Together

Connie's return to wakefulness was also a slow return to pain.

First there was the splitting throbbing in her head. Then there was the dull aching throughout her entire body. Then she made the mistake of rolling over, and discovered a whole new, sharper hurt all along her right side.

What happened? she thought muzzily. Then with more alarm, What is happening?

Instinct wanted her to flail in fear, but training made her freeze. She forced her breathing to remain even. If there was any danger around, she didn't want to inadvertently attract it. Listening intently, she couldn't hear anything ominous. No footsteps, no screaming, no sounds of fighting. She could hear water though— it was very loud and very close. The ocean? Was she in Beach City?

Connie risked opening her eyes. She wasn't on the beach. Light was dim, so it was hard to tell, but she seemed to be lying on some kind of mat. It was green in colour, hard but spongy, like a yoga mat. A really big, lumpy yoga mat. It surrounded her, then turned up at the edges, forming a sort of bowl shape. Over the edge she saw… sky?

Swallowing a grunt of pain, Connie got onto her knees and slowly crawled her way to the edge. She poked her head over, looked down— and had to fight a heavy wave of nausea.

Directly below her— far below her— was the ocean. Dark and roiling, it seemed to stretch on forever. Just looking at it made her headache throb, and Connie swayed, clutching at the mat for support.

"Careful," a voice boomed. Connie nearly tipped over in surprise. Instead she flung herself away from the edge and onto her back. She found herself staring up into a pair of giant, reflective, pure black eyes.

"I scared you," Alexandrite said, and anxiety could just be heard beneath the growl.

"N-no," Connie said, even though there were few faces scarier to wake up to unexpectedly. She nearly grabbed at the mat, then realised it wasn't a mat at all, but Alexandrite's hand, and stopped herself. "I'm just... confused."

Confused, and disoriented. Why was she so hurt? Why was Alexandrite carrying her, out in the middle of the ocean? She scanner her memories. They came to her in pieces. She remembered— an island, a spaceship, a pontoon of Quartzes— She remembered calling for peace— she remembered her calls being ignored— she remembered charging in— she remembered taking a Gem destabiliser to the back, and shrugging it off— she remembered an ax coming right at her head, blocking it with her shield—

Wait, her shield? She didn't have a shield—

— Stevonnie's shield. These weren't her memories, they were Stevonnie's. Stevonnie. Steven. She gasped. "Where's Steven?"

"With you," Alexandrite said.

Connie twisted around. And yes, there he was, just behind her. She hadn't even noticed. She crawled over to him. He was unconscious and in rough shape. His clothes were stained and torn, his face bruised, and there was a long cut along the right side of his body, running from the top of his chest down to his hip.

Connie found that she had a matching injury in the exact same place. She remembered receiving it as Stevonnie— an unexpected lance thrust, a sudden searing pain. It had seemed much worse then. Maybe her mind was fooling her, or maybe they'd split the severity of the damage when they'd defused.

How had they defused? Her mind was a jumble, she couldn't remember.

"What happened?" Connie asked.

"An Agate took Stevonnie by surprise. Smashed them against a cliff." Connie winced at a sudden flash of painful memory. "You defused, neither of you were moving— the Agate was going to—" Alexandrite's mouth snapped shut, and her jaw opened, barring rows of razor-sharp teeth. "I stopped her."

"You fused," said Connie.

Connie raised her hand up to her face, until Connie was roughly at eye level with her. "I would do anything to protect you both."

Connie shifted under the intensity in those words.

She recalled when she'd first met Alexandrite, at the dinner with her parents. She'd only known Steven for a few months at that point, had barely any understanding of his life or the Gems'. She hadn't even known what fusion was. She'd been horrified by Alexandrite. Embarrassed and unbelieving. She'd thought the fusion might have been some random monster that Steven had wrangled into a hair brained-scheme.

(It had been a hair-brained scheme, but in retrospect, it was a very sweet one.)

Now, instead of being horrified, Connie was seized with the fierce desire to give Alexandrite a hug.

The idea felt silly, though, not least because Alexandrite was a good fifteen times her size. So she just said, "Well, you did it. You protected us."

Alexandrite didn't answer. Just stared down at her, expression stony.

Connie realized her gaze was actually directed at Steven. He was still unconscious.

"He's going to be fine," Connie said, a little forcibly. "Those injuries aren't bad, he's just asleep, like I was."

"I don't know," Alexandrite said, and there were three other voices echoing in her words. Alexandrite stopped moving to centre herself. "You were rolling and groaning before you even woke up. But he hasn't moved at all."

Connie bit her lip. If she was alright, surely Steven had to be too?

But she couldn't just assume. She ran through her first aid training. Checked his pulse and breathing. They were both slow, but within normal levels. She looked him over for any other injuries— aside from an impressive collection of minor bruises and scrapes, and the large cut along his side, there was also a sizeable lump on his head. Connie had a matching one, too. They must have gotten it from being smashed into the cliff. She peeked under his shirt and checked his gem, which was shiny and undamaged. When she pulled up one of his eyelids and shone a flashlight, his eye didn't dilate. But his head did jerk back, and his arms moved to cover it.

"Steven?" Connie and Alexandrite asked. He didn't react, just settled back into his heavy slumber.

"Dreaming," said Alexandrite.

Connie nodded. If Steven was on a psychic dream journey, maybe he was trying to stay asleep.

But she couldn't be sure. So she returned her flashlight to her bag and brought out the healing spit. Gently she applied it along the length of Steven's scratched. It sealed up seamlessly. She put it on his head, and the bump receded. She put a dab of spit onto his gem for good measure— it didn't seem to do anything. His wounds were all healed, but still he slept on.

Probably just dreaming, she told herself.

Her own injuries hurt desperately, and Connie was surely tempted to use the healing spit on herself. But her wounds weren't serious, and she knew she should save her stock for emergencies. So she put the bottle away, and pulled out her more mundane first aid kid. She swallowed a painkiller, then set to work disinfecting and bandaging her and Steven's many lesser scratches.

Alexandrite watched her the whole time, with her black, unblinking stare. "You're very good at this."

"My Mom taught me. I just wish I could do more."

"You've already done a great deal," said Alexandrite.

"So have you," said Connie.

Connie stared out off into the sky. In the distance she could see a blue-and-green speck, which could only be Peridot and Lapis. She watched them fly. There was silence for a long stretch, punctuated only by the sound of Alexandrite's huge legs crashing through the deep ocean water, and the quieter rhythm of Steven's breathing.

"We'll be here when he wakes up," Connie promised.

"Yes," said Alexandrite.

oOo

Author's Note: And there we are, folks.

That's the eight chapters I planned when I first conceived of this story. Maybe at some point I'll revisit it- almost certainly if/when we get new Crystal Gems (eyes Centi and Bismuth hopefully), and maybe if I come up with some ideas, for all the other fusions. But for now, consider this story completed. Time for me to focus on some other things I want to write. (I've got a Ruby/Sapphire story planned that I'm pretty excited to try my hand at).

Thank you so much to everyone- the comments, kudos, support. I've had a blast writing this, and I hope you had a blast reading.