Chapter 73: The Final Piece Cracks

Summary: Falling apart at the seems

Oskar and Sour Cream placed their instruments together. "Ladies and gentlemen … I have been on a minor soul journey, and have not only leveled up my craft, I synced it with my soulmate."

"We've all had a crazy year. Tigers on the football field. Alien invasions. Historical cover-ups, the list can go on." Sour Cream revved up his records as the crowd cheered on the beach. "So let's celebrate, not for getting through school, but for actually living to get this far! Let's make this the best summer ever!"

The roaring anticipation of the audience was so satisfying to hear. To think, he was actually performing, something his mom never thought would ever be possible at any given point in time. Well look at him now, playing for a school's summer vacation and rockin it out to the max!

"Thanks again for playing, guys." Star Butterfly, a rockin chick herself, came over to them as the teenagers danced the night away.

"No problem, Star. It's the very least we can do." Sour Cream responded. "Needed something to do tonight after dealing with complicated emotional junk.

"You have romance problems too?" She asked with an understanding look.

"It's … personal." Oskar tried to say in the stead of his friend.

"It's fine man." Sour Cream waved off. "I met my dad."

"Yellowtail?"

"No, my real biological dad … Marty."

"Oh yeah, Mr.Universe's scummy manager… oh, sorry, don't mean to offend." Star apologized.

"No need for it. He never even bothered to know my name.." Sour cream sort of trailed off to the side. "I just … wanted to know and meet the man that gave birth to me and was disappointed. You'd think I'd be lucky like Steven over there." He pointed to the boy in question.

"My dads are awesome!" The boy shouted, doing terrible dance moves with a smile before the horns Oskar wasn't sure was there before hit the side of a wall. "I'm okay!"

"Yeah, trust me when I say it wasn't that easy." Star chuckled. "Meeting mr universe was fine, it was dealing with his mom's side of the family that gave him all the drama. Heck, there's days where I wish I was born into a different family."

"That's basically my number one dream, aside from performing." Oskar added in. "My mom dates a new guy every month, each one she thinks will get me to go on the 'right path' or something like that."

"Maybe … try something official?" She asked. "Show her you can make money off of this and she'll get off your back."

"Huh….I always did assume that the money was more of an afterthought..then again, my car could use a few more pillows."

"Hey, me, Buck, and Jenny have been talking about being an official band for a while now, we'd love to have you join." Sour cream offered.

"Yeah, and Mr. Universe knows all about this stuff, he can give you guys tips and whatever advice you need." Star suggested.

"You guys are awesome." Oskar pulled out his playlist. "You wanna put up the next song, anything special?"

"Oh, this song sounds nice."

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Toffee stared at his foes with a smirk. "So how are we gonna do this … You gonna come at me? Should I come at you? Should we talk like your bitch of a son Quartz?"

"Don't you dare say the name of either of my children, you scum!" Moon got emotional and blasted him with her blue magic, something Toffee was able to avoid by simply floating out of the way.

" Oh, but I owe so much to your children, Princess Moon, after all..." He sent a green lash against the charging gems, sending them against the wall. "How else would I be here, to witness the fruits of my labor?"

"Oh, and what would that be!?" Hekapoo came at him with scissors he had to get out of the way of. "Getting a magic wand and spells to boot!?"

"You're all so obsessed with Magic, it's sickening. If it were up to me, I would've obliterated the wand entirely if I had the chance, which will come soon, don't you worry." The demon sent out clones that he easily absorbed. "No, I'm talking about the fritz and the corruption. Soon no one will be using magic ever again."

"We won't let that happen." Space folded around him. "Your reign of terror ends today."

"Sure it will." With an eye roll, Toffee blasted apart the area with a large scale shockwave. "You are aware I took out the one guy you own that can actually stop me." He says while blasting a few beams of drain at the goat trying to revive him.

"Then I guess we should stop holding back." The Lapis summed a walk of water and attempted to drown him. "Magic or not, you still need to breathe!"

Toffee smirked, raising his hand and letting it heat up the water until it became steam. "I am beyond a lot of things, and that especially goes for you gems. In a way, you should be thanking me, I'm going to get rid of the Homeworld problem by corrupting every single gem in the universe. And a couple of mindless beasts are hardly comparable to a mass genocidal empire."

