Angelite backs out of the cave as the corrupted gem comes out of the darkness, shaped like an earth lion with purple fur and a white main, a purple five faceted gem on it's head where one of the eyes would be that has darker purple splotches all over it; a corrupted amethyst. The gem growls, showing sharp jagged teeth and Angelite feels he's breath quicken as the creature zeros in on him. The amethyst roars and pounces, Angelite just barely able to summon his wings and get away before the creature crushes him.

Angelite gathers the cold energy he has into his fist, shooting a wave of ice at the amethyst but the animal jumps out of the way. It leaps up and bats Angelite out of the air as if he is a fly, pinning him to the ground and making his wings lose form and become piles of snow on the wet ground. The creature looms over him and opens its mouth, prepared to bite when Angelite throws his hands up and blasts it away, cringing from the scream it let out from the attack.

Angelite gets to his feet to see the amethyst shake off the ice, snarling animalisticly and it begins circling him. Angelite clenches his fists, keeping a determined face even while internally he is panicking. He isn't a soldier or any kind of fighter like Adventurine, Sam and Andrew, he wasn't made for that. He was made as a seer and soother, a pretty music box that can't even do that much so how can he possibly be a warrior? He doesn't really have his own weapon either, and his control over ice is basic at best so-

Angelite gets a horrible idea even as the amethyst lunges. Angelite ducks out of the way, getting a scratch on his side for his troubles, but his mind isn't focused on the fight anymore. He does have a weapon, a terrible weapon that is the exact opposite of what it's supposed to do. He doesn't want to use it, but he won't last much longer if he doesn't. The creature pins him again and Angelite blasts it away once more with a beam of ice, tears falling once more as he stumbles to his feet.

"I'm sorry," he says before taking a deep breath. The corrupted gem charges and Angelite sings a lyricless less song, his tone full of guilt and sadness. The amethyst halts it's attack and screams again, louder this time as it paws at its head. Angelite clasps his hands and squeezes his eyes tight, trying to block out the gems agony even as he gets a mental image of its prism field trembling and jerking, the royal blues becoming more prominent until he hears the sound of breaking glass and the screams just...fall silent, The prism field popping and disappearing as if it were never there.

Angelite opens watery eyes and finds the creature gone, the only thing left of it being pieces of tiny gem shards. Angelite walks over and scoops the shards up in his hands, holding them to his chest as he begins to sob.

"I'm sorry, I'm s-sorry for doing this to you," he says brokenly, "I'm sorry for making you suffer until the e-end," he cries harder, the shards cutting into his hands as he holds them tighter, "I'm so sorry..."

The others find him like this, sitting in the rain and crying so brokenly that it made their chests hurt. Adventurine carefully walks up to him and says in a quiet voice, "Angelite..."

The blue gem sniffs, curling further in on himself if it was possible, "I had to do it, I...It would have killed me if I didn't..."

"What are you talking about?" Adventurine asks. Angelite opens his hands and flinches at the collective gasps. He shakes his head harshly, gritting his teeth as his hands close around the gem shards again.

"I'm a monster, I corrupted this poor thing and then had to make it suffer more by shattering it. I'm absolute filth!" His voice raises, "why do I exist?! I didn't ask to be made! I didn't ask to be defective! Why did Blue Diamond let me live!"

He finally opens his eyes and Dan's chest hurts at how dull and full of pain they are, "why can't I just die?" He whispers, "all I cause is pain..."

Adventurine sighs and kneels down next to the ravenet, gently prying his fingers open and taking the shards, "I don't know why Blue Diamond did what he did," he said, absently putting the pieces of amethyst in a light green bubble and sending it away before pulling Angelite into his arms, "but I know that I would never want you shattered, I said that I would protect you, and I've failed miserably at that, but that doesn't mean that I won't try again."

"Why?!" Angelite yelled, "why do you do that to yourself?! Venny, I'm..." Angelite shakes his head despondently, "I'm not worth it..."

Adventurine purses his lips, "you will never say that about yourself again! You are worth so much!" he pulls him closer, "if to no one else, to me you are worth it."

Angelite begins to struggle, pounding his fists on Adventurine's chest, "I'm not! I shattered a gem and I-"

The albino pushes Angelite back and shakes him, "and what?! I keep telling you that the corruption was not your fault! It's Red Diamond's fault!"

Angelite goes silent, stunned at Adventurine's vehemence. Adventurine takes his chance and looks Angelite straight in the eyes, narrowing his own, "it was Red Diamond that had us seperated. It was Red Diamond who ordered your gem to be harvested. It was Red Diamond that caused the corruption! As for shattering?"

He laughs bitterly, "love, you shattered one gem, a corrupted one at that. I shattered six gems just to get to you on that ship and I'll never regret it."

He pulls the mute gem towards him again, resting his chin on the other's shoulder as he rubs his back, "you call yourself a shatterer? Heh, that just makes us equal; if anything you should hate me for shattering more gems than you and not feeling an ounce of guilt for it."

