Despite the walls Steven was putting up around himself, Spinel’s words were beginning to get through to him. He wanted to tell her, he really did. But, in doing so, he would just hurt her. She’d worry more, or think that he was stupid, or take him to his family, or some other terrible thing he wasn’t thinking of.

“…The point is that it’s under control now, so it doesn’t matter anymore,” Steven eventually replied. “Just let me go, please.”

“Can’t do that, buddy,” the former playmate declared. “We’re takin’ you ta Earth, where you can exp-“

“WAIT!” Steven spun around to look at her, eyes wide. “Y-you can’t take me to Earth! I-I’m just gonna- I’ll- I’ll be- people are going to-“

“What? People are gonna what? Demand answers from you?” Spinel shot back. “Good, I’m right there with ‘em! Something is wrong, and I’m done pretending that it ain’t!”

The pearl shifted uncomfortably beside her. “Spinel is right,” she spoke up softly. “You really scared us.”

“I- no, nothing’s wrong.” Steven forced himself to smile. The light was back in his eyes, the dark brown irises now surrounding the bright reflection. “I got it under control! Everything’s fine now! I’m fine now! I took care of it, and I officially can’t hurt anyone anymore!”

Spinel’s eyes widened, and she looked away.

Finally, the stream ended. All three of them touched down on Earth, Steven still stuck in Spinel’s bubble, and the purple pearl now free to roam. Both gems gasped at the wonder that was Little Homeschool, looking around in excitement.

“This… is Earth?” The pearl beamed excitedly. “There’s so much to see-!”

Spinel giggled. “Yeah! Man, you all really fixed up this joint since the last time I was here!”

“Oh, yeah, it was a team effort!” Steven smiled at them. “Everyone came together to fix the buildings and roads while I worked on getting all the poison away.”

Spinel cringed, doing a double take around the area. “…D’ya think I’m welcome here?”

Steven waved a hand at her, completely relaxed (or at least trying to appear to be). “Yeah, don’t worry about it. Everyone’s welcome here. In fact, your experiences in trying to kill the Earth and me might even earn you friends here! I hear those are common bonding topics.”

Spinel seemed to brighten just a bit at that, though the regret was still obvious.

“So, what happens on Earth?” The pearl asked, setting her bubble down. “What’s the purpose?”

“Huh?” Steven looked at her curiously, the odd lighting in his eyes deciding to stick around.

“The purpose. The Reef is where the pearls are made. Are any gems made here?”

“Oh yeah, lots!” Steven pointed to a group of amethysts. “Those purple gems over there were all made on Earth, as well as a whole bunch more! But, where you are is a place where all gems come together to live and to learn! In fact,” Steven gave Spinel a look, “I could give you both a tour if you let me out of this bubble.”

“Not a chance, Steve-o,” Spinel deadpanned. “Where’s your house?”

“Located at the end of the tour, of course!” Steven’s smile was a bit too wide. “I’ll take you there in a bit. For now, I’m sure our new friend would really like to settle in.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that for me,” the lavender gem said shyly, looking away from him. “I’m with Spinel on this one. I want to help you, first.” She met his eyes again, a bit nervous but determined.

Steven froze. “I… don’t want you to,” he said, slowly. “I think you should… go there-“ he pointed at a metallic-looking building- “and ask Bismuth for a tour. She’d be more than happy to give you one.”

Why did she want to help him? She barely knew him, so there was no way she was doing this for his sake unless she felt like she had to. She didn’t know she had a choice in this. She was serving him, she was his own personal pearl, he was officially a Diamond now, he was awful-!

Now, it wasn’t every day that new gems just arrived in Little Homeschool, so this event was already going to draw attention, but the fact that Steven Universe was encased in one of their bubbles, and one of those gems happened to be the same who nearly destroyed their home about a year ago- now that would draw a crowd, and a large one at that. Gems big and small gathered around to see what they were saying, and among those in the crowd happened to be some of Steven’s friends.

“Alright alright, MOVE ALREADY!” A voice shouted. Gems recognized that voice and stepped aside, allowing Lapis Lazuli and Peridot to squeeze through. The blue gem was tensed and prepared to throw, be it words or enemies she wasn’t sure yet, while the green technician was curious more than anything.

“Steven, what am I looking at?” Lapis demanded, looking spitefully at Spinel. “Did these two gems kidnap you or something?”

“Oh, no no, nothing like that.” Steven’s wild gaze looked away from her, towards the sky. “I asked Spinel to come. I didn’t know we were headed to Earth, though! What a nice surprise!”

Lapis’ anger-filled expression shifted to one of confusion. Peridot, meanwhile, took no notice in Steven’s strange behavior, and instead walked up to Purple Pearl.

