The purple gem perked up in surprise. “I’m Pearl,” she stated, almost in wonder. She looked around at the room again. “I was created here?” She gave a soft giggle to herself, though it seemed a bit forced. “That would explain a few things!”

Spinel managed a small smile of her own. “Yeah.” If only she could say the same for herself.

She reached out to lightly stroke Steven’s hair, taking in his features again, making sure to study him properly this time. He was very dirty, and his skin felt clammy. He had bags and lines under his eyes, and even a few lines on his eyelids. Even in sleep, his brows were furrowed. Sweat slid down his forehead. Spinel’s own expressions softened, realizing that this wasn’t some spur-of-the-moment thing, or if it had been, the events leading up to this decision had been numerous. There was no way he should be this stressed over a minor thing. Something was seriously, dreadfully wrong, and Spinel had failed to see it until it was too late.

Watching Spinel pet his head gave the purple Pearl her own courage to finally touch Steven. She lightly tapped his shoulder, and when nothing bad happened, she began petting it, mimicking the way Spinel was running her hand over Steven’s forehead and hairline.

They sat in silence for a moment, each mulling over the past few minutes.

After a moment, the Pearl’s voice spoke up again. “Why did he make me? He told me that I don’t belong to him, and I… don’t feel like I should belong to him, anyway. But he made it seem like a big deal.”

Spinel found she could picture that interaction in her head quite easily, and found herself chuckling despite it. “I dunno why he created ya, but he’s right. You don’t belong to anyone.”

“Is that important?”

Spinel turned to her, giving her a genuine smile. “More than you know.” She turned to look back at Steven, getting an idea. “I can help ya figure out what all that means, if you want. But first, I want to know what’s going on myself. Steven ain’t the kind of gem to just suddenly wanna make a new gem- there’s gotta be more to it than that. But I have no idea what that could be.”

The pearl hummed in thought, bringing her free hand up to her chin. “I think I’d like that, thank you.” She smiled at Spinel. “I’m Pearl RB-46.”

“Spinel.” Spins smiled at her new friend. “It’s nice ta meet’cha.”

“And to you, too!”

After that, the two gems began idle chit-chat, mostly consisting of the lavender pearl asking questions and Spinel answering to the best of her ability. The pink gem found herself distracted, though. There was no way Steven’s family would ever be okay with this, and they had to know as soon as possible. They had to fix this somehow, and find Steven’s pieces once again to get his powers back.

…But, did he even want his powers back? He himself rejuvenated himself, so there must be a reason. Spinel could recall faintly Steven saying something about wayward powers back on Homeworld, while he was convincing Spinel to go with him. There must be something new, then, something that he wanted nothing to do with. But what could be so bad that he’d be willing to take away all of his powers in sacrifice of keeping that one power at bay? The fact Spinel didn’t know was killing her.

“Alright, we can’t wait for ol’ Steve-o here ta wake up,” Spinel announced. “We gotta take him back ta his family and figure out what’s goin’ on here. They probably know more than we do.”

“That’s a good idea,” Purple Pearl clapped her hands together. “How do we get there?”

“We warp there.” Spinel grinned at her friend. “It’s a fun trip, usually. I think you’ll like it.”

With that, Spinel got to her feet. She placed a hand on Steven’s chest, and a bubble formed around him. His body curled up in response to the sudden lack of room, but there was plenty of space inside for him to still feel comfortable.

“Strange, I’ve usually only bubbled objects before,” Spinel realized aloud. “Never thought I’d bubble someone else.”

The pearl looked at the bubble in delight. “That’s so cool!” She gasped. “Can all gems do that? Could I?”

“I think so,” Spinel replied. “All gems I’ve met so far haven’t told me otherwise. I can show you once we figure out what’s goin’ on, kay?” The former playmate gave her new pal a nudge with her elbow. “Now c’mon; this way.”

Spinel and Pearl RB-46 stepped through the broken doors and began to trek down the hall, the pearl following behind the playmate a bit. The lights overhead had dimmed down, though one part of the room remained brightly lit. On display was the gown Spinel had made. She looked at it with a tired expression as she walked past, but didn’t stop to grab it. She had bigger priorities now.

When the two reached the warp pad, Spinel finally turned back to look down the hallway again. The pearl had hopped up next to her, following her gaze to the now completely-dark hallway. The entranceway was still very bright, however, as the Reef had not yet been shut down.

Oh well. Sucks to be the Reef, but Spinel had other things to worry about.

