touched her gem. For a moment, it glowed.

And then there was a silent explosion as Lapis screamed.

Hearing that water woman's screams and watching her clones fall apart into puddles of water, Kira smiled.

"Truly..."

As he trailed off, he turned towards his Killer Queen. Towards its open abdomen that was all but leaking darkness. And inside that pitch-black void, he could just make out eyes that were completely yellow staring at everything but him.

"That was an excellent job, Stray Cat."

To Be Continued~

AN: Hello, hello, hello my dear readers. It has been a while. Exactly a year since my last update for this fic, in fact.

So, if you read The Requiem of Remnant, you probably already know why I haven't been updating any of my stories until very recently, but the short version is that I got a new job, my former friends and someone I really respected told me my writing was garbage and to find another "hobby", college being college, and a lot of family issues. So, I've neither had the time or been in the best headspace to write for a while.

But I have seen all the support you guys have been showing even after a year of inactivity, and let me thank you all for every Kudo given on A03, every like on Spacebattles, and for every follow/favorite/review you've given the FFN version. It means a lot to me, really, and I promise you that I will do my best to give this story a proper end.

So, this chapter marks the return of Kira's personal murder plant, Stray Cat. It wasn't just Kira and Killer Queen in that tunnel, after all. But let's just say that Stray Cat has changed, to put it lightly. And these changes will tie in to some of Kira's other abilities down the line. And as for what Crazy Diamond and Josuke did this chapter, let's just say that this won't be the last time you see their "new form."

And let me just give a big shout out to the amazing slingbees! A while back, like almost a year ago, she made some fan art for my fic, and I was going to let you guys know about it when I uploaded the next chapter, but life kinda got in the way about it. So, if you want to see the art, come on over to Spacebattles where I have uploaded it! Also, please go support her on Tumblr and Deviantart. She's a really great artist and deserves way more love than she gets. She also writes Fanfics too, both on A03 and FFn, so be sure to give those just as much love as well. Her accounts are all under the same name, slingbees, which I would link but this site doesn't seem to allow that, so what are ya'll waiting for, go check out her work!

Finally, I hope this chapter was worth the wait and that my writing has only gotten better since the last update. If any you guys have any thoughts, criticisms, or theories as to where this story is going, don't hesitate to say so in the reviews! Be sure to check out the A03 and Spacebattles versions of this fic as well.

This is the Black Mage of Phantasm singing off. Peace!