“Excuse me, but are you a member of this school?” Peridot asked her. “I’ve never seen you here before, and I keep a perfect record of all the students registered here.” She spoke that last part with a not-so-subtle hint of pride.

“Oh, no, I don’t.” The pearl looked around at all the gems surrounding their group nervously. “I’ve actually never been anywhere before except the Reef. This is my first new place!”

“The Reef?”

The crowd turned towards the source of the voice, revealing her to the onlookers. The pearl’s pink complexion shone brightly under the sunlight, illuminating the crack on her face. Her one eye looked towards the newcomers in curiosity and concern.

Volleyball.

“Yes, the Reef!” Purple Pearl smiled brightly. “We just came from there!” She took a couple steps forward towards Volleyball, looking at her in wonder. “Are you a pearl, too? Were you made there? How long ago? Who made you? Did Stev-“

“Oh, yes!” Volleyball answered, cutting her off. “All pearls are made at the Reef. I’m a few thousand years old myself.” She giggled. “It was an awfully long time ago, but I still remember it like it was yesterday! Pink was there with Yellow’s pearl, and we-“

“Ah yes, Pink Diamond, Pink Diamond, she was great, she was awesome, we know,” Steven suddenly snarked, crossing his arms. He looked away, trying to appear stand-off-ish (which was quite a feat if you were currently stuck in bubble jail suspended above the head of a physics-defying pink playmate), and rolled his eyes. For good measure, he crossed his legs, too.

“What in the-“ Lapis blinked in confusion, then she frowned. “What is your deal, Steven? You’re acting really weird and I don’t like it.”

“You can say that again,” Spinel muttered.

“Look. That’s all anyone eeeeever talks about,” he grumbled. “Mom this, mom that. She was great, we get it. Can’t we just drop it and move on already?”

Lapis stared at him for a second, then turned to glare at Spinel. “Let him go,” she demanded. “NOW.”

Spinel shook her head. “I can’t do that. We need ta get Steven to his family, and fast. He… did somethin’ earlier, and now he’s acting all weird. If I let him go, he’s probably gonna run.”

“I DON’T CARE.” Lapis’ glare could kill. “If he tries to run, I’ll deal with it. Now let him out.”

Spinel looked at Peridot, who shared a look of worry with her, before Spins set the bubble down. It popped, and Steven fell on his back with a soft oof!. He stood up quickly, his grin clearly plastered on his face as he looked at Lapis.

“Thank you,” he chirped, his weirdly-lit eyes meeting hers frantically. “MAN it was cramped in there!”

Lapis crossed her arms. “Cut it out, Steven. What’s going on?”

“Nothing!” Steven took a step closer to her, his arms held out to the sides. “I took care of it! All by myself! Anything that was wrong before is fixed now! I fixed it! None of you need to worry because there’s nothing to worry about!”

“So you think bein’ rejuvenated is a good thing? Is that what I’m getting’ from this?” Spinel’s question was toned more like an announcement, and she spoke it loud and clear. Her words hit home, as the crowd began to gasp in shock, some gems even taking a few steps back.

Peridot’s entire form went ridged, while Lapis took a step back, bringing a hand up to her mouth. “You’re… you’re kidding me, right?” She looked to Peridot frantically. “Sh-she has to be joking. She’s joking, right Steven?” Her navy blue eyes focused in on Steven again.

Steven shrugged. “Yeah, being rejuvenated sucks, but it works differently for me! I still have all of my memories, so it’s okay! I’m still good old Steven Universe! I did it to help me fix all my problems, to keep you all safe, and look!” He held an arm up. His gem began to glow, the mark that a gem was summoning an attack or something within it. His shield appeared, fizzing and fuzzy, glitching in and out of reality, trying to stabilize itself, but without a proper connection to his gem, the shield eventually popped altogether. He did the same with his bubble, which popped. Then, the same with his floating abilities- he leaped up and landed back down without having a say in how fast he descended.

He giggled in delight while the audience could only look on in horror. Steven was their savior, he was the one who liberated them all from Homeworld, who used his healing powers to save a good majority of them from corruption, all of which he couldn’t have done without his powers. And now, he had gotten rid of them, and was clearly more than happy to do so.

Their number one defense was now down, with a bigger smile on his face than ever before.

“Now, nothing can hurt any of you anymore.” He met Lapis’ eyes, and to her horror, she realized that the weird lighting wasn’t lighting at all, but instead, his pupils had turned a bright white color. They were not circular, like she usually saw them as when she could see them. Instead, they had sharpened into four points: Diamond eyes.

“I can’t hurt you anymore.”