Trying to Smile Again Continued (Steven UniverseUniverse Fic)

Part Five Chapter Three: A New Possibility

Tears fell down Spinel's cheeks, as her captors started up the ship. They were talking about something, but she could care less. Nothing mattered anymore. Nothing matters after Steven abandoned her like that. She thought he was her friend.

"Hey, Hey! Listen to me," Aquamarine scoffed. "Now that you're with us, things are changing. You will not do just whatever you want! We have rules here. I'm in charge, that's major rule number one! Got it," she asked, raising a brow. "I said, understand?!"

Spinel jumped at her sudden raise in tone. She squealed, which Aquamarine took as a yes.

"Ok, rule two, you listen to us! Well, those are the rules. For now..."

Aquamarine started to flutter away, but paused when a gloved hand held her arm.

"Wh-When will you let me go back to Steven?!"

Aquamarine laughed, slapping Spinel's hand from her. "Didn't you get the message?! He doesn't like you! He never thought you liked him either... I could tell."

A sudden burst of static noise rushed through Spinel's head. It was the sounds! She was still corrupting!

"I bet if you went back there he'd through you away in an instant. He'd probably bubble you and leave you bubbled... forever."

Another sharp pain flowed through her, the sounds returning, only for a second, but in higher volume.

"St-Stop," Spinel gurgled.

"Hoho," Spinel snickered. "Or what?! You can't find back in that dismantled stage! You're worthless! But you should know that by now, hahaha!"

It finally snapped, Spinel's patience, and struggle to hold herself together unraveled. Her form started to change! She was changing into that thing from her nightmares! Her hands became claws! Her teeth turned jagged! Her pigtails grew in size, making her look like some deranged rabbit! Her eyes flowed with black, and lifeless ink-like liquid. The liquid started to ooze from her eyes, and agape mouth. The liquid dropped on her perfectly pink gem, how ironic.

Aquamarine looked on in horror, but mostly in an intriguing manner. She jumped back as the now corrupting Spinel swiped a massive claw at her.

"H-HelP...mE," Spinel screamed softly, choking on the black liquid. Black tears now fell from her face, and slightly bubbled.

Aquamarine smirked, a sudden idea popping into her head. A terrible, wicked idea. She flew away from the grieving gem, leaving her to corrupt more and more. Once Aquamarine was back with her companions, she snapped her fingers, and a quartz soldier pressed a button. A green screen started to materialize, an Emerald coming into view.

"Oh, Aquamarine! What can I do for you?"

"Well, Emerald. First things first, hows your mission?"

"It's going... ok. My troops have been able to take out a few Obsidian soldiers. But when I say a few, I mean a few. They're starting to outnumber us, I think we-"

"Great, great. Anyway, I got some good news. We have Spinel."

This caught the Emerald's attention, until she jumped from a sudden explosion behind her. She blinked a couple of times, then stared closely. Aquamarine had moved out of the way, so Emerald could see the pink gem in the background.

"Is she-"

"Corrupting. Isn't it marvelous?!"

Emerald, and several soldiers in Aquamarine's entourage stared in fear at the pink gem. Aquamarine noticed this, and just ignored them.

"I've always loved corruption. Such a powerful weapon to hold. Just to be able to make a mindless monster," she flew over to Spinel, and tapped her nose. "It's... entertaining," then she flew back to her chair. "And, it's a very useful last resort."

Emerald smirked a bit, furrowing her brows in fear if she didn't she'd get in trouble. The green gem nodded, ducking to dodge a rock that was flying in her direction.

"Uhh-uhh, that's great," Emerald lied.

"You seem worried," Aquamarine said, raising a brow.

"No, I'm fine. It's just... we're losing numbers fast! I think we should call for a tactical retreat."

Aquamarine grunted, and turned back to her new prisoner.

"Fine, call back the troops. Make your way back to Sector 58XT... meet you there."

The call was ended before Emerald got to say another word. Aquamarine fluttered up to her chair, taking a seat on her throne. She pulled up a holographic screen, taking notes on something. She typed away, getting annoyed with the grunts and cries of pain coming from Spinel.

"Will you poof her already," Aquamarine complained down to the Topaz fusion.

Topaz walked over to the horrified gem, raising her double-sided spear for an attack.

"I'm sorry," Topaz whispered.

She hit her target, catching the gem from hitting the floor. She stomped back over to Aquamarine, tossing the gem up to her. It was out of reach for her tiny limbs, almost falling to the floor, before she caught it in her beam.

"Careful with that you thick headed fool! We need her alive!"

Topaz winced in fear, turning her gaze back towards the window in the front of the ship. Aquamarine sighed, drawing the heart-shaped gem near, then bubbling it. She tossed it in her hand, crossing her legs. They waited in silence, besides the noise of the thrusters. Finally, a light started to appear in front of them. It filled up the black void of space, and Aquamarine smirked.

"Aquamarine, Sector 58XT is in view," a Tanzanite said.

"Obviously, prepare to land the ship in Quadrant 4."

The gem nodded, grunting in annoyance. Their ship entered the atmosphere, landing softly in a ship hangar. They filed out one after another, Aquamarine being welcomed admiringly. She paid no attention to them though, for she had somewhere to be. She walked through the halls, leading herself to a closed door that had a sign on it. It read, "Conference Room". She opened the door, the bubbled gem present in her hand. The orange and the purple gem turned their attention to the door, immediately saluting to the unexpected guest.

"Hello Aquamarine," the purple gem, and orange gem said.

"Greetings Tanzanite, Jasper. I've got the bestest news!"

Jasper and Tanzanite gleamed with wicked excitement, seeing the pink, bubbled gem that Aquamarine held up as a prize.