“Now, this will be a bit weird at first,” Spinel began, still looking down the hallway, “but warping can be really fun once ya get used to it. Just try to hold on to me and you’ll be-“ She turned her head to meet her companion’s eyes, and instead was met with the sight of a large purple bubble. Two lithe arms held it up like a hug, but those and her bottom half were all Spinel could see of the Pearl.

Inside the bubble, blocking Spin’s view, was the dress.

“Umm, where didja get that…?” The friend asked uncertainly. That bubble was way too big- the dress could stand upright inside. It looked like it was still on display!

“I found it in the hallway!” A lavender face leaned out from the side of the bubble, her smile beaming. “I thought it looked pretty, so I grabbed it! Doesn’t it look nice?”

Spinel blinked in surprise. “Oh, uh, yeah, it does.”

“I thought so.” Purple Pearl’s smile widened. “I thought I heard you say something about the best outfit in the Reef, so I thought you might want it back.” She gave Spinel an understanding look. “I can give it to you once your hands aren’t full.”

“Wow.” Spinel’s lips curved up without her consent. “That’s… real nice of ya. Thanks.”

“Oh, it was the least I could do!”

“Well, ya better stand straight. I’m gonna try my best to make sure you don’t wander off on me while we’re warpin’, alright?”

“Sounds good to me. Lead the way, Spinel!”

With that, the sharp shing! of the warp went off, and the two gems left the Reef behind, the system automatically shutting off without their presence inside. The halls went pitch black, and any door that could close did, hiding away the destroyed Emergence Center from view.

- - -

The skies were dark, and the wind was wild. Lightning, uncharged, latched to the air, sending shivers down Steven’s spine. The smell of rain tinted the air. It was a dreary day.

But, that didn’t matter. Right now, Steven was hovering a good 50 feet off the ground, and a massive grin split his face. He looked down at his opponents, feeling more free and happy than he had in months.

“You were right,” he announced. He felt his gem buzz from the energy and excitement of it all. “I have been holding back.”

Then, he threw the massive pink wall down at his opponents, watching as they all vanished from view. Jasper, Bluebird, Aquamarine, Eyeball, all three Diamonds (though shrunken somehow??), and Spinel all vanished beneath a shower of boulders, rocks, and dirt. They didn’t even poof, they just vanished. It felt amazing!

Then, he blinked. He was standing on the ground, over their shattered remains. He reached down to look closer, noting that all of them were here.

“Steven… how could you do this?” He jumped at the sound, then turned to see his family watching him. The gems, Connie, and his dad all were tensed with wide eyes, like they were watching a horror movie. Pearl’s eyes welled with tears, her features tensed with shock and fear. “Did you really hate them that much?”

“No, I-I didn’t,” Steven shouted back. Rain began to fall, quickly becoming a torrent, making it difficult to see them. “I didn’t mean to!”

The rain turned black, hiding everything around Steven away from his sight except for his immediate surroundings; the shards by his feet.

“Oh, but I think you did mean to.” Jasper knelt down and looked at the shards. “Tch. Pathetic. They couldn’t have saved themselves if they’d wanted to. You couldn’t have saved them if you’d wanted to.”

“No, that’s not true,” Steven murmured, reaching out to touch Jasper’s shards. “I wanted to help you, I wanted to help all of you! You just wouldn’t let me!”

“I never saw you trying to help me,” Aquamarine piped up from his other side. She and Eyeball both entered his area of vision. “You just told me I was wrong. And look where that got me.”

“No, no no no no, that’s not true!” Steven’s eyes welled up. “I offered you all a new way!”

“And anyone who doesn’t follow that way must be purged!” Jasper eyed him knowingly. “I’m proud of you. You’re finally living up to your potential, My Diamond.”

Steven sank to his knees, curled over himself with his hands in his hair. “No,” he repeated to himself, over and over.

“And what is a Diamond?” Blue asked, coming to stand next to Aquamarine. “A Diamond is a good leader, dependable and unafraid to take risks to benefit the greater good. You do that all the time, do you not?”

“Blue’s right,” Yellow added, standing beside Jasper. Steven found himself surrounded, with Aquamarine, Eyeball, Bluebird, and Blue Diamond on his right, with Jasper and Yellow Diamond on his left. “You have always put your own feelings behind you in order to benefit a greater cause. There is nothing more Diamond than that.”

