Cleaves, Cuts and Cracks
is a Steven Universe fanfiction made by Breadless Sandwich. It follow the story of Spinel, who Steven accidentally finds and rescues from a mysterious place. Steven, wanting to help the newcomer, decides to let her stay. The Crystal Gems, however, have different opinions on the topic. There's also another problem; Spinel's gem is cracked.
This fanfic uses the tropes:
- And I Must Scream: What Spinel's fate would have been if Steven didn't find her. Being stuck inside a place that randomly appears and being blind prevents her from finding a way to escape. She could have been there forever, considering Gems are practically immortal.
- Bittersweet Ending: Spinel suffers immense damage from fighting the Crystal Gems and probably wouldn't be waking up soon, on the bright side, at least she's back with her friend, Obsidian.
- Downer Ending: If you actually read closely, Spinel states that the damages are permanent. Considering she was literally falling apart...
- Black Comedy: Spinel gives quips and comments that counts as this. During her conversation with Connie, she tells that the story about Joan Of Arc will satisfy her burning passion.
- She even laughs at the fact that her arm fell off.
- Butt-Monkey: True to canon, Amethyst is usually the one being at the butt of the jokes. She even mentions it as "Pick on Amethyst Day."
- Cerebus Roller Coaster: The story really swings back and forth on being lighthearted and gritty.
- Comically Missing the Point: When the Crystal Gems have to leave for something, they look for a way to keep Spinel entertained. Amethyst brings in the television with a Japanese film playing, Pearl disagrees for obvious reasons so Amethyst brings in a book instead.
- Cooldown Hug: Garnet gives Spinel one at the end.
- Cool Old Lady: Spinel's surely is very old and pretty much cool with everything, from being pranked to being buried in sand.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: Spinel literally falls to pieces and the crack on her gem worsens as the story goes on. By the end, her body was cracked and even her arm fell off.
- Foreshadowing: Spinel's monologue has her asking "Will they take away my limbs too?". Guess what happens.
- Another one pops up when Amethyst tries to bury Spinel with sand.
- Handicapped Bad Ass: Spinel may be blind, but she defeated a giant sea serpent with minimal effort.
- Have a Gay Old Time: Spinel seems to be insulted that the Gems referred to her as a nun, but quickly realizes it doesn't mean what she thought it would be.
Fridge Horror kicks in when you think of just how long Spinel must have been inside the Sanctum if she knows about that. - Irony: Spinel points this out, she wants to find her friend but she is blind.
- Mysterious Past: Nothing really is known about Spinel before she was trapped. Unfortunately, the story ends before any answers are given.
- No Antagonist: There really isn't a major threat, apart from the monsters the Gems fight. At least, before Spinel has a breakdown during the final chapters.
- Poor Communication Kills: Spinel didn't really need to rebel if she just listened to the Gems. Considering she was slowly getting more unstable, this might be justified.
- Power Degeneration: The main drawback of Spinel's powers which prevents it from being godlike. The more she uses her powers the worse her crack gets. It teeters on the line of Blessed with Suck since even using them for a few moments triggers damage.
- Running Gag: Spinel facing the wrong direction, most often when she faces the wall or something else when talking to someone. Played for Drama when her blindness forces her to frantically thrash around on her fight with the Crystal Gems.
- Taken for Granite: Spinel's special skill focuses on this, crystallizing the target and shattering them at will. Ironically enough, this is how she slowly dies.
- Tomato in the Mirror: After being hugged by Garnet, Spinel realizes she had been selfish for thinking only for herself.
- Villainous Break Down: Spinel finally gets fed up with everything that happened to her which also leads to Sanity Slippage.Spinel: What kind of sick joke is this!
- Yandere: Spinel states that she would do anything to be reunited with Obsidian. Even if she has to fight the Crystal Gems.
