Chapter 89: Self Esteem is Hard to Hold

Summary:

Some non combat after the whole debacle.

"WHAT THE HECK!? " Kelly watched the Butterfly siblings shout at the same time."MINA AND JASPER TEAMED UP AND WE FUSED TO BEAT THEM!" They blinked. "WHAT!!?"

"What, how…SINCE WHEN DO YOU FUSE!?" Steven yelled. "For that matter, you were able to fuse…WITHOUT ME!?"

"Hey, it was just as freaky to me as you hearing it!" Star cried out right back. "It was a complete accident too! I was just getting Marco out of the way and suddenly we're going super saiyan on Mina's butt!"

"And then I just had that really weird experience the whole time … like, beyond fighting instinct." The boy stared at the cave wall. "It was awesome … and then really awkward …" He blushed. "We did kick Mina's but though."

"Trust me dude, I was in the same boat as you the first time." Kelly offered reassurance. Hopefully Marco wouldn't be a clingy creep like Jasper is about it. "Oh, and we were smoking Jasper's backside too! Only didn't poof her just because she got scared and retreated before we could do anything else."

"Yes … to her and Mina's combined and growing corrupted gem army." Pearl muttered. "This is a nightmare beyond belief … Peridot, how long do we have before they have numbers that could overwhelm Mewni?" She asked the math gem.

"Going by the calculated estimated corrupted gems provided by the insight of Garnet's future version…we have about a month or so before they reach a level that can wipe out a kingdom of that size." Peridot groaned. "But if they're serious about using corrupted gems, then it'll be a while before they can train them properly to act in unison, so that does extend the time limit by another week or so."

"Cool, we have a month to stop them in their tracks." Kelly nodded. "So before it gets to the point we have another war on the scale of Toffee, let's find their base and beat them to a pulp before they can do anything … as soon as Amethyst comes back." She added, holding up the gemstone.

"She poofed?" Star asked with concern.

"She held Jasper off as long as she could." Steven sadly clarified. "It won't take her long, right? I don't want her to keep worrying about us while she's in there."

"Amethyst never has been one to stay inside her gem for long. Usually it takes at most ten minutes." Pearl clarified.

"It's been two hours." … The group stared down at the stone. 

"Wow, I didn't think she had it in her to be honest." Garnet spoke up. "We shouldn't worry long. If my vision is correct, she'll be returning shortly right about…" The gemstone floated out of Kelly's hand as it glowed white, before dropping down on the ground, Amethyst looking in a worried and disheveled state, wearing a white top.

"Amethyst, your back!" Star looked the gem over. "Loving the new look, really suits you."

"Star, you're here?! Good, you can help us…" Amethyst looked around and saw the group staring at her. "Where am i? What happened to Jasper?!"

"Amethyst, it's been two hours." Steven said. "Stelly beat up Jasper … emotionally mostly." Both her boyfriend and her rubbed their arms sheepishly at that. They were holding in A LOT of frustration that Stelly didn't seem too keen on keeping in.

"You…beat Jasper?" Amethyst looked hurt and saddened at the fact…oh no, this wasn't going to go over well.

"And Marco and I beat up Mina." Star wasn't reading the room at all. "With karate magic!"

"What?! What the heck did I miss?!" Amethyst cried out. Right, they needed to catch her up.

"Mina and Jasper are a new power couple making a corrupted gem army that they're gonna take over Mewni with because they bond over they're complete and utter hatred of Steven, who they think is Rose." Marco explained easily. "Also me and Star fused and beat her up … so Star has fusion powers now."

"Maybe I should try it with Tom … see how that goes." Star muttered to herself. There was a slight twinge of hurt that Marco's face showed hearing that.

"Yeah, you go do that.." Amethyst hollowly said as she made her way outside. "I'm just…going to try and not be useless somewhere else."

"Amethyst, wait it's not…and she's gone." Steven sighed as Amethyst took the warp before he could finish. "Alright, Peridot, you and Pearl try to figure out where the newest nightmare in our lives is hiding, the rest of us are going to go try talking with Amethyst wherever she is …" Steven paused, turning to Garnet. "We're about to split into two teams again, aren't we?"

"Give it a moment …" Garnet responded, pointing to Star. "You're about to receive a message."

"What?" Star looked at her phone and flipped it open. "It's from Ponyhead, there's something important at Saint Olga's going down…they need Princess Turdina."

"My people call for me." Marco spoke dramatically, cracking his neck. "Star … get the dress." Someone got more comfortable living in women's clothing. Never thought the Neverzone would do that to a person.

"Okay, you deal with whatever's going on there, me and Steven will help with Amethyst's issues." Better to deal with the problems of self-esteem rather than the confusing mess of issues Marco no doubt had going on in his head. "You know, It was pretty attractive of you to give out a plan like that. Looks like someone's growing into a leadership role." She smirked as she rubbed his face.