Angelite hugs him back, finally finding his voice, "I could never hate you...you mean so much to me, more than even I can fathom."

The green gem smiles, "that's good to hear...Daniel."

Angelite jumps at the unexpected name, "Daniel?"

Adventurine nods, "I go by Dan now, so you should be Daniel yes? Since we're both two parts of Danny..." 'Dan' looks at him, "would you rather be called something else?"

Angelite hums thoughtfully, shaking his head after a moment, "no...I think it suits us, Dan and Daniel, put them together and you get-"

"Danny," Dan finishes, smiling as he pulls back, "I think 'Danny' needs to go back home with the Crystal Gems yeah? Unless you wanna be split up a bit longer..." his grin turns into a more wicked smirk, "I wouldn't mind either way~"

The now dubbed Daniel snorts and shoves Dan back, "heh ha! Be serious!"

Dan chuckles, "there's my snappy little snow flake," he pulls Daniel up and bows slightly, "how about this time we do this the right way?"

He smiles and brushes his lips against the back of Daniel's hand, a sparkle in his eyes, "care to fuse with me?"

Daniel giggles, and darker blue tint on his cheeks as he bows back, "of course."

Dan stands straight and pulls Daniel closer, one hand on the raven's waist while Daniel places his hand on the taller gem's upper arm. They clasp hands and Dan begins to hum a tune as they start Waltzing around the small clearing, Dan leading with Daniel following as if they'd danced a thousand times. Dan pulls away and starts swinging Daniel through the air by his hands, both laughing as their gems and bodies light up and they become one again.

Since the fusion isn't out of nowhere this time, Danny forms with a more balanced outfit, mostly black with accents of white here and there. Instead of multi streaked hair, his hair is predominantly white with a black lightning bolt streak running through it, though it is the same length as before. His eyes are the same, but this time he has a blind fold over his top pair of eyes, leaving the solid blue green ones free. Danny stretches his arms over his head, humming in a relaxed fashion before turning and smiling at the two gems who chose that time to come back in, having left to give Dan and Daniel some privacy.

"Good to see you again Danny," Sam says with a hand on her hip and a small smile.

"How do you feel?" Andrew asks.

Danny tilts his head, appearing to think before he gives them a cheeky grin.

"Happy."

•*o｡..*･:..:･:..｡o*•

"And that's when I more or less was able to stick around permanently," Danny finishes, "Dan and Daniel had decided that no matter what, they would be there for each other. And I've been here ever since."

Ellie smiles gently, "that was a great story Danny, I'm glad you were able to sort yourself out," she hums, "well, you wouldn't be here if you didn't."

"Heh, it was still a bit rocky for a while," Danny allows with a wave of his hand, "they still had their own worries and issues, but I was able to deal with them without losing myself again."

Ellie nods giving Danny a hug, "thanks for telling me about yourself Danny."

"Sure thing Elle," he looks out the window and blinks when he sees the the sun peeking through, "woah, I didn't realize how long that would take; sorry for keeping you up."

"It's okay," Ellie says as she lays back down, "I got a nice story out of it, so it was worth it."

Danny ruffles her hair and smiles, "how bout this? Since it's your birthday, I'll let you sleep in. You can also have the day off from missions if you want."

"Hmhm. Thanks Danny..." Ellie drifts off.

Danny carefully gets off the bed and walks down into the living area of Ellie's room, a smile still on his face.

The temple door opens and Sam walks out of her room. Seeing Ellie asleep and Danny's satisfied look, Sam raises a brow and smirks, saying in a soft voice, "you told her the story?"

Danny nods, "yep. By the way, Ellie gets the day off from missions today if she wants."

Sam rolls her eyes, "I figured you'd say something like that, I told you to wait until later to tell her, but..."

Danny shrugs, "what can I say, I was impatient," he casts a grin over his shoulder, pulling his sunglasses out of no where and slipping them on, "try to top that present huh Sammy?" He snickers at Sam's growl, making the two gems at the bottom of the star light up and going into his room.

"Dan, you cheeky son if a-" Sam huffs, her lips turning up into a rueful smile as she shakes her head at the door, "guess I'll start with breakfast duty..."

Final A/N

This is the final chapter of I'm here, it's been quite a ride huh? I'd like to thank all those who wanted to stay for the trip, you are all lovely people, including the ghost readers (you know who you are).

If this seems like a rushed ending, then I apologize, it just seemed like a good place to end this. Also considering the fact that Danny is telling this story, he has to make it concise and the fact that the story went on until the sun came up...well, if he told his whole history it would probably have gone on for days time wise and obviously they have other things they need to do. I think it's a nice birthday present for Ellie though, don't you? :)

Thank you all again for reading, I hope all of you have a great week, life whatever you're doing. I'll see all of you sometime in Fanfiction okay? :)

~Sorceress