"How is the corruption even affecting us if you feel so talkative!?" Pearl raised her spear. "Magic and gems don't exactly mix!"

"They do if a Butterfly and a 'Rose Quartz' create a bond on a mystical and emotional level." The man smirked. "After blowing up the wand, it was so easy to get access to all your heads." He looked down at his hand, missing a finger. "Even if I am incomplete and stuck with a moron."

"You're talking as if you planned this all out to the exact detail!" Moon accused.

"Oh … did you really think Rose being warped to Mewni before giving birth was an accident?" They smirked, finally killing Omnitraxus. "Another council down, two to go."

"You…you… you're responsible!!?"   Garnet's head split into two, literally, one red and one blue.

"Aww, someone's losing their temper." He smirked.

"You're DEAD MEAT!!" Amethyst spun into a furry and spiky ball, rushing at him.

" As if you people actually have a grasp on what Quartz really is… well one of you might." He sent the Pearl a knowing look before battling Amethyst away. "But if your looking for someone to blame, then blame Rose for wanting a half human child to begin with…or Moon for having a daughter in the first place."

All the women barring Hekapoo screamed in rage, rushing simultaneously with blasts, hits, and slashes at once. He created another shockwave to push them back. "You're going to pay for what you've done …"

"Look, if you hate the corruption that badly, there's a simple way to reverse it …" He smirked vindictively. "Kill Quartz or Star. It's the only reason I've kept them alive after all."

"No!" Moon glowed white, and transformed into that hideous Butterfly form. "I'm going to do what I should've done years ago and kill you, even if I have to rip out your heart a thousand times over!"

"It doesn't matter even if you do!" He laughed. "Quartz's mind is gone regardless of if I fail here and now, which I doubt, and there is no force in existence that can save him other than the death of Star. You shouldn't have gotten so attached to a different species. THAT'S your weakness, just like Rose's!"

He had to move his head quickly, the spear scratching the side of his skull, a Pearl with malice glaring into his soul with silence. The only sane creature of her own kind he's met.

" Just know that you were doomed to fail the moment you met that pink menace. This is the hell you've all created, now live in it!"

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Steven rested on the rooftop, picking apart the last bits of wall stuck within his horns. "This is gonna take some getting used to … why does my monster form have so many pointy bits?" To quote his girlfriend, he always thought he had a 'plushy pillow' nature to him rather than spikey.

"Well your mom's name is Rose, and those have a lot of thorns." He turned around, and saw that his sister was sitting right behind him.

"Yeah, but she was a plush person too … then again she had a sword and plenty of dark secrets." He amended. "What brings you up here?"

"Don't really know, I'm just trying to get away from everything I guess." Star laid down. "Ugh, everything would've been better off if I just went with a typical princess song, just paint a pretty coat of lies over me."

"True, then the Commission wouldn't try and arrest us and mom … also I'm pretty sure the entire city of villagers is panicking." You'd think they'd want the truth, about the Ludo thing at least, he hoped the Rose Guard stuff would just get lost in all the mayhem to be honest. "But keeping it secret was eating you up, and now Mom and the commission are taking care of Ludo asap with the gems, so…pros and cons."

"Yeah, because I'd rather be stuck in the awkward zone with Marco rather than kicking Ludo's butt for the zillionth time." Star sarcastically said.

"Come on, we all know Rhuberiet was an asshole, Marco will forget it eventually." He was quiet for a bit. "Unless you don't want him to forget it."

"I..I…I don't want him to forget.." Star rubbed her legs. "I don't even know when I started liking Marco, it just sort of..happened one day when we were talking." Star confessed. "I spent all that time helping him get over himself with Jackie, and I end up crushing on him the moment he starts to make a move."

"Yeah that sucks … you're like the exact opposite of what happened to me." Steven leaned back. "You were pushing me for a girl that already had someone, now here I am a boyfriend … love sucks, doesn't it?"

"It's weird to hear you complain about that." Star snorted. "You sang a whole song on peace and love on the planet earth."

"That was mainly expressing serenity and fun among friends..then again Kelly was hugging me the entire time, and that was before we were dating officially."

"And all it took for you to finally pass that barrier was spending three years in the wilderness." Star laughed.