"I'm just trying to make sure we deal with our issues as best we can. That's all." Steven looked at his hands for a second. "Hey, was it…weird being Stelly again? I'm not saying it was bad…just..it felt different than the last time I remember."

It did. Completely. "It was…easier to form this time I think? We weren't hyper violent, so that's a plus." That wasn't including the fact that Kelly could feel Stelly's desire to stay together. If it wasn't for Jasper scaring the ever loving crap out of her with the Mina reveal, she didn't think Stelly wouldn't have defused at all…at any given time… and it scared Kelly that she wouldn't have minded if it stuck for more than a day.

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Marco, or in this instance, Princess Turdina, portaled into the school. "Alright, where are they?" He asked Star as they looked down the hall. It was messy and there were a bunch of half drunk teens sleeping on the floor, but he was able to side step all of them easily.

"Umm … main dining area." Star noted. "You have definitely gotten more excited about this stuff since the last time I remember. The brainwashing didn't sink in that deep, did it? I thought for sure being in the Neverzone would've undid all that."

"No, it did. It's just while I was there, I had to get used to constantly disguising myself. After a while I got pretty good at it, and was able to throw my voice too." Maybe he should take up ventriloquism. "Plus, I got turned into a yam for about a year. When that happens to you, everything else instantly becomes more comfortable."

Star hummed. "So what massive threat do you think Heinous is pulling on us this time?" She asked, already knowing the villain behind the random plot.

"She already forced that apology out of me, for whatever good that'll do her." If these rebel princesses were anything like Star, they would've let mere words change their minds so easily. "Probably something like, 'I'll shoot someone if you don't surrender' or something like that." He shrugged. "I'm pretty sure we can take on one crazy old lady…Mina being an exception of course."

"Don't worry about it. I'll just fuse with someone again next time and we'll be mopping the floor with her." That did not fill him with confidence and made him feel sad simultaneously.

"We're almost there … and …" He moved his head around the corner, ready to attack when threatened.

"She's here! Princess Turdina is here!" The two were caught off guard when instead of being met by the shouts of pains or cries of anger, they were greeted by the cheerful uproar of several princesses instead, each one holding onto a piece of Princess Turdina merchandise. .

"Oh … I see I have fans." Marco bowed. "How does it go, my peeps?"

"She's just as pretty and cool as the posters say she is!" 

"She's totally rocking those hips!"

"Heheh, yeah, I told you she'd be here, I told you!" Ponyhead floated up to them and snickered. "Who knows all it takes for you to be popular with the ladies is by putting on a dress?"

"Heh, yeah, Pony, exactly why did you call us out here all of a sudden?" Star did her best to shoo away the surrounding crowd. "We were kind of in the middle of something important…"

"What, I can't spend time with my besties?" She asked.

"Pony, Star and Steven are your besties. You hate me with the fury of a thousand mini suns."

"Not a thousand suns…pretty sure that goes to Lappy, the water chick has some really dark thoughts about you. Mine's more like an active volcano, much smaller and reasonable." Of course it would be in that twisted head of hers. "Okay, so you know how this place has basically been party heaven ever since we freed it? No more teachers or tests and we get to eat all the pancakes we want."

"Yeah, a real paradise." Star spoke without a hint of sarcasm. "I'd live here if there wasn't important stuff to do."

"We got a rotating schedule for part timers if you're ever interested." A blonde girl with four arms walked up to the group and turned to him. "Princess Turdina, I'm Princess Arms, long time fan of your brilliance. I cannot tell how much of an honor it is to be meeting you right now."

"The honor is all mine. It's nice to see the fire carry on even with my absence. I've had to do a lot more lately, and it's a pleasure to see a free princess party." Marco told the girl with a smile.

"Exactly! None of us would be here without your brilliance, which is why I, as well as the rest of the school wish to honor you by giving you the first official graduation certificate for the new Saint Olga's School of Wayward Princess, where princesses of all shapes and sizes come to learn one thing only." Princess Arms shouted to the crowd. "IT'S NOT CRIMINAL, TO BE AN INDIVIDUAL!"

"It's not criminal! To be an Individual!" All the girls in the crowd cheered.

A graduation certificate … and here he thought he quit school. "I'd be honored to accept." Marco smiled. "Let individuality shine forth, and all princesses do as they please, instead of being told how to act, or what to hate!"

"You heard the lady, let's party till we drop dead!" Ponyhead shouted and soon streamers and disco music began to play.

"So we came here basically as just an excuse for everyone to keep partying." Star observed.

