Chapter Text
“I can’t believe we’re doing this.”
“Do it for him.”
Connie looked over at Pearl before a weak smile grew on her face. The plan was for Pearl, Amethyst and Connie to go to Homeworld while Ruby and Sapphire stayed back with Pink Steven. They wanted Amethyst to stay back but she insisted on following. They soon arrived in front of the Diamonds Palace and walked inside. Pearl glanced over to see Aubergine Pearl guiding a small group of gems around.
“What pearl is that…” She muttered under her breath. As the gem group move, Spinel appeared.
“Oh my stars! Is that Pearl, Amethyst and Connie!” She ran right to them and hugged them tightly. They shouted in surprise before Connie slipped out of Spinel’s grasp.
“Not now Spinel! We need to find the Diamonds.” Connie said as she straightened her shirt. Spinel looked a bit stunned at Connie’s harshness.
“Woah woah woah! What’s the rush?” Pearl rubbed her nose bridge.
“You don’t need to know but it’s important. Get all the Diamonds to meet us now.”
“If ya say so…” Spinel sighed as she ran off rather annoyed.
“She is so annoying!” Amethyst groaned between gritted teeth.
Connie looked over at the two gems. “Guys we can’t fight now we have Steven remember?” The gems nodded. After a couple of minutes the Diamonds came.
“Pearl! Amethyst! Connie! What a lovely surprise!” Blue and Yellow said in unison.
“Yes it is! What brings you here? We were going to call Steven to come and see our new powers!” White added in excitedly. Amethyst jaw dropped while Spinel put her arm on Amethyst’s shoulder.
“You should see it! Blue can-.”
“No time for that now!” Connie snapped. The Diamonds were certainly taken aback.
“What seems to be the rush?” Yellow asked, a bit put-off with Connie’s snappiness.
“It’s Steven. He’s in trouble.” The Diamonds expressions immediately turned serious.
“Trouble? What trouble?” Yellow asked sternly. Connie struggled to think of the right words but Pearl took over.
“Did Pink Diamond ever have power outbursts? Like an overdrive of power?” The Diamonds looked at each other.
“Not that I remember. She often had tantrums but not power outbursts.” Yellow remarked. White basically said the same thing. Blue, however, had something else.
“Well, in solitude when I would watch her in the tower.” Blue would shudder remembering the memories. “She would shapeshift to entertain herself at times. Sometimes I would have to intervene because she started panicking about being stuck in that funny form of hers. Other than that I can’t remember anything else.” Amethyst yelped and began to try and talk. No words were forming though. She had the information needed but she couldn’t think of the right words.
“We need you to come with us.” Connie said, her voice serious.
///
Pearl, Amethyst, and Connie used the Warp Pad to go back while the Diamonds used their ship. Spinel was told to stay on Homeworld but snuck onto the Diamonds ship. By the time they found out it was too late.
“Oh, should we shrink our form down?” White asked. Connie nodded her head, explaining that the travel to where they were going would require them to shrink. White, Yellow, and Blue did shrink down to about Garnet’s height but it was weird for everyone seeing the Diamonds small.
“What is going on? What happened with Steven?” White and Yellow would question during the trip in the forest. Blue remained silent. They soon got to the cave where Garnet and Pink Steven were waiting at the entrance. Spinel, Yellow, and Blue were certainly startled to say the least. White however was mortified.
“WHO TOOK OUT HIS GEM?!” She screamed. She quickly covered her mouth as the other Diamonds and Spinel turned to stare at her.
“What?!” Blue shouted. Yellow surprisingly had to hold Blue back from White.
Pink Steven teleported right in between the fighting Diamonds and placed a pink energy wall in between. Blue yelped as Yellow caught her from falling backwards. White just stood in shock as Pink Steven turned to stare at her, blank and wide empty eyes.
“Hello again.” Pink said, voice dead and empty. His face remained neutral but his eyes conveyed his anger to White perfectly. She knew in the back of her mind that Steven would still be upset at her, no matter what she did. Blue, Yellow, and Spinel of course were very confused. Garnet approached the other gems and motioned for them to follow her.
“Steven hasn’t gotten any better. In fact, he might’ve gotten worse.” Garnet said.
“None of you still explained what happened with-.” Spinel stopped in her tracks as she saw Steven. The Diamonds and Spinel had the same reaction as the others. Stunned, horrified, and confused.
“We have made some progress as to what might have caused this.” Pink said as he teleported in front of them. The fire was slowly dying out but Pink Steven was illuminating the cave just enough for them to see Steven’s face.
“Well? Spit it out!” Amethyst demanded.
“The poison.”
“What poison?”
“Hers.” Steven would point at Spinel. She’d quickly put her hands to her chest.
“Me? What about my poison!? I know I used it and nearly destroyed Earth but no one actually died!” Spinel was quick to be on the defensive side.
“That’s besides the point. You all didn’t know this but when the gems were reset, Steven stupidly tried to pull the injector out by himself without his powers.” All the gems gasped, causing Steven to stir. “Some of the poison splashed on his arm and burned him. The funny thing is his scar healed only after he learned to change.” Spinel covered her face at this part. “But that time when he didn’t heal that wound was enough time for it to go into his gem.”
“So what? We can’t get the poison out now can we?” Amethyst asked. Garnet placed her hand on Amethyst’s head.
“We can. But this is where the hard part is.” The gems and Connie stood quietly to listen to her plan.
“We have to get him to Rose’s Fountain along with the Diamonds. However in order for the healing to be successful we need Pink Steven to go back into his gem. The problem is, once Pink Steven goes in then Steven will be active and have his powers.”
“Then why not carry Steven to the fountain?” Spinel asked.
“One: it will be hard as the journey there is quite far. Two: Even if the Stevens are split during the whole journey they would still need to fuse once they get to the Fountain. And we don’t know how’s he going to react once there.” Garnet took a bubble out of Steven’s hands, or what now were claws. “While we’re there we also need to get Jasper worked up.” The Diamonds and Spinel audibly gasped at the sight of orange shards in the bubble.
“D-Don’t tell me he shattered her!” Blue stuttered. Garnet remained silent as she handed the bubble to Pink Steven. That silence answered the Diamonds and Spinel.
Connie rolled her shoulders and cracked her knuckles, a determinated look on her face. “Alrighty, let’s do this.”
///
The Gems had to sort some things out first. Pearl called Greg and explained what happened with Steven without trying to panic him. It didn’t comfort him at all though.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN TWO STEVENS?! WHY ARE THE DIAMONDS HERE?! WHY WAS HE HIDING IN A CAVE? WHY-.”
“Greg I know you’re worried but-.”
“OF COURSE I AM! HE’S MY SCHTU-BALL! I’m coming over right now!” Before Pearl could protest he ended the call.
“He didn’t take the news well I see.” Garnet remarked as Pearl groaned and sat on the ground. Connie was sitting next to the two Stevens in the cave. It was weird but comforting at the same time. She just wished Steven had told about this sooner. It wasn’t like him to bottle everything up… right? Steven started to growl under his breath. He tossed and turned to his sides as the scarring only grew. Pink Steven ran his fingers through Steven’s curly hair.
“I know it hurts. We’re going to help but you need to work with us.” A couple grunts were the response. “I can’t fuse with you. You’re going to only make it worse.” Connie began to zone out from the Stevens conversation and stared at the bubble in her hands. The orange shards floated in the bubble as if it were a cloud. She didn’t know if her eyes were tricking her but she could still see the gem barely glowing.
Soon she heard a van drive past the cave and slamming doors. “I’m here! Where’s Stchu-Ball?!”
“Greg are you sure-.”
“He’s my son!” He shouted. Connie couldn’t remember a time when she heard Greg this angry. She could see him shoving Pearl to the side and barging into the cave. “Stchu-Ball I’m-.” His eyes grew wide at the sight of Steven. Connie sat on the floor next to Steven as Pink Steven and Greg locked eye contact.
“S-Steven…? N-No… my baby boy…” Greg fell on his knees as he stared at Steven’s resting body. Pink Steven stood next to Greg silently as if he wanted Greg to understand the weight of the situation. Tears began to streak down Greg’s face as he tried to speak.
Pearl walked in. “I tried to warn you-.”
Greg pulled Steven into a bear-hug. The others gasped, unsure how Steven would react. At first he wiggled and tried to get free from Greg’s grasp. Then he went limp. Small grunts and sobs escaped Steven’s mouth. He buried his face into Greg’s shoulder and Greg didn’t care if he got cut from Steven’s mandibles. Pink Steven broke the silence.
“As much as he enjoys this, he would also enjoy being… healed too.” Everyone nodded as Greg broke from the embrace. He wiped the tears off his face. When he got up he winced as he felt the searing pain from the cut on his shoulder shoot down to his left arm. Pearl quickly got some wraps out to help wrap up the cut as the gems piled into Greg’s van. They hoisted Steven onto Lion with Connie and Pink Steven.
Pink Steven nodded as Lion roared out another portal. “We’ll see you there.”