“Stop it,” Steven hissed to the ground, trying to block them out. But their voices were in his head now, and he couldn’t escape them if he tried. “Shut up, please shut up.”

“And what is a Diamond…” White stepped forward, Yellow and Blue parting for her to do so, “without her own Pearl?”

The pearl Steven had made stepped out from around White, smiling at him with a fake happiness. Her hands were crossed over each other in the Diamond salute, and in her eyes, Steven saw only endless, unconditional loyalty to a tyrant.

“What do you command of me, My Diamond?”

- - -

“AAAAAAAAH!” Steven shot upright, nearly hitting his own knees as he did so. He panted hard, the visions of his nightmare fresh in his head, the images of all those shattered gems by his feet, of that pearl he’d created serving him just because she was supposed to, and everything else…

He realized after a second that he wasn’t lying down on a flat surface. Instead, he was surrounded by hard light on all sides, shaped in a sphere. Briefly, he found himself claustrophobic as he tried to remember how in stars he got there. He squirmed, pushing against the dome he was trapped in, trying to figure out how to get out. The cyan light reflected harshly off of his eyes, causing them to hurt a bit.

“Hey hey hey, calm down there, Steven!” A familiar voice called out to him. “You’re safe! I gotcha!”

Still breathing hard, Steven blinked a few times, trying to get his panicked mind back under control. He was in a pink sphere, darker than his own pink bubbles. He was in a bubble. Outside the bubble was a harsh cyan color- the warp stream. Hands on his bubble, large and cartoony- Spinel’s hands. Her hands, her bubble. Okay. We can work with that.

“I… what happened?” He turned so that he could see her, his eyes adjusting to the light, causing the pain to go away.

Spinel was holding onto the bubble with her hands, though one of her arms was also looped around another figure, the pearl he had made. She also carried a bubble, and for the life of him, Steven could not see any part of her upper half past the particularly stunning dress blocking his view.

Was that the dress that Spinel had made? It turned out really well, Steven had to admit, but... why was the pearl carrying it?

“Well, that’s what I wanna know.” Spinel gave him a hard look, almost glaring. “What in stars were you thinking?”

“I…” Steven scratched the back of his head, looking away. “I um… wanted to check up on the Reef? It’s been so long since anyone used it, and I wanted to- I needed to make sure everything was running smoothly. And it, um, wasn’t, since the rejuvenator got set off, and-“

“Do I look stupid to ya?”

Steven jumped at the question, turning back to Spinel. Her face was next to unreadable, for as calm as she appeared to be, but Steven could sense something else there, too. “What?”

“Well, ya must think I’m stupid er somethin’, since you really believe I’m gonna believe you right now.” Spinel looked to the pearl, then back at him. “I heard you tell Shell to rejuvenate somebody. Plus, you made a pearl. Somethin’ is off, and yer gonna tell me what it is.”

Offended, Steven’s gaze hardened. “Yeah, well, you’re the one who’s making the pearl carry stuff! What’s up with that?” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I get that Homeworld is different and it’ll take a while to adjust, but I thought that was one of the easier concepts to-“

“Oh, no worries!” Purple Pearl leaned out from around the bubbled dress for a second to smile at him. “I wanted to help Spinel take this dress out of there! She had her hands full with you!”

Skepticism about Purple Pearl’s motives began to stir inside of him, but he dropped it for now. He had other things to worry about, like being trapped in a bubble and warping somewhere without his consent.

“So, now that we got that figured out,” Spinel grumbled, “mind tellin’ me what yer deal is?”

Steven looked away. “…You don’t wanna know.”

“Oh, I think I do. After all, you’re not the only one who knows what rejuvenators are capable of. You knew full well what you were doing, and I want in on the know. So spill.”

“Well, you can forget about it,” Steven shot back, still facing away. “That’s none of your business.”

He heard Spinel take a deep breath. “Steven,” she murmured in a softer tone, “it became my business the minute one of my friends started getting hurt.”

The tenseness left his body, regret starting to replace it. She was just concerned about him, right? Wouldn’t he do the same thing in her shoes?

But, he couldn’t tell her. He hurt people, and now she and this new pearl who had only been alive for less than an hour were hurt because of him. But, now, hopefully, things would be better. He had his powers under control now, so it didn’t matter.

“Look, I know you probably think it’s none of my business, but… you scared me, okay? Ya scared both of us.” Spinel paused. “I just wanna know… what power was so bad that you’d sacrifice all of it entirely to get rid of it?”