"Guess they just needed a match." Marco shrugged. "You wanna see if Amethyst and the others still need our help or …"

"Eh, I dealt with one gem's emotional drama with Lapis, that was enough for me for the whole month." Star rolled her eyes and grabbed the nearest cup of punch. "Let's let loose just a little before we prepare to stop another war."

Well that was a plus, hopefully the others had the situation down pat.

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"Amethyst, don't make me do the thing." She watched Steven try talking to her. Even after trying to lose everyone, the kid still managed to track her down behind the dumpster of the big donut.

"What thing?"

"The thing where we have to pry the problem out of you even if it takes a whole day, because we all know emotional drama is just my problem at this point." He stated. "Lay it on me."

"No, I can't do that! That's the point of me keeping it to myself!" She exclaimed, like the immature overgrown child she was. "I've been around for thousands of years, I should know how to deal with my own problems!"

"Have you MET the other gems!?" Kelly shouted. "You're the most emotionally stable one out of them, and they're older than you!"

"Now, I'm not stable, I'm a mess! Just like all the junk I keep in my room!" She tried to ignore them as she stuffed stale donuts into her mouth. "I let Jasper get in my head, and now I can't stop thinking about how terrible I am!"

"Amethyst, what part of you is terrible?" Steven asked with genuine confusion

"I mess up every mission we go on … Sugilite's too wild, Opal never forms, all I can do is barely hold an enemy down for a few moments with a whip."

"But your whip is so cool! You can make two at a time and channel fire through them!" Steven exclaimed. "You fight better than me, all I can do is throw shields and bubbles at best."

"Yeah, nearly indestructible shield." She grumbled. "And you make your bubbles explode! That's something even your mom couldn't do!"

"My bubbles aren't supposed to explode! They only do that because I'm bonded to Star! Heck, she has a better grip on my own powers half the time!"

"And you have magical beams of energy and super powered fusions!" Amethyst answered. "Not to mention you can heal and tame the corrupted."

"You mean fail to heal! I can't do anything more than get them to act more than just pets!" Steven kept going. "You're at least able to fuse comfortably. It took fusing with Star for me to fully embrace it, and they're only super powered because the people I fuse with are amazing! I'm useless on my own!"

"No, I am! You got Pearl out of her own head and actually made her talk to Greg normally! All I do is annoy her just by existing!"

"I annoy her too, I drag her to do uncomfortable things!" Steven shouted. "I'm the worst gem!"

"No, I am!" She was not going to let him drag himself down.

"I am!"

"I am!"

"I am!"

"I am!"

"Girls, girls, you're both ugly." Kelly deadpanned. "Can't we just agree on that and grab a goblin dog?"

"No!" Steven yelled. "Amethyst is an amazing and beautiful person, and I'm going to make sure she sees that!" Steven then turned to her. "That's why I want you to fight me! I'll lose so hard you have to admit you're awesome!"

"And when I fail without any sense of improvement, you'll have to admit i'm not!" She shouted back.

"This is going to be the weirdest fight ever … of all time." Kelly rolled her eyes.

"That's right, I make things weird! Which is why I'm going to lose!"

"No, you making things weird is why you're going to win, you amazing person!"

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Heinous didn't have the best of luck lately. She was kicked out of her own school, forced to live in a rundown car, and her boyfriend had yet to regenerate from his near incineration. If he only regrew his head, then she could at least have something more than just Gemini to talk to.

But now … now it was her turn to shine. "You all look up to this statue, don't you, this glorified sharade!" She shouted. "Now listen up, because I have something that will shatter your dreams in an instant!"

"Puppies don't go to farms when they get too old?" Princess Arms asked.

"There's no pot of gold at the end of a rainbow?" Princess Gwendolyn asked.

"I won't get pregnant if a boy kisses me?" Princess Jax asked.

"Okay in order." She rubbed her head to ease the headache. "They don't, there isn't, and if you're not going to have me around could you at least teach the right classes?" For corn sake the girl was seventeen.

"Most of the classes now consist of just eating brunch all day." Ponyhead shrugged. "No grades or anything, it's just another label people put on you to drag you down."

"Well here's something that will send you all back into my care and expose Princess Turdina." She pointed to Marco. "Turdina isn't even their real name, they're NOT royal in any way shape or form, and most of all, they're a boy! They've been lying this whole time about everything!"

She saw him sweat a tad, glee forming on her face. "Yeah, we know. It was super obvious." Princess Arms rolled her eyes with crossed arms.

"... What?" She and Marco asked at the same time.

"I mean, they have an adams apple and everything." Princess Jax shrugged. "I just thought it was a gender identity issue. You don't judge people based on what they like to wear, you sexist."

"Hey, don't lodge that kind of language at me! I'm not the one who lied!"