"I totally saw you staring at his abbs." Steven smirked at his sister.

"And you can't tell me you don't miss the height Kelly had on you over there." Star countered with a smile.

"Touché." Steven laughed in spite of the small embarrassment. "It's not the end of the world to have those feelings though, right? Better to know you have them than to ignore and regret it."

"Fair enough … thanks bro." Star leaned on his shoulder. "Besides, I got a whole summer to move on and it's not like Marco's the only guy out there.

"Exactly! Now you're getting it." Steven hugged her tight. "Let's just make as many friends as possible, and one of them's bound to click with you. I'll be your wingman, just like I am for Jana."

"You're the only guy I know that can make the friendzone an actual good place to stay in." Star giggled, returning the hug before giving him a weird expression. "Steven?" She asked, confused.

"Yeah Star?"

"How are you hugging me with three arms?"

Confused, he pulled back, seeing that curled around her was … a tail. "…I'm just going to pretend that it's not there and hopefully it'll be true eventually."

"Don't knock it out yet, Kelly might be into it." Star said, before gagging. "Ugh, why did I say that? She really needs to learn to keep her lovey-dovey talk to herself."

"I think it's kind of sweet. There's almost never a moment where she doesn't want me to hold her hand or hug her." He looked at his arms. "Now I have to worry about pricking her…so that'll be something."

"Eh, it could be worse." She shrugged. "Imagine what changes the gems are gonna go through."

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Two heads was a strange experience for Garnet. She still had three eyes, so luckily much didn't change there. Flaw. Self. Form. Stability. She couldn't tell if being fused was making it easier or worse.

It wasn't getting better, especially with Leckmet, constantly having to expend his energy into making sure Heckapoo and Moon were still able to keep on going. "Aggh! Why is it so hard to fight against one little runt!?" Amethyst shouted as Toffee flung her around by her whip, starting to growl more and more ferally as the fight went on.

"Because unlike Ludo, I don't need to play parlor tricks or prove myself to everyone. I know beyond the doubt I'm better than all of you." Toffee grinned, blasting them with more energy blasts.

"Then try being better than this!" Lapis, who had been absent for the last few minutes, shouted. She screamed as she tore the roof off, revealing a lake sized body of compressed water.

"... You're a lot more dangerous then I gave you credit for-" The scaley bastard became flattened by the onslaught of water.

"Alright, I know that won't hold him, but I bought us some ti-" Flaw. Self. Sanity.Lapis screamed along with the other gems, their bodies corrupting further, fish like scales popping up on her exposed skin. "Agh! My head…it's worse than Malachite! I can't fight it-!"

"You're gonna have to! Please, stay with us!" Moon cried out futilely as the blue gem hit the floor. 

"This isn't going to pan out at all, if we don't get out of here, we're all dead!" Hekapoo called, pulling her scissors out…before a blast of green magic hit her as Toffee emerged again.

"Baaaagh!" Leckmet called out, ready to use his magic to heal his teammate, only to be stopped by a green saber of magic piercing his chest.

"Don't think I forgot about you, old goat. I just needed to exhaust your magic just enough to weaken you."

"Toffee!" Moon flew straight into the monster's line of sight, only to be hit with energy as blackened eyes filled her pupils.

"Your choice. Save yourself, save one or your companions, or save the Queen. Just know they'll all meet the same fate in the end anyway."

The goat man looked contemplative, looking at their fallen comrades, before weakly rushing to the Queen, and using the last of his energy to do so.

"I'm back..?" Moon turned to the goat man, who gave her a weak thumbs up before turning into dust. "No!"

[Hit/Punch/Weapon/Diversion/Smokescreen] She ran through them all, looking through the best course of action. Garnet rushed forward, delivering a stomp to create a giant screen of dust in front of them. Flaw. Sanity. Form. She began growing claws. "Moon, get Steven and Star to safety!"

"Hah, there's nowhere they can run! After I'm done taking the throne … I'm coming for my finger."

"You'll have to fight through us first! Mindless monsters or not!" Pearl held her spear high as Moon used Heckapoo's scissors to escape.

"That's exactly what I'm counting on." Well, it looks like they'd go down doing what they always did … saving everyone else. As long as we're together … Error.

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Star drank from a water bottle, wiping the sweat off her face. "Disco queen Star Butterfly. Another one of my amazing talents."

"Well you did set the dance floor on fire … literally." Marco laughed as he got out the fire extinguisher.

"She might have more of a talent for setting fires than Ruby or Tom." Steven laughed as he sat down by Kelly, cuddling underneath a blanket. "If she can set rainbows on fire, then the sky's the limit."

"Actually, is that true?" Kelly asked. "We've been to space … twice."

"Then I have no limits!" Star laughed. "My power will keep growing, all will bow before me…in fun of course." Star sat down, letting the endorphins settle. "You know, we should plan a trip this summer. There's so much of earth I've still haven't seen yet, and if Mr. Universe is any indication, we're not the only ones with magic."

"I mean we have magical scissors and a moody lion." Marco looked at the animal resting in a corner. "Who's to say we can't have a blast anywhere in the multiverse?"

"Yeah! New universe means new friends!" Steven shouted. "I only got a glimpse of that frog dimension, and there were like one or two others that were full of superheroes or something."

"That definitely sounds like a fun time." Star smiled, imagining the moment. "The multiverse is ours for the taking, no laws or parents to tell us what to do!" A portal opened as their mom jumped in. "I didn't mean it, I was just-" She cut herself off, noticing the woman's state.

"Mom!" Steven ran to, holding her up as she looked like she was about to fall over. "What happened!? Where's..." He looked at the still open portal. "Where are the gems?"

Mom moved to close the portal, panting in exhaustion as blood dripped from her body. "... Corrupted … with Toffee …"

No..that couldn't... "Mom, sit down, you look half dead!" She tried to get her to rest.

"No, no we can't. It's not safe." She spoke, looking around the room. "He already annihilated the commission and the Crystal Gems are holding on as long as they can, he's coming here next … he's coming for his finger."

"He wants…he's a lizard! There's like a million he can chop and grow back!" Steven called out.

"No … no he can't." They looked at Kelly. "We saw him, we saw him in the castle. I cut off his head and he grew it back, we saw Rasticorne still be alive despite being an arm, but Toffee was missing his finger."

"He prides himself on being a Serpantarian, on being immortal. His finger being removed is a disgrace and a blow to his pride." Mom explained. "He's manipulated so many events to get where he is now, and the best thing we can do is get as far away from him as possible."

"No way." Marco spoke. "We'll stay and fight just like always."

"No." Mom said firmly. "As the Queen of Mewni, I thank you for guiding my daughter and son through this dimension, but as a mother, I need to protect my children, and I can't risk either of your lives.." She gestured to Marco and Kelly. "..or your family's by having them be around us."

"That's bs, we can.." Kelly tried to yell out.

"Toffee can't be fought!" Mom screamed. "He can't be attacked, he can't be reasoned with, there's nothing no one here can feasibly do to fight him! He's corrupted the magic, and the moment Quartz is in his sight, he'll become a mindless beast, forever!"

Star looked at the worry on her mom, and everyone else. "... Fine."

Steven looks shocked by her answer, but just kept his head down, knowing it was a moot point. "Thank you, thank you.." Their mom said weakly, wrapping them in a hug.

She walked up and poked the woman in the face. "But no, more, lies. The moment we're safe, you tell us everything about Toffee and what we're up against, you understand?"

"I promise, I swear." Mom nodded. "There's only one place in the universe that has any possible chance at helping us now. If we hurry, we can make it before Toffee has a chance to discover its existence."

"Wait, what are you doing Star!?" Marco shouted. "At least take us with you if you're going on something like-"

"This is going to be the gem ship all over again Marco, I'm not having that again." Star gripped her hands. "This is an enemy we barely understand, and we can't afford to get crazy. I…I like you too much to put you through that again." She blushed hard. "And I won't put my crush put in danger because of my family drama."

"Wait wha-" She pushed him over to Kelly, raising the wand. "Star don't-"

"Super sleepy knockout." She waved the wand, and in a poof of rainbow mist, she and Marco were put to sleep. "Sorry bro, she would've been harder to talk down than Marco."

"It's fine…I wouldn't have had the heart to tell her to stay away." Steven sighed contently, before planting a kiss on the unconscious girl's hand. "I promise this'll work out eventually." Star wished she was that naive…because she knew it probably wouldn't.