"But he hasn't lied. Nothing he's said isn't something we didn't already believe." Princess Gwendolyn glared.

"They lied about their title as a princess and their name!" Heinous shouted at the disobedient morons.

"So what? Like a title or blood is required to be a princess." Princess Spider-bite pointed out. "And even if we were on your side, you still used shock therapy and brainwashed a lot of people.

"Because I care about you." She cried. "I want you to be the best you can be."

"Then what about all the princesses that disappeared?" Ponyhead accused.

"The princesses that what now?" Princess Butterfly and Marco asked in unison.

"Oh yeah, that's the other thing I meant to tell you guys. There's about a dozen or so girls that disappeared without a trace. Smoochy never went home and she hasn't been seen here in months."

"Ponyhead, OPEN WITH THAT!" Butterfly shouted at the floating head.

"Ah…I…I have no idea what your talking about." Ms Heinous backed away a little. She couldn't let her secret get out at any cost.

"Okay, you're obviously lying." Diaz deadpanned. "Are you hiding them away in a secret second Saint Olgas?"

"Of course not! We didn't have the budget for that." Gemini spoke up. "And we don't need to hide what we're already done using."

"Done using?" Princess Jax asked. "What's going on here?" This was all going wrong.

"I'll get you for this Marco Diaz, vengeance will be mine, I swear it!" She stormed out.

"Oh no you don't! Mega Narwharl.." the Butterfly began to wave her wand.

"Gemini, the chainsaw, hurry!"

"You know it has a slow start time!" He shouted, pulling on the cord repeatedly. Definitely not her day.

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"Bubble blaster!" Steven shouted, watching as Amethyst ducked and weaved. "See, I can't hit you once!"

"I thought we agreed we weren't going to hold back!" Amethyst accused him as she got her whips out and began spin dashing towards him, wrapping him up as she dragged him across the sky arena.

"I'm not! You're just that talented! It takes so much work to form that many bubbles!" Steven yelled as he grabbed the whip and pulled back with a strong pull, sending the purple gem flying backwards.

"You're already super strong! We barely needed to train you because you already got so many of your powers down!" Amethyst grabbed his arms and tossed him towards a nearby column.

"No I don't! It's only because you're so good at telling me stuff that I actually understand my gem powers!" He shouted as he formed his bubble to brace for impact. Upon collision, he noticed spikes forming all over the bubble. "What the..?"

"Spikes!? Is that a new power!?" Amethyst groaned. "How is that not amazing! You're able to actually get stronger and improve! I'm permanently stuck as the mess I am!"

"No, this was an accident! Accidents are not awesome!"

"I'M AN ACCIDENT!" Amethyst shouted, striking his shield with a whip as she tossed him.

"Better an accident than to be a mistake!" Steven let himself float in the air when Amethyst let him go.

"You're not a mistake, Rose wanted you! Nobody wanted a parasite like me but Homeworld assholes!"

"You think I'm any better?! Everywhere I look, there's some that wants me dead just because I'm alive with this dumb rock in my stomach!" Steven created a shield underneath his feet and used it to force himself to jump and crash land into Amethyst, creating a crater when he made contact. "Everyone is hurting around me because I'm not Rose!"

"I don't need you to be Rose!" Amethyst attempted to pin him down as they were now wrestling each other for the top. "I just want to be able to protect you and have fun like Star's able to do!"

"I don't need protection, I have a shield for that!" He answered. "I just need someone who's nice and not an asshole! I need you as you!"

"Why would anyone need a mess like me!?"

"Because you're not a mess, not to me!" Steven tackled her from behind and sat on her back. "You're the first gem that showed me that there was more to this gem stuff than all the fighting and drama! If I didn't have Star, you'd be the best sister I have!"

She stopped at that, tears falling. "Dude … Rose was like a mom to me, so you'd obviously be my brother!" She shouted, hugging him. "You're the best gem, alright!"

"No, you are!" Steven let the tears fall from his face. "Your the best gem!"

"No you are!"

"No you are!"

"No you are!"

"No you are!"

"What did we miss?" Star came in, watching the crying filled hug.

"Weirdest fight ever … of all time." Kelly muttered as she took a drink of a soda. "So who won again?"

"Neither of us! We're both losers!" Amethyst laughed.

"We're the worst gems of all time, and we're okay with that!" Steven added on.

"Oh, sibling bonding moment, I gotcha." Star nodded. "... I'm the worst gem of all time, I don't even have a stone!" 

"Come in here!" The two tackled the girl in a laugh filled hug.

"Should we be concerned about the bruises?" Marco asked Kelly.

"It's fine, this was a healthy fight." His girlfriend responded. "Got any emotions you want to beat out of your system?"

"Hmmmm…nah, I'